Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.


Rebirth of the Straw Hat

Chapter 29

Luffy, team CFVY, and Timber were standing near a cave entrance that the wolf lead them to. Nothing much happened on the way there, just small Grimm that became more frequent in appearance as they continued.

The timber wolf himself played as a good distraction by using his canine teeth on the weaker Grimms' legs. He may have unlocked his Aura, but he has no knowledge of how to use it due to the lack of proper training.

"Our encounter rate with Grimm has been going up. What are the odds that we're too late and that they already left?" Velvet asked as she peered into the cave with her night vision. It went pretty far in, and that only makes it more foreboding with the darkness that her teammates are seeing.

There was no telling how much time has passed since the den was captured. Either way someone has to gather the guts to enter the cave and investigate.

"I don't think so. I mean, look at Timber. Something very threatening is in there, and it can't be some random Beowolf." Coco countered. Timber was snarling and growling at the entrance to prove her point, indicating that a strong presence was somewhere inside.

They can't just disregard an animal's instinct since it tends to be very accurate.

Yatsu broke away from his thoughts and looked around for their extra team member.

"Where's Luffy?" he asked the three. They looked around in concern, but found no signs of him. Fox decided to pinpoint his location through Observation Haki.

"Oh no..." he said dryly, earning looks of confusion.

"Oi! Where are you stupid Grimm!? Get out of Timber's home so we can kill you!" Luffy's voice echoed from the cave, causing their jaws to drop.

Planning was not a part of his line of thinking, so his impatience lead to him running inside the cave hollering for the Grimm to find him.

"That idiot!" Coco growled out. It was only a matter of time until he...

"Ahhh!" they heard him scream to the top of his lungs. Velvet flinched at the high volume intruding her rabbit ears.

"Luffy!" they called out, the earlier frustration forgotten in favor of worry. They ran inside the hideout to bail their friend out of whatever trouble he got himself into. They didn't get too far in when they found him.

Luffy was sprinting towards them while laughing his ass off, not even stopping as he passed by them. They were confused by how his frightened scream transformed into laughter.

"Hahaha! That thing scared the hell out of me!" he laughed out as he exited the den. Of course, the Grimm have the element of surpise with their black fur blending into the darkness.

The team turned their attention to where he came from to see glowing red eyes staring into their souls. Coco's expression remained passive at the sight, having grown used to seeing Grimm. On the inside, she was trying to suppress her irritation for his stupid stunt.

Not wanting to stick around with a Grimm in tight spaces, they dashed out of the den and caught up with Luffy. The creature revealed itself as it gave chase to its prey.

What came out was a large cat-like beast with huge saber canines protruding from the upper lip. The thin bone armor could be seen on each of its paws, the face, and some more trailing down its back and wrapping around the body in the form of a ribcage. There was also a small amount of armor on the tip of its tail.

"A Saber Fang!?" Velvet confirmed the species. Luffy was busy staring at it with starry eyes.

"So cool! It reminds me of that tiger I fought with Ace and Sabo." Luffy recalled. There were some small differences in its size and build compared to the one that he and his brothers fought when they were kids.

The Saber Fang had a more lean frame built for speed and it was nowhere near as big.

On foot, the cat-like Grimm was gaining on them. If this keeps up, the thing was going to get in range to pounce on them.

"At least it's out of the cave." Coco's irritation rose at the boy's statement.

"If you told us that you were going to drag it out in the open, we could've set up an ambush to kill it!" Coco yelled as she bopped him on the head while running.

Luffy rubbed his head sheepishly before jumping up to a nearby tree. He sprung off the tree and reeled his fist back to get the Saber to back off.

The others agreed to his unspoken gesture. Up against a creature that can close the distance between them, they would have no choice but to turn back and fight at some point. Even if they're surrounded by trees and foliage, they should be able to handle it.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol"

His fist surged forth, but the Saber proved to have quick reflexes by hopping to the side. The tail whipped around and nailed the airborne rubberman in the abdomen, sending him back to his team. Luffy righted himself before landing with a skid.

"That tiger is fast." Luffy muttered. Knowing that its human prey are going to fight back, the Saber Fang backed up into the foliage and escaped their line of sight. The team stood in a circle with their backs against each other to cover their flanks.

"Seems like it's playing the role of an assassin. Keeping out of sight until an opportunity makes itself known." Fox said. They stood there in silence as they anticipated an attack. Both Velvet and Timber felt their ears twitch at the sound of footfalls.

Timber started growling in one direction, alerting Coco that the beast was most likely there. Her gatling gun started to spin before unloading her ammunition at the area. The Saber Fang darted out of hiding and circled her while avoiding the bullets.

When it disappeared into the bushes, she clicked her teeth in annoyance. It was too fast for her to zero in on. She was about to shoot another hailstorm of bullets to clear all of the obstructions, but Luffy held a hand out in front of her to stop her.

"I don't want you to run out of ammo." Luffy told her with a serious expression. She stared at him for a few seconds, wanting to make an argument. In the end, simple rationality won over as she relented. There was no telling how much she'll use over the course of the mission when there could be more Grimm that can take more bullets.

"Got any ideas then?" Coco questioned, curious as to what Luffy had in mind. He just gave her a stupid grin, indicating that the suggestion was also stupid.

"We'll hit it when it's attacking us." he replied, earning a series of facefaults. They jolted back up when they heard clawing sounds followed by rustling branches, informing them that it's now among the trees.

"So a counterattack? I think you're forgetting how fast it is. And it's too scared to approach us when we're looking in every direction... or using our ears." Yatsu pointed out, looking up at the swaying branches.

"Well we can't stand here forever." Luffy countered. They knew he raised a good point. There had to be more than just one Saber Fang involved, and staying in one place is going to eventually have Grimm flocking towards them. Then their main adversary would have all the cover it needs.

Velvet audibly gulped as a scary idea formed, knowing that her team won't like it.

What they need is someone to act as bait to lure it out for the others like what they could've done back at the den. It was a gamble between the bait's life or the Saber Fang's that spans a few seconds.

With a shaky breath, she walked away from the group which didn't go unnoticed. Timber followed her closely while the others were about to protest against her actions.

"Second Gear"

The remainder of the team turned to see Luffy hold his fist on the ground while pumping his legs, entering his steamy state. His serious expression shows that he understood her idea.

'So that's his Second Gear.' they thought after recalling the description given by his cousins. Compared to Third Gear, it didn't look nearly as imposing. The thought just occurred that his enhanced speed should be able to work against the Saber Fang.

"This is going to end in an instant." he muttered, keeping his eyes on Velvet as she ventured to a spot where he could still see her. They nodded their heads in agreement and stood on standby, ready to act on his initiative. It may be fast, but it'll be quick work if they can catch it by surprise and start a combo while keeping up the momentum.

Velvet stopped in what would be a suitable position to be enticing bait. She was far enough away to make the attacker think that her allies wouldn't reach her in time, yet close enough where said allies can see her clearly.

Fear tried to settle into her mind, but it was quelled by the reassurance that her team would have her back. She too has seen Luffy's Second Gear through the spars she spectated in secret. While the action she saw was brief, Velvet had a feeling Luffy would know what to do.

Her rabbit ears stiffened as she heard a distinct roar closing in on her from behind. Velvet whipped her head around to see the black beast in midair, jