A/N Okay I know I said I'd get it up as soon as I got that third review. But I had a 9:30 Japanese class this morning and the 3rd review came after I fell asleep last night. Had to study the rest of the morning for the test in my 1:00 class, and then I realized how far behind I was and had to do literally hours of homework. I had to go to an Astronomy lab at 9PM, and then I spent the last three hours into this morning writing an essay due tomorrow... uhh, I mean today. Yeah... Hard day. But I did promise to get this one out so here we go.
Chapter 26:
Luffy
"Here we go," the captain stretched his arms out above him and grabbed the top of the mast. "Gum Gum," he shouted as the closest Greyjoy ships were only a few yards away from his ship, "Rocket!"
The pirate launched himself up in the air and many of the closest Ironborn ships filled with men all looked up at the teen who flew straight up towards the clouds. He stuck his right thumb in his mouth and bit down on it. At that moment, a lightning bolt came down out of the sky and crashed into him.
The Greyjoy's men didn't know what happened, but it looked like their enemy just killed himself and a lot of them cheered as they got ready to board the enemy's ship. They heard a loud shout from above them and the ones on the starboard side near the back of the ship looked up in terror as the boy now had a huge torso, then all the mass transferred into his right leg and shot up in the air. "GIGANTO THOR AXE!"
Luffy's enormous leg stunned even members of his own crew as it sparked with electricity, filling it with power. He couldn't be hurt by lightning because of his rubber powers, but the enemy pirates sure could. The Ironborn dove off their ships and for cover as the leg large enough to crush three ships wide and all the way down their row slammed down into the water.
The Thor Axe didn't even pause on the decks as it smashed straight through the enemy ships and into the water. Once it hit the water, it instantly lost a lot of its power and Luffy let his leg deflate, sending him flying rapidly through the air as his whole body was letting out air similar to when he released a Gum Gum Balloon. He spun around in the air and tried to aim for a ship instead of the water.
Luffy slammed down into one of the small ships on the right side of the Sunny and dust flew up around him. Men stared down at the crazy teen who just destroyed several of their ships and now he didn't look scary at all. "He's just a shrimp!" a man shouted as they looked at the eight inches tall captain.
"Hey!" Luffy squeaked in a high pitched voice and jumped up in the air, sending a punch a fraction of his real strength at the man. His rubbery fist extended and slammed into its mark, knocking the unsuspecting guy backwards a few feet but nowhere near the damage one of his normal fists would.
"Get him!" the others shouted and the ship full of men dropped their oars and ropes and grabbed ther weapons. They were still in the second row of attacking ships when this kid landed on their ship, and they were glad to get a piece of the action early.
"Oops," Luffy thought his new attack was really cool, but he totally forgot about this side effect. He started running between men's legs and pulling their feet out from under them as they swiped at him. Someone kicked him and he flew into one of the side walls.
The pirate reached up and rubbed his head where he was kicked and then rolled out of the way as someone threw a knife at him. During his roll, he popped back out to normal size unexpectedly and a sword he was dodging wound up hitting him instead. "Ouch!" he yelled and recoiled his left leg that had a deep slash on the calf. He pushed down with his hands and sprang up in the air.
"Bows!" a commander of this ship called out and the men stopped being surprised, pulling out their bows as per their orders.
"Oh no you don't," Luffy swung his arm and it extended as he waved it around. "Gum Gum, Scythe!" he smacked his arm down across the ship's deck and disarmed the bowmen as they lifted their bows, not even able to knock them with arrows yet. "And," he turned himself in midair and put the soles of his sandals together as he fell down towards the ship. "Spear!" He shot both legs down and pierced the wood down through the hull. Cracks ran out from the hole and the ship beneath him split in half horizontally.
Men screamed as Luffy landed on the front half of the ship and punched the ones who tried attacking him in the face. He ducked under the boat commander's sword and then jumped back as the man recovered and went for another swipe at his chest. Two more were coming up from behind Luffy and he jumped up so his body was parallel to the ground, looking straight ahead at the commander who was going for a piercing strike. Luffy kicked both of his feet back and slammed the two men off the ship, while biting down at the same time as the commander struck, catching the blade in his mouth and shattering it with his teeth.
The commander of the ship gawked and then got a fist indented in his right cheek that sent him flying across the gap of water and onto the next Ironborn ship down. "Captain Leon?!" a man shouted as he looked down and saw who the unconscious officer next to him was. He looked up and turned his head to the right just in time to see the foot flying at him.
"Gum Gum Stamp Gattling Gun!" Luffy jumped over the ship he knocked the other captain onto and he started breaking it apart beneath him. Explosions started blowing up the ships around him and Luffy grinned as he witnessed Usopp's work.
Usopp
The sharpshooter was standing next to Jon Snow who was protecting the starboard side of the ship from invaders. Zoro had long since gone off to tear apart ships with his monstrous strength to catch up to Luffy's head start. The water was rough and wavy from the storm, but it didn't seem to be working in their favor by slowing down the enemy. The Ironborn were too good of sailors to be slowed down by a storm of this magnitude.
He kept firing arrows around at the ships, aiming specifically for the ones who were commanding, trying to send the enemy into disarray. At one point during the start of the battle he watched as one of his arrows hit its mark. He'd been changing targets so fast he hadn't been watching the effects of his attacks, but now he was staring in stunned silence as he watched what he just did.
The man he hit was hit in the throat by the arrow. He shot it so fast that the arrow went through the other side of the man's neck, so blood was able to spurt out of his neck freely in front and behind him. The man looked like he was gurgling, trying to breathe but only getting blood in his lungs. He fell off the side of his ship and lay face down in the water.
I killed him. I mean, I've been killing all of them. He shook his head and tried to focus, pointing his next shot and firing, but watching as the arrow went far off course and splashed harmlessly in the water. "Calm down," he told himself, he started repeating it and Jon looked his way for a second, seeing the younger man freaking out.
Jon would have started scolding him to get his shit together, but he was too occupied by the first ship that actually reached the Sunny and had men climbing up the sides. They were throwing ropes with hooks at the end up on the side and were climbing up from all over the starboard side.
The curly haired swordsman looked away from Usopp and ran down the side railing with his sword dragging along the outside of the ship, cutting the ropes at the top and sending the Ironborn screaming and falling back down to the water. A man got up on deck and Jon parried the man's first blow, then punched the guy with his other hand, knocking him on the side so he was hunched over. Jon lifted Longclaw over his head with both hands and then stabbed it through the pirate's chest as the man spun to face him.
Usopp looked to his left and saw Jon with his sword sticking through the man all the way into the Adam wood on the Sunny's deck. An arrow suddenly whizzed by Usopp's face and slammed into the mast. A second later, blood splattered from his cheek and his eyes opened wide as the pain registered, along with the fear. This is a real battle. They're all trying to kill me, and I have to be willing to kill them too! He drew the next arrow from his quiver and this one had a red arrowhead, telling him which type it was.
"Sure Kill-" he started but paused, realizing it probably was a sure kill for whoever he shot it at. Shouting his attack didn't seem as important and he pointed it at a ship in the back of the ones attacking that had a lot of bowmen on it. Even though he didn't shout it, he couldn't stop himself from thinking it, Firewolf Arrow. The arrow shot off his bow and then ignited in midair, turning into the shape of a flaming wolf in midair.
The men who weren't even on the ship that got hit still dropped their jaws and screamed as the wolf made of fire raced past them in the rainstorm. Water was drenching them and waves were splashing over the sides of their ships, but the one that was hit still burst into flames and a huge wolf's head emerged, looking like it was roaring. "AHHHH!"
Usopp drowned out the screams and started loading Exploding Arrow after Exploding Arrow onto his bow. He aimed around and started lighting up the enemy ships. I may not be able to beat Luffy in a fight, but I'll sure take down more ships than him. He saw the ship his captain was on and was careful not to shoot at it, but he sent Exploding Arrows at the three ships closest to it. Luffy watched as those ships near him exploded and he nodded, looking back with a smirk at his nakama.
Bran
Are you ready Summer? The boy sitting on his direwolf pet Summer on top of his head. The wet wolf shook itself and water sprayed off everywhere. It didn't want to be as weighed down by water so it tried to dry off, but with the constant downfall of water, it was near impossible to stay dry for long. Bring me higher, as soon as the boy thought it, his wolf crouched down and then sprang up in the air.
Bran closed his eyes and lifted both of his hands so they were two feet apart with their fingers curled in towards the matching finger on the opposite hand. Between his right and left hand, sparks started crackling and the men in the ships closer to the shore stared up in the sky as a boy riding a direwolf became illuminated by the sparks crackling in the space in front of him.
He concentrated hard as his wolf hit the top of its arc. Lightning, Bloodraven only managed to teach him fire when he was in the north, but the basics of learning all magic were similar, or so he was told. The sparks suddenly stopped and were replaced by five thin bolts of lightning connecting his thumb to thumb, pinky to pinky, and all the fingers in between. The boy waited until the bolts were larger before he pushed his hands forward and broke them apart from facing each other, turning his palms so they were out towards the enemy's on the port side.
Bran tried aiming, but he didn't know how powerful or innaccurate his attack was going to be before he fired it. Instead of five individual bolts like he thought would come from each hand, two large blasts of uncontrollable energy erupted from the palms his hands. One engulfed a ship completely and incinerated it, while another caught a ship right down the middle, catching the men on one side of it and shredding the ship in half long ways.
Summer landed back on the deck and the boy on top of his wolf was panting. He looked at his hands and sparks flew from his fingertips. He had to be careful using this around Summer; he didn't want to hurt his best friend. The boy looked forward and saw ten ships still coming at him, and even the men on the ship that was ripped in half were swimming to the other ships to get taken to the Thousand Sunny.
"Fireball!" he shouted and waved his right arm like he was throwing a rock at the closest ship. He'd never used this magic attack in the rain, and he didn't realize how much weaker his attack would be when forming it on a wet hand. Lightning works better when everything is wet, but fire is a no. The boy watched as the small ball of fire caught a man's clothes on fire and he jumped into the sea, but that was all the damage it did and now all ten of the remaining ships were about to reach him and the Sunny.
He heard fighting behind him and turned to see Ghost had an Ironborn pirate pinned to the ground. The white wolf ripped the man's throat and then turned and slashed at the man who was charging from its right. Jon was fighting two men a few yards away from his wolf and Usopp was climbing up the mast to fire from a higher position; he wanted to keep the enemy away from him at a long distance which would be better for him.
Bran looked back forward and saw men pointing bows at him. Dodge, he thought and his wolf knew the feeling from the connection he had with his master. Summer jumped to the right as a volley of arrows soared past where they were just standing.
Clunk clunk, squelch, squish, "Nnn, nnn," a low whimpering was heard behind the boy who dodged and he and his wolf turned around. When they dodged, the arrows hit the next thing behind them, which was the other large direwolf guarding the deck. One bolt was sticking out of Ghost's side, two more were in either leg, and he had a slash across his underbelly that was gushing blood fast.
Bran's eyes turned huge and Summer charged across the deck, ripping apart any men who tried to take advantage of the fact that a few of those arrows slammed into Ghost's side. Jon saw his direwolf get hit and he roared, slamming his sword into his enemy's and breaking the man's weapon in half before cutting the man in half too. The guy's friend went to strike Jon as he started running for his animal, but he was only halfway through the strike when his mind blanked.
The boy on top of Summer went limp and the man behind Jon froze as he held his sword above his head. Bran could feel the man fighting back against him. People were different than animals, their thoughts were more against getting taking over, they were free. He pushed the other man's mind away though since he didn't have a strong enough will to beat Bran who was trying to protect his brother.
Summer stood on one side of Jon while Bran inside the body of a pirate stood on the other side of Jon, holding up a sword in his hands.
Jon was bent down next to his wolf as Ghost whimpered and tried to stand back up despite all the injuries covering it. He looked back for a second hearing the shouts of Ironborn who were thinking they were betrayed. A pirate was slaying his own comrades who were now teaming up against him. Jon looked up and saw Summer batting away the men who were starting to climb up the port side of the ship, with an unconscious Bran on top of him.
The older man snapped his head back to the pirate who suddenly dropped right before a sword went through his stomach. "Why?" the limp man asked his friend who didn't look very happy to have his sword stuck through his confused comrade.
Bran's mind reappeared in his body and his head ached badly. He knew that was risky, but now he shouted, "Jon! You have to focus!" he lifted his left hand and a blast of electricity slammed into the men on the starboard side who just killed his man-puppet and were changing their attention.
"Die wolf-rider!" a voice yelled and Bran turned to see five men in front of him. One of them jumped up and while Summer swiped at him, another stepped to the side and cut Bran's right leg deeply. He cut so deep that his sword hit the wolf on the other side and Bran went wide-eyed as he watched his leg drop and hit the ground.
"You asshole!" Bran yelled and the man was shocked the boy didn't seem to be in any pain. The cripple was still pissed and he saw how much blood he was losing from his leg. Shit! FIRE! He lifted his left hand and shot flames at the other three men that Summer didn't kill, then he grabbed his right leg with his right hand and coursed the heat through him. He watched as his skin melded together, cauterizing his wound, and then he snapped his eyes up angrily at the man in front of him who backed up into a wall terrified that his attack did so little.
The boy's horrible thoughts were transferring to his wolf who charged forward and ripped him apart, slowly. The man was screaming the whole time and Jon looked over to see Bran smiling as he watched his wolf tear the guy apart painfully.
Jon
The former commander of the Night's Watch looked around and the grassy deck was getting covered in enemies. More and more kept climbing up the right side and he couldn't take them out as fast as his brother could. I'm not superhuman, but the rest of them are. He charged at the man closest to the staircase to the front deck and he spun to the right as the guy struck.
Jon rolled right past the blade and then swept the guy's legs out from under him, lifting him up in the air. He twisted his blade as the man went down and his weapon dragged across the guy's back, cutting through his thin leather armor and into his skin. He knew the other men were chasing him up the stairs to the next level, but he smirked when he got up there.
There was a sole man standing on the bow of the ship, staring ahead with glassy eyes. "Sanji!" Jon called out and the blonde man up there getting drenched turned his head. Sanji turned and saw the group of men chasing Jon up the stairs. MEN! His anger and frustration over the decision he had to make was amplified a hundred fold and his whole body literally burst into flames that burned so hot the floor beneath him scorched and the rain falling on him evaporated.
"RAAAA!" the chef flew forward and kicked the shocked first man in the chest, who got pushed back into the next man. The next man could feel the heat of the flaming leg as it blasted him straight into the five guys behind him and they all flew a mile off of the ship into the fog where they bounced on the water and into the distance.
"Party Table Kick Course!" Sanji dropped down on the grass deck and his kicks knocked away all the men who were trying to finish off the still fighting but injured Ghost. He was doing a handstand and when all the men were moaning on the sides of the deck or tossed off and back in the water, he dropped back to his feet and turned, seeing another wolf with a boy on top of it.
Jon ran back down the stairs and called out to Sanji, "Thanks." He turned and finished off a standing man who was trying to sneak up on the chef with a knife. When Jon looked back, he saw Sanji staring wide-eyed at Bran while the boy on top of the wolf looked up in the air.
Bran's right leg was on the floor, his eyes were rolled back in his head, and suddenly the ship beneath them began to shake. Two streams of blood were coming down from beneath Bran's nostrils and running down over his mouth to his chin where they were dripping onto his wolf's wet golden fur. "Bran!" Jon yelled at his brother as he had to hold onto the wall to hang on. "What are you doing?!"
Nami and Usopp
"Usopp! Help the guys down below!" Nami yelled back over her shoulder at the other person up on the crow's nest with her. He climbed up as the enemies were boarding their ship and was firing all over the place.
She looked down and saw Jon trying to fend off men by himself while his younger brother was trying to protect an injured Ghost. Nami didn't see any arrows flying down and she looked behind her. There were four other misshapen Namis up on top of the crow's nest; she used her Mirage Tempo to make it harder for an enemy bowman to hit her. The woman ran between the copies of herself and around to the other side of the nest where her eyes went wide at the sight behind her.
Usopp was facing the rear of the ship and he kept nocking his bow and firing without stop. Gendry was down on the stern of the ship, ready to fight off any enemies that boarded, but he was just standing there shellshocked as ship after ship blasted apart. The man in the horned helmet looked back and stared up at the crow's nest where the long nosed man was shooting.
The sniper ripped his goggles off his head because water kept running down the front of them and making it impossible for him to see. He was wiping them calmly before, but now he threw them off the crow's nest and roared as he knocked three more of his Exploding Arrows. "RAAAA!" he fired and two of them slammed into the center of two longboats' decks, while the third hit a boat in the side of the hull and flipped it over.
Nami was staring off the back of the ship that looked like a ship graveyard, yet it wasn't just pieces of ship floating in the waves back there. She couldn't tell which bodies were men swimming towards the Sunny to board them, and which ones were corpses that were only moving with the current. Current?! The woman suddenly realized she was watching all the bodies get pulled towards their ship. A few of the ones that were actually swimming missed grabbing on and got swept right past, showing it was pretty strong.
Their ship was starting to shake in the current and the waves were getting bigger. Nami looked up to see if the weather was changing, but then the ship jolted with one shake stronger than the others. She stumbled off-balanced to her right and her feet slipped on the wet floor; she fell over the railing. The navigator yelped and grabbed onto the rail with one hand before she could fall completely. Her hand was slipping and she had to drop her Clima Tact, reaching up and grabbing the railing with her other hand. It was still wet though and as soon as she grabbed it with her left hand, her right hand slipped off and she screamed.
Usopp reached back for another arrow and his hand grabbed nothing. He closed his hand a few times above his quiver when the realization hit him. I'm out of ammo, he slowly lowered his arm and that's when he heard the loud scream right behind him. "Nami!" he called out while spinning. He saw the woman hanging off the rail and dove forward right as her left hand was slipping too.
Her left hand couldn't hold on anymore and the railing slipped through her grasp. "AHH-" Nami stopped screaming as a hand grabbed her by the right wrist. Usopp clenched down on her arm hard and he was leaning halfway over the railing. Nami was staring straight up into his eyes and the sharpshooter looked back into hers.
"I can do this," he shouted. He had his left hand holding onto the railing so he didn't fall all the way over, but with one hand he couldn't lift Nami's body back up. He was barely holding her weight with one arm as it was. I'm not strong enough, his eyes filled with fear and Nami could see what he was thinking. Flashbacks of the zombie pushing itself down on top of him with him unable to get it off appeared in his mind, NOT AGAIN!
"You can do it!" she shouted. "Please," she looked down and the grass deck was covered in enemies. The trapdoor on the center of the deck that usually allowed the wolves to drop down into the ship suddenly opened and many of the men fell down where Jon had set the trap for them.
The former Lord Commander had gotten Sanji's help to get the two wolves below deck while his brother was in a comatose state. He kept trying to wake Bran up, but shaking his brother only caused the water around the ship to get rougher and made more blood come out of his nose. The trapdoor closed as Nami saw wolves and the blonde man battling them down below. She was about to shout down to them to try and be heard, but she gasped instead as Usopp's hand slid up her slippery wrist so their hands were holding now and she was hanging farther down. I can survive this drop, she looked down and saw more men climbing onto the ship on both sides again, looking up at her as she dangled above them. They looked like wild beasts thirsty for a kill and she was terrified. "Hold on, Usopp," she looked up into the sniper's eyes again but her eyes opened wider than they had the whole battle when she saw the look on Usopp's face.
"I'm sorry Nami," he whispered. Even through the warcries, waves, and loud thudding of rain all over the place, she could hear him whisper.
"Don't say I'm sorry! Don't you dare drop me!" she yelled. Usopp's black hair came out from under his bandanna and his long black curls were falling down behind his head, with a few strands falling in front so his eyes were difficult to see.
"I'm not going to," he said and Nami stared in shock as Usopp let go of the railing with his left hand. He grabbed her arm with both of his own while his loose body slid over the rail. GIVE IT EVERYTHING I'VE GOT! He screamed at the top of his lungs, "AHHHHH!" and pulled up on Nami's arm, throwing her back up while his legs slipped completely over the railing to follow the rest of his falling body.
The orange haired woman's eyes followed Usopp as she rose above him and landed right over the railing. "USOPP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and got back up to her feet, grabbing the rail and leaning over. She watched in almost slow motion as Usopp fell off with his back falling towards the ground, staring up at her. He saw she made it to safety and his mouth curved up at the edges turning into a large smile. The men below him rose up their swords and had them pointed at the man, about to skewer him.
BOOF! The Thousand Sunny shook and Nami lifted off her feet and flew back from the railing, slamming into the wall of the crow's nest training room hard. The woman's head snapped back and she thought she hurt herself, but she was too dizzy from the hit to really think about it. Usopp, she thought; the last thing she saw before her eyes closed for good being the man falling down towards the deck full of men.
As Nami closed her eyes back up on the top of the crow's nest, Usopp was shocked as the mast he was falling from suddenly turned diagonally away from him. The whole Thousand Sunny was rocked so hard that the ship almost capsized and Usopp fell past the tilted edge of the port side, missing slamming into the enemy-covered deck by less than a foot. He hit the side of the hull and bounced off before slamming into the waves.
The man splashed back up over the water and then had to dive back down as the Sunny came rocking back the other way. Even under the water, the ship pushed a large wake that knocked Usopp away from the edge of the ship. He pulled himself up above the water again and gasped loudly as he looked around frantically. He was in pain and huge waves were rocking around him violently. He saw men on the Ironborn ships screaming and trying to keep control of their ships as the weather became impossible to predict.
The long nosed pirate saw a piece of wood sticking out of the water above a wave that dropped and he started swimming for it. He reached out and dragged himself up on the small piece of driftwood, getting his torso on top while his legs were still in the water. His head was leaning over the other side and he finally got a break in the restless Bay, but then he opened his mouth to scream and a splash of water went into his throat and he started choking.
Usopp coughed up a bucket of water and climbed fully on top of the plank of wood, scared out of his mind by the enormous shadow that passed under his driftwood. He looked back over at the Sunny still surrounded by enemy ships and he saw the shadow go right underneath it. It was so big that it covered the entire hull underneath the ship as well as under most of the surrounding ships.
The current stopped being as strong and the waves died down a little. At that moment, Usopp felt the biggest sense of dread in his stomach and he stumbled backwards, falling off the driftwood and then grabbing back on and holding it for dear life.
Sanji
"Where are you going?!" Jon shouted at the blonde pirate who opened back up the trapdoor. This time no men fell through to the lower deck since the ones that didn't fall into the trap last time warned their friends about falling down into it.
Sanji didn't reply to the older man and he jumped high up through the hole, landing on the front deck next to the steering wheel. When he jumped through the trapdoor, he saw in his peripheral vision men running into the kitchen and charging through their ship, their home, but he had something else to deal with, and she was staring him straight in the eyes.
