Chapter 26: Chanting Mask
"What the hell is that thing?" Sanji yelled, barely missing being trampled by the masked freak's foot.
"It's DEAD, that's what it is! Double Lightning Javelin!" I roared, hurling two lances of pure energy at our foe.
"Eeyah HOI!" It rattled its mask as it raised its shield and deflected my attack, negating it entirely. Bringing his shield down, he raised his arm high and the whistle of his club sounded through the air, hoping to crush me.
Rolling to the left, I willed power to my legs as I charged power with my right arm. "Blitzkrieg!" Appearing right in front of its mask, I surged forward, it leaning back with club in hand.
"Talon Shoot!" Sanji had rushed to my aid as I began my attack, striking Odolwa's left heel and thus threw off its balance as I neared my opponent.
"Tempest…" I said, 'cocking' my arm and throwing it forward when I was a mere inch from between his eyes. "SHOTGUN!" The blast caught him entirely unguarded, sending him reeling backward, where Sanji laid in wait.
"Anti-Manner…" He said coolly, not caring about the massive shadow cast over him as he lifted his leg. Just when the giant was nearly upon him, "Kick Course!" the monster suddenly lurched upward, belly to the air and ripples of force emanated from underneath him. While he was airborne, I had recovered from the Shotgun's recoil and had charged once again, leaping into the trees for an aerial assault. Seeing Sanji duck away from Odolwa's descent, I jumped into the air above and descended, fists above my head as I darted for him like a falcon diving to the mouse.
"Spiral Thunder!" I struck it full force in its stomach, finishing our tag team combo, Odolwa slamming into the ground and kicking up a mountain of dust from the impact. Leaping backward out of the dirt-storm, I regrouped with Sanji near the shattered remains of the wax hideout.
"Think he's down?" Sanji asked, the dust beginning to settle slightly.
"Not a chance." I replied as a silhouette of our enemy appeared within the cloud, "Odds are we just pissed him off."
As if answering my question, the towering terror soon began stomping his feet before lifting his head and arms to sky, the dust returning to the ground as he yelled to the heavens. "YADO LA, YADO LA, YADO LA!" It was then the jungle roared as insectoid clicking and the beating of massive wings filled the air, hundreds of massive bugs soon rushed out of the woods, intent on making me and Sanji their prey.
"BUGS? DISGUSTING!" Sanji shrieked as he pummeled a dog-sized moth into oblivion.
"Stop your whining and squash 'em!" I yelled back, dodging the jaws of a centipede the size of a SUV, leaping over its lunge and throwing out my legs during the descent, stomping its head in. Whirling around, I grabbed a monster mosquito by its needle-like mouth, unloaded a massive payload to zap it to death before punching away a giant moth.
"Watch out!" I only had a split second to react to Sanji's warning, Odolwa making use of our distraction and had attempted to once again turn me to confetti using his club.
"Blitzkrieg!" I flashed away to avoid the direct impact of his attack, but the resulting shockwave threw me tumbling into a tree. As I was thrown, I could only hear the sickening crackle of flesh and exoskeleton being mashed into pulp, and when I arose, saw the display of Odolwa's mercy upon his enchanted subjects, their still twitching legs and oozing remains stuck upon his weapon. Even with their comrades slaughtered by their master, more insects burst forth from the jungle to combat us.
"Sanji! That club has gotta go!" I yelled at him as I charged up, a swift nod from his direction was his answer as he implanted his heel into the skull of a mammoth cockroach. Shifting my gaze to the legion of insects, formed two massive balls in my hands and rushed into the fray.
"Double…" Throwing one at an incoming pack, "Tempest…" Launching the other into a swarm of flying vermin, "BOMB!" They exploded, sending parts of Odolwa's reinforcements flying through the air as he swung his club low to the ground, a horizontal cleave that skimmed the ground, and though its intent was for me, was currently decimating his bug army. Leaping into the air, I felt the whoosh of air beneath as his swing went by.
"Slice Shoot!" Sanji had charged from Odolwa's left, spinning through the air and delivering a super-powered strike to its wrist, with a grunt of pain, relinquished its weapon. The club continued with its momentum, spinning through the air and devastating another good portion of its army, finally stopping as it struck two gargantuan tree trunks.
Sanji now used this to his advantage, leaping onto the now-weaponless arm extended before and dashing to the top of it, "Joue!", slamming his foot into Odolwa's cheek. Sanji moved again to attack, only to be grabbed by a swift green hand. Rushing in to help, I was soon beset by swift chop kick, his foot lording over my body as it flung me along the ground.
Odolwa raised Sanji into the air high above its head, and as the cook cursed at him with every profanity in the book, was slammed into the ground at breakneck speed, having been fastballed by the beast. It was then Odolwa hefted his leg into the air above Sanji's crater in the ground, to crush him like we had been doing to his insect armada.
"Blitzkrieg…" I lunged at Odolwa at my fastest speed, flying like a bullet, "CANNONBALL!" I crashed into his ribs, and throwing him once again off balance, he collapsed into the jungle below, trees breaking upon his landing. I had been thrown with him into the darkness, and now I rolled along the ground, finding my landing to be a large bush. Spitting out leaves and curses, I rustled my way out of the place I had fallen and dashed back towards the clearing, finding Sanji back on his feet and using them to pulverize any bug foolish enough to in range.
Seeing a squad of mosquitoes dive down upon him, I raised my hand at them and threw the horns. "Chain Lightning!" Arcing from one bug to another, the bolt had done its job as all six of the vermin fell to the ground in a crumpled mess.
"There's no end to these shitty parasites!" He shouted furiously as he roundhouse-kicked a rather large earthworm.
"HO-KUE GIE, HO-KUE GIE, HO-KUE GIE!" Odolwa now belted out as he danced upon one foot, quickly switching to the other as he ranted.
"Is it just me…or is it getting warmer?" I asked, feeling the temperature rise as I wiped off a growing mass of sweat at the top of my head before uppercutting a giant cockroach. Seeing it fly off, it was soon cut in half mid-air as it flew only a dozen or so yards, a wall of blue fire appearing out of thin air. It turned out to be a ring of fire, as all visible angles were cut off by an encroaching barrier of flame, the bugs outside backing off and leaving those still trapped within to their fate to be burned alive as a centipede caught aflame.
"Shit…too high to jump over…" Sanji said as he tilted his head upwards, punting a cockroach into the wall. "And too hot to go through…" He remarked, seeing the bug light up as if it was dipped in gas.
Hearing Odolwa still chant in the background, I looked around and found an interesting object. "Perhaps we just need to throw off his concentration on the spell?" I grinned evilly, Sanji matching mine as he followed my gaze.
"HO-KUE GIE, HO-KUE GIE, HO-KUE GIE!" Our captor rang out, still performing his dance to keep his prey trapped within the ring, soon to be ash.
"BLAZING JAVELIN!" It was then a massive object flew like a dart through the flames, though it caught ablaze, it rocketed straight towards the casting demon. Instinctively raising its shield, Odolwa braced for the incoming projectile to strike his now protected chest and head…only its path led it much lower…
"EEEYYOOOIII!" A very high-pitched shriek came from the prancing giant as our flaming log-turned-javelin struck true in its target, and as Odolwa crumpled over, clutching its groin, his wall of flame dissipated.
"Yosha…good shot." Sanji remarked, lightning a cigarette on the now-dying flames.
"And here I thought Track and Field would never pay off…" I laughed, flexing my arms.
It was then a trembling Odolwa began lifting itself up again. "Honestly…Why won't this guy go down already?" The cook huffed, expelling a wind of smoke.
"Oi, keep him busy." I said as I dashed away.
"What a minute, what's the plan?" He yelled after me.
"The Decoy Plan!"
"Decoy Plan…I'M THE DECOY?"
I bolted to where Odolwa had flung his favored weapon, and holding back some bile boiling up in my throat, waded through the guts and blood of the splattered remains of his bug minions. Making my way through the insect morgue, I grabbed hold of the handle, surging energy into my muscles to heft it from its perch and grabbing it by its end, targeted my foe. Sanji was successful in baiting the massive giant into battle, goading the demon with hit-and-run attacks, never staying in one place for too long having learned his mistake when he ascended to its shoulder.
Digging my fingers into the carving, I began winding up as though I was back in Track, twirling around and around, faster and faster as the club began picking up speed. Becoming a mini-tornado, I then put the brakes on my spinning, skidding into the dirt as my eyes focused on my target, my arms still coming around and bearing the object that would end Odolwa.
"SHOTPUT…." Bringing my arms around, I released the club, "GUILLOTINE!" Spinning through the air like a deranged Frisbee, the club whistled as it spun towards its goal.
*SCCHHLLUUCCCKK*
The club made a horrendous sound as it tore into Odolwa's throat, its teeth digging hard and true into its veins, black rivers instantly flowing down its body as it shivered and attempted to lift its arms to remove the object.
"Eeeyahhh…hoi" Was all it whispered before its knees struck the ground, the burning eyes vanishing from its sockets and it toppled onto its side, its obsidian blood created a macabre pool, while its remaining minions, now free from its spell, slithered back into the darkness from where they came.
As I neared Sanji, I found a piece of tooth from the club, probably shipped from when he had struck ground. Picking it up, it was the size of a soda can and its whiteness sparkled in the sun. Pocketing it away for my souvenir case, I met with Sanji as he held his cigarette, watching intently as I performed my ritual and seeing our former opponent dissolve and integrate into my crystal.
"Why don't you suck up everything we had killed?" He asked bluntly, surveying the bugs we had squished and pummeled. "Come to think of it, you only absorbed that Trickmaster thing back in Loguetown…"
"Perhaps I'll tell you one day." I chuckled, then deciding to change the subject, I pointed at him and continued, "You still got that Eternal Pose?"
Nodding his head, he went to where he had thrown off his jacket earlier, and pulled out the small glass sphere, its needle still pointing where it should.
"Good, let's go…the others are probably waiting for us." I began walking off, Sanji at my side.
A short while after Lily using her Spirit Pulse and filling in Sanji on the giants, we managed to find our fellow crewmates with two heavily-bandaged giants…and of course the minute they came in sight, Sanji went into love-Sanji mode.
"Vivi-chwaaan! Nami-swaaan!...And the rest of you dorks!" He chirped, flapping his arm gaily as he swooned over, me just walking casually behind him. "Everybody's safe, right?"
"Yo, Sanji! Khurt!" A shirtless Luffy called out to us.
"What happened to you two?" Vivi asked worriedly, seeing us somewhat ragged and beaten up.
"We got ambushed by a big guy with a mask…and a tooth club…and an army of insects…and a wall of fire…" I replied, as if she was asking what I had for breakfast.
"Impossible…you humans faced Odolwa?" Brogy spoke up, surprise evident in his voice.
"Fought…and beat." I said, giving a thumbs up.
"Who's Odolwa?" Nami asked, looking over our injuries.
Dorry fielded this, "No one knows what Odolwa is…some who come here call him a demon, to others a guardian of the jungle…all we know is that he is dangerous to anyone who treads here…he even tried to gut us when we first arrived…He is a coward, running away if he cannot win and striking when you're least aware." He ended, fist trembling. "But you…humans defeated him…that is no small feat!"
"I'm sure anyone would go down not soon after taking a flaming log to the gonads…" Lily giggled in my head.
"Shut it, you…desperate times…" I thought back.
Regaling our tale, I started when I had attempted to chase down Nami and Usopp and had found Sanji instead…and soon revealing what we had acquired, Vivi practically tackled Sanji with a hug and it was then the others filled us in on what had occurred in our absence.
Wishing the giants a fond farewell, we walked through the forest and began preparing the Merry for voyage…minus Zoro and Sanji who were playing the I-Am-Manliest game through a hunting contest, Zoro boasting about his triceratops and Sanji over his T-rex.
"So…what was the deal concerning? Weight, Length, Height…what?" I asked, watching them bicker back and forth.
"It's whoever has the most edible meat on it who wins! And look, that thing barely has any!" Sanji yelled, pointing at Zoro's hunt.
"Yours is all tendons!" Zoro shot back.
"It's not all going to fit on the ship, anyway…just bring up all that we can carry!" Nami ordered…and when the two didn't comply…she began 'persuading' them…truly terrifying. After stowing away all the dino meat until the Merry was filled, we began floating down the river, and upon reaching its mouth, found the two giants standing upon opposite banks, capes billowing dramatically in the wind.
"For all the humans who have come to this island…" Brogy began.
"The biggest threat to them leaving is right ahead…" Dorry spoke up.
"You guarded our honor with your lives…"
"And for that…we must do the same…no matter the foe!"
"Now then, believe in us and go straight ahead! Do not falter from the course ahead!" They both shouted in synch.
"We got it!" Luffy yelled back from his perch. "WE GO STRAIGHT AHEAD, NO MATTER WHAT!"
We had not gone twenty yards from the island when a freaking goldfish the size of Rhode Island emerged from the waters.
"Oh…crap." Was all I could say as it surfaced fully, mouth agape and us drifting into it as if it were a tunnel. The giants began roaring behind us, but all we could focus on was the massive set of chompers passing us by as we lazily slid further inward.
"Straight ahead!" Luffy shouted enthusiastically.
"Straight ahead! Straight ahead!" Usopp began chanting, tears rolling down his face from fear.
"Anytime now, fellas…" I said under my breath nervously as the goldfish clamped its mouth shut and we were surrounding by darkness…Luffy all the while shouting "Straight ahead!"
*FWWAAASSSHHHOOOMMMMM*
A sudden burst of spiraling blue and red energy pierced the goldfish, creating a tunnel through its body, but also whisking us away on its backlash, sending us flying through the air out of the creature's stomach and further on our journey. I had rolled backward and smacked the cabin, Carue and Sanji soon joining me in a pirate pileup as we soared through the air.
"Always nice to have such a happy ending after an arc…" I muttered mentally as I spat out feathers.
End of Chapter
Blazing Javelin was originally called Searing Castration Arrow of Pain…but I cringed when I wrote it…
Anyways, I'm excited to finally be getting to the Drum Island Arc! And don't worry Raidentensho, you'll get your wish!