He felt her presence from down in the ship while he was taking care of her men. While Jon started worrying about Bran and their current enemies were all taken care of, he shot back up to face her.
Asha stared at the pirate in front of her. He was drenched and wearing no armor, but a black suit instead. It was a strange attire, and she didn't like this man even more because of it. "I'll get you back for what you did," she growled and grinded her teeth as she lifted her weapon with one hand, unable to use the other mangled one because of how badly it was broken. The two of them ignored the rocking of the ship and the screams of men getting dragged by the strong current around it, focused solely on each other.
"You deserve to," Sanji replied and took a few steps towards her. She stared carefully at the man who was so powerful she could barely see him last time. He walked a few steps further, and then he dropped to his knees and bowed his head towards the wooden deck. There were two men behind Asha and both looked confused at what this guy was doing.
"Sanji!" Chopper shouted from the next ship down that he boarded and was fighting off a crew of pirates. The reindeer had already used up both of his Rumble Balls, and he was correct in his modifications which allowed him to control it for a second time better. However, he still knew what would happen if he ate that third ball and he froze up as he backed away from several approaching enemies. He looked over their shoulders and back at the bow of his crew's ship again. "SANJI!" Don't do it Sanji!
The man was ignoring Chopper's pleas. "Nami-san, Robin-chan, Arya," the man whispered. He felt the enemy woman in front of him approaching fast. She thought he might have been tricking her so she was going for a full speed strike, raising her sword high above her head and coming down for a slash. "I'm sorry, but I deserve this for laying a hand on a lady," he accepted the pain about to come to him. "I'm glad," he started and began looking up, "that I got to sail on a ship with such beauties."
Asha Greyjoy didn't care about this man's last words and she brought down her weapon. The blade was a foot above Sanji's head when the woman gasped and Sanji's eyes went wide as he was staring at her face. He saw the line of metal of her blade waver above him and the woman grunted, coughing and tilting her head to the right without moving the rest of her body.
"Do not..." the person behind Asha started and shoved her blade further into the woman's back, shoving it so hard that it broke through the woman's leather armor on her front and Sanji could see the tiny blade. The young girl slid her weapon out of the Greyjoy commander's back and then jumped to the right.
Sanji stared in shock as the two men behind the Ironborn woman he was going to let kill him, turned and tried to attack the younger girl. She had sprinted right between the two of them, seemingly coming out of nowhere before sticking their commander with her weapon. The black haired child rolled away from their strikes and slashed at the first man's calves, cutting him to the bone and making him shout in pain as he dropped to his knees. As he dropped, Arya saw the other blade coming down and she wrapped a leg around the man who was on his knees, yanking him hard and pulling him in the way of his comrade's blade.
Asha Greyjoy fell to her knees and had no idea that her second man got his blade stuck, jammed halfway through his comrade. The young girl who put the first man in the way kicked her legs up so she was several feet off the ground and spun in a three sixty in midair, slicing off the second man's head as he was trying to yank his sword out of his friend.
Both men fell flat on the ground and the young girl landed back behind Asha, who was trying to make her legs turn towards the girl who stabbed her dishonorably in the back. The young girl with long black hair was like a ghost though, and as Asha turned right and fell to her knees, Arya used her spry figure to jump to the woman's other side without so much as making a sound. "Do not," she repeated with malice lining her voice as she landed and sliced the woman under her left armpit, sliding her sword back so she cut deeply to the ribcage. Asha coughed up blood, the original piercing wound going through one of her lungs and the second one stopping her from holding it in. "Try to hurt..." the girl continued; she walked in front of the grown woman and looked her in the eyes. As she was speaking, the water around them began to calm down and the waves and current slowed down. "Mr friends!"
Arya spun around with Vengeance and the bloody blade sliced clean through the middle of Asha's head, at nose level. The girl had came out of the Sunny's figurehead where she was waiting to fire to see if it was necessary yet, but when she got out there, she saw enemies on the ship and watched Sanji fall to his knees and start talking about how he deserved to die. Now, she turned around and stared at the shocked man who was prepared to die a second before, and was now looking at the corpse of the very woman he was going to let kill him. "You're not allowed to die," she ordered and her face showed fear on it as she begged, "Please Sanji, don't let yourself die like that. We all need you."
The chef's shock went away at the sound of that. He looked up at the girl and saw how scared he made her feel and he wouldn't let it continue. Sanji jumped up to his feet and smiled wide at Arya. "YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!" he roared and jumped up in the air, kicking off the air and soaring towards the line of ships in front of the Sunny. He saw green slashes flying around and rubber fists slamming into masts, and he knew that this was where he should be. Then he saw a cluster of hands turn into one huge hand on top of a ship and his eyes turned into hearts, finding the new area that he should actually be heading towards. "Robin-chwan!" he soared out of the air and onto the ship where Robin was standing around a bunch of men with cracked spines. "I will protect you!"
"Thank you Sanji-san," she said and put a hand on the man's shoulder. Sanji's nose bled at the touch and his leg burst into flames as he stared at the large man jumping onto their ship and charging with a battleaxe. One kick sent the man flying back into the Iron Victory's mast all the way at the center of the fleet.
"How many ships remain?" Victarion Greyjoy asked with a passive look. His men were looking on with a little bit of panic on their faces and he shouted it again. "Tell me the number of ships! This is why we brought everything! The future of the Iron Islands relies on our victory here today, now report!"
"Half," one of his men said and the general nodded, expecting no less from these people even being surrounded. "A scout just reported that Asha has fallen," the messenger added and Victarion grimaced, imagining how that conversation with Balon would go later. It would be an easier talk if he had good news to bring as well, like having one of those fruits with him.
"Send in every ship now," he said and crushed his open right hand into a fist. "We'll board that ship and find one of those fruits. If we can't find it, we'll take him," Victarion stared off at the man covered in steam who was coming out of the sky after jumping up and sending a foot to slam down at one of his ships. "He'll be a fantastic weapon."
Over on a nearby ship to the flagship, Sanji was guarding Robin with his life, remembering what he was truly in this world to do. It was all for the ladies! The grown woman felt her ship rock once more very hard and then the waves stopped altogether and the water became eerily still.
Gendry
The Ironborn shouting on their ships were plowing through the rubble of their demolished first wave and were pulling men out of the water. Each of their ships were covered in soaking wet men who were ready to get a taste of blood. They were thrilled for battle; despite their fear, they were still warriors and relished a good battle especially with strong enemies. The odds were in their favor and their men had already started boarding the enemy ship. They were inside!
A few of the Greyjoy's forces were tearing through the cabin and going into every room. They looted the treasure and raided the kitchen, pulling out drawers and dumping everything all over the place. They went into the fridge and ransacked the cold room of the food, one of them getting caught in a huge mousetrap for some reason that the others had to help get off of him. They charged into the lower decks and smashed the glass to the aquarium, they dragged their weapons along the walls and kicked doors down.
A few of the men were inside the men's room, slashing apart hammocks and looking for more treasure on the ship. They heard a door slam and looked back the way they came to see a man in silver armor stained with red walk in. His helmet had horns and he looked like a monster as he raised his sword that was dripping with blood. The four men in the room looked at each other and then dropped whatever they had that weren't their weapons, charging at Gendry at the same time from opposite directions.
The young man remembered what Zoro taught him and he sprinted right, slashing the furthest right man across the chest and picking him off before the rest of his friends could help him. Then he turned and parried the second two blows. As he was holding their swords there, he saw the third man coming up between them with his sword raised. Gendry jumped up in the air and kicked out both of his legs in a dropkick. The two men he was pushing against flew back and knocked their third friend to the ground.
As Gendry was getting off his back, he was too anxious to sprint forward and take care of his foes before they got back up. He didn't realize that the first man he cut was still breathing and grabbed him by the ankle. The young man in iron armor took a step with that foot at the same moment he felt it get grabbed and he fell forward, dropping his sword in the process and it slid across the floor. "Shit!" he muttered and kicked back with his other foot, the metal boot crushing the already injured opponent's face.
One of the first lessons he'd learned before even training with Ser Harrick was to never drop your sword as it was supposed to be an extension of yourself. It was a stupid mistake and he reached for it, an even stupider mistake as one of the faster enemies was already back up on his feet and shoved his sword down, slamming it through Gendry's armor and through his forearm. The point of the blade was going longways up Gendry's arm and he screamed feeling it go through the other side of his arm between his elbow and his wrist.
"He killed Yuri!" one of the men yelled as the other two started kicking Gendry in the sides. His armor protected him a little, but they found the kinks in it and were aiming at them, causing him a great deal of pain. He felt someone step on his back and he reached back, grabbing the man with his left hand despite the pain he felt in his right arm from the strain he was putting against the sword that was stuck through him. Gendry grabbed the man stepping on him's foot and yanked, flipping the guy in midair making his other two friends take a step back.
Gendry then took the hand he used to flip the guy off to grab the hilt of the sword pressed through his arm. The man who shoved it there was using it to keep Gendry pinned to the ground so they could get revenge for Yuri, but he was staring in shock now as Gendry roared in agony and ripped the sword out of his right arm, unpinning himself from the ground.
The man he flipped was back on his feet and charging at him from behind, but Gendry spun and lifted his right arm that was spilling blood through the cracks in his armor. He grasped his enemy by the throat and the man swung his sword weakly at Gendry. The man in the bull helmet parried with his left wristguard and then smacked the man's sword away before punching him in the face with his armored gauntlet.
The man's face became covered in blood and Gendry punched again, this time feeling not only teeth, but bones crack behind his fist. He felt a vibration on the ground behind him and spun, throwing his now limp enemy at the charging one and knocking the man to the floor.
"Pincer," the man underneath his friend groaned as he tried to lift his dead friend. He pushed Pincer off of him and opened his mouth to call for his last remaining comrade to help him, but while he was under his other comrade, Gendry only had his other friend to focus on and a one on one was not fair with the knight they were fighting. Gendry turned from the decapitated man he just killed and looked at the guy getting up from beneath his friend. "Tomas," he whispered as he saw his third comrade's head rolling towards him. "I'll kill you!" he snarled and charged at Gendry, clashing his blade with the other swordsman.
Gendry met the blow with his sword, but then the Ironborn man did something unexpected and headbutted the man wearing a helmet. The guy behind the helmet felt his mind rattle and his ears ring and he stumbled back, while the man with blood pouring down his forehead charged and tackled Gendry to the ground. He ripped the boy's helmet off with one hand and then started pressing his other hand into the knight's face.
Gendry lifted his right arm to swing the blade he got, but his right arm chose that moment to scream out in too much pain to keep going and his arm fell back down, losing its grip on the weapon. The man above him was using both hands now to try and gauge Gendry's eyes out, and all Gendry had to stop him was his left hand that he was desperately pushing the other man's face away with.
The guy roared something about his comrades and the Iron Islands, but Gendry wasn't focused on that. He wrapped his left hand around the back of his enemy's head and pulled down, while at the same time the knight slammed his own head up between his attacker's arms. His forehead slammed into the pirate's this time and he yelled out in pain from the hard headbutt that knocked his opponent backwards. His face felt soaked in blood and he thought he cut his forehead open since head wounds bled a lot, but he quickly realized he was wrong.
His foe dropped down limply on top of him and Gendry realized what had happened. He opened the man's head wound much larger than it originally was and all that blood on his face was actually the other man's blood that had just poured out of him far too fast for the man to handle, despite his lust for revenge. He was panting a lot and was in a lot of pain, but he heard screaming from up above and struggled to get back up and keep fighting.
"What, the Hell?" Gendry got to his feet and grabbed his sword, but the floor beneath him suddenly lurched. I thought the storm was going away when everything calmed down and the ship stopped moving. The ship lurched again and he lost his balance, falling across the tilted room and tumbling across into the wall closest to the stern. "The fuck is happening?!" he shouted and started crawling up the floor to try and make his way up to the deck.
Arya
"Gaon Hou!" she shouted and then fell backwards, tumbling out the figurehead door behind her and across the front deck until she slammed into the ship's wheel. The girl moaned and looked ahead where the bow of the ship was pointed diagonally up at the sky and the beam coming out of the weapon she just fired was aimed above all the enemy ships, right into the clouds above the enemy.
Victarion Greyjoy looked up and may have been the only Ironborn in the entire Bay who wasn't screaming at the top of their lungs. There were a lot of things to be screaming about. First, there was the huge beam of blue light that seemed to suck in light from around it and tore a hole straight through the clouds above him, letting the sun shine through and giving him the first omen that he'd won the battle.
The second omen, was the monstrous tentacle that was lifting the front of the enemy ship up and made it point at the sky in the first place. "The Drowned God is on our side," he stated and yelled back at his sailors. "It's our turn! Charge at the enemy ship now!" No one was going to disobey his orders and they started steering the ship straight at the one with a straw hat skull and crossbones on its sail.
Arya saw the beam stop firing and she cursed herself, still in shock. She thought it was the best time to fire as she didn't see any of her friends in the target zone and the enemy's flagship was in her sights. She thought she could have ended the battle right there, but someone had different plans.
A wolf walked up beside Arya on her right and she turned and stared at its left side, dropping her jaw at the sight of the bloody faced boy on top. "Bran!" she yelled.
"It's no use," a voice said and she turned to see Jon walking up behind the wolf, a terrified look on his face. "He won't respond at all," the ship shook again as it lowered back down into the sea. Arya looked to the bow of the ship and her eyes widened. On a ship, getting tied up directly to the front right of the Sunny, was Chopper. His mouth was gagged and she watched him get tossed into a bag. If I had fired that cannon... "I almost hit him," the girl whispered.
"But you didn't," Jon said and now the girl was thinking about why she didn't. She thought about how as she was looking off the ship, a massive shadow was going under the water and rose up, smashing through eight Greyjoy ships on the starboard side. She looked at Bran and her eyes slowly widened as she put two and two together, realizing who really just saved Chopper.
Zoro jumped as high as he could a split second before the boat beneath his feet shattered into pieces and the men he was fighting were thrown in every direction. He didn't know why he jumped, but for some reason he imagined the ship was about to get blown to bits, and he imagined it so vividly that he didn't doubt himself. The huge tentacle that was coming out of the water was covered in suckers and he stared at it with wide-eyes. That squid we killed on the other side of this island was about the size of this tentacle. He followed it as more and more of it kept coming out of the water all the way out into the Bay where he finally saw the tip of the appendage. Then it started sweeping across behind the Sunny's stern and smashed through every remaining ship on the surface of the water.
"What are you doing?!" Victarion shouted, having no idea why the God of the Sea would be doing something like this to them, its followers.
Bran's eyes were rolled back and Arya jumped on top of Summer, hugging her brother tight as his skin started to feel cold. "Come back Bran, don't lose yourself in there." She caught a glimpse of his right side that she didn't see before from the other side and she had to clench her eyes trying not to think about it. He was so wounded already, and the battle wasn't over yet.
The massive squid that stayed in these parts and was worshiped like a god lifted another of its tentacles above the water and smashed it down. The boy inside it was losing himself, Kill them all! He brought up a tentacle back under that large ship directly above his head and paused; he wondered why he didn't destroy it before. Why didn't I? Was there a reason? His head lifted up and he brought it out of the water behind the ship.
Usopp was lying on a piece of driftwood and he stared in shock as the huge pink head at least three times wide as the Sunny was long, started emerging from the water. The tip of its head got larger, curved in, and then widened again as it kept growing and getting further out of the water. Wow, that's, that's a big squid, he tilted his head at it, the shock too intense to feel any type of fear at the moment. Hmm, maybe it's a Sea King that got lost.
Even when two tentacles wider than the Sunny rose out of the water on either side of the sniper and started waving around in the air, he didn't move, his eyes just stayed glued to the massive eye in the center of the squid's face as it stopped ascending.
Luffy looked back from near the flagship of the enemies and he stared in awe at the monster squid. He watched Zoro jump up in the air and swing back his swords to attempt a flying cannon attack, but it was like the squid knew it was coming and lashed out with one of its tentacles that somehow moved as fast as if someone was throwing a punch.
The green haired swordsman didn't expect the squid to react that fast. He stopped going for the cannon and crossed all three of his blades as the tip of the tentacle slammed into him. The tip pressed against the point that all of his blades crossed, but the force behind the massive arm was far too powerful and shot him backwards, skipping him across the water several times into the distance. The tentacle followed through and then whipped around in the air as the kraken focused on someone else.
"Bran! Is that you?!" Sanji yelled and kept kicking the air beneath him to keep him hovering. He heated up his left leg and apologized to the kid in his mind, but one of the tentacles was getting dangerously close to the ship that Nami and Arya were still on. He shot forward with his flaming leg and the ridiculously fast pirate slammed his leg into its tentacle. "Diable Jambe!" the man roared. His attack heated up the tentacle near the Sunny causing the thing to turn brown around the area he hit.
It looked like he had it, but the partially cooked tentacle only moved back a little from the force of the kick, before slamming down on the blonde haired man and knocking him straight into the deck of the longship he and Robin were on before he jumped up. Sanji came flying down so fast that the raven haired woman had no time to think as the ground beneath her broke apart.
Sanji opened his eyes underwater and saw Robin sinking among the other wreckage. He panicked and swam towards her fast, getting them back up to the surface. He had to grab his left side with his free hand that wasn't holding Robin though, since the pain from getting slammed by the huge tentacle was almost too much for him to handle. He swam towards the front half of the ship that was still afloat and he lifted himself and Robin up there, before collapsing on the deck and grabbing his side in pain.
"Little bro!" Franky yelled over at the giant kraken. He didn't know if it was Bran controlling the thing or not, as it seemed to come at too convenient a time to take care of all their enemies for them. "I'm sorry if it's you little man!" He jumped off the broken ship closest the rear of the Sunny and held his hands together, "Coup de Vent!" the tremendous pressure that was shot out of his forearms slammed into the kid's massive eye and the squid's head snapped back.
The tentacle partially holding up the Sunny dropped back beneath the water, and a few others started flailing around wildly. The remaining Straw Hats on the deck of their ship fell from the shaking and were disoriented with these impossibly massive tentacles whipping around them.
Victarion Greyjoy was smirking as he watched some of the powerful enemies get destroyed. Even as a flailing tentacle hit two more of his remaining eighty or so ships, he didn't bat an eye as his faith in the Drowned God rose. Those ships he destroyed before must have had nonbelievers and men ready to desert on them. Makes sense that they weren't from my Iron Fleet, my men are all faithful. He grinned at his good luck and roared so everyone could hear him. "The Drowned God will protect you if you keep your faith and push yourselves for the advancement of the Iron Islands! Do not stop attacking to the last man! We will win this battle!"
There were thousands of men still on their boats and they heard their commander, smiles replacing the fearful looks on their faces. This was their God, they had the heavens on their side. Most of the Ironborn were not too religious, and pillaged and pirated mainly for themselves. At this moment though, every one of them were praying to this kraken to help them win the battle.
Arya was shaking her brother from behind and she got some of his blood on her arms. "Stop it, stop it now!" she begged, but her brother wasn't in there. He was lost in the giant squid whose head was moving back up and whose eye opened and darted around looking for something.
The eye stopped when it saw the cyborg that attacked it floating in the water and it reached up, grabbing the man and curling the end of one of its previously hidden massive tentacles around him. The huge shadow flew out of the water like it came out of nowhere and it lifted an unsuspecting Franky two hundred feet in the air in a second. Then it reeled back and threw him like a ragdoll.
"Gum Gum, Bone Balloon! Giganto Fuusen!" Everyone snapped their heads in the direction the kraken had just thrown the cyborg and their eyes went wide. Luffy's stomach expanded into the largest Gum Gum Balloon anyone had ever seen and the cyborg shooting through the air hit him and dented the balloon really far in, but then bounced off Luffy's stomach. Franky dropped down to one of the ships below safely that his captain had just jumped off of.
"Thanks Mugi-, thanks Luffy!" Franky called up as the captain dropped down on the front deck of the Sunny after his attack. Luffy was small again and jumped up on top of Summer's head, looking ahead at Bran and the girl behind him who was desperately trying to wake him up.
Jon was protecting the two of them from behind from any men who were trying to get to the front deck. He turned and explained the situation to Luffy quickly who looked back up at the giant squid that had a giant eye looking down the back of the Thousand Sunny and made eye contact directly with the pirate in the straw hat. Luffy grinned, surprising both of Ned Starks' kids on the front deck, "I can take him." He jumped up in the air and his small form turned back to normal with a noticeably shorter cool down than usual.
The pirate pumped down his legs and steam started coming off of him. Arya opened her mouth but Luffy spoke first, "Don't worry. I won't hurt Bran.." he looked up at the humongous kraken that looked ready for him. He remorsefully whispered the end of his sentence quieter so the boy's older sister wouldn't hear him, "...that badly."
A/N Whoa! So much is going on and I tried to write in as many Straw Hats as I could this chapter. Just assume those ones you weren't reading about were also going around kicking ass and wrecking shit. Chopper! Bran! Ghost! Ahhh! Zoro! Sanji! Asha?! Everyone's getting wrecked! Hope you're all enjoying the battle so far! The Gaon Hou fires up in the air, but that turns out to be a good thing as Arya missed noticing one of her comrades fighting on a ship in front of her. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and leave one below telling me what you thought of this chapter!
iitrnr
The build up was great... and now you've left me really anxious for the next chapter.
Maybe you're still awake and will get to read this really soon! But if not then I'm sorry I made you wait the whole day :P.
SlurpthisStuff
Thy asses will be kicked
Oh yeaaaah! One part down and already over half of the Greyjoy's armada is destroyed!
justin D. anderson
How does arya have the yami yami no mi? Is blackbeard dead? Anyway, good chapter. I'm hoping for some enies lobby level sniping from usopp next chapter. And is sogeking ever gonna make an appearance?
Blackbeard I'm saying died in Impel Down because Shiliew wasn't released to help stop Luffy, and therefore could never give Teach the antidote to Magellan's poison. Usopp had a LOT of sniping this chapter and here's the first time it's been really clear that he's killing people too and has accepted it. Back in Winterfell when he saw Nami "dead" on the floor, I bet he killed some people then too, but here he actually had time to think about it and he hesitated for a minute, but in the middle of the battle he couldn't wait very long.
Tsukishiro Sayuki
really good, just throught, Luffy following his father steps, becoming a revolutionary after seeing how the people are and wanting to change things. X
BAM! Mind blown, didn't even think about that, but that was a really good point. I don't really think Luffy would want to follow in his dad's footsteps, but if he doesn't know he is, then no harm done. XD!
birdy
please update soon this is good
Alright, I guess I will, :P Thanks again everyone for reviewing. 'Till next time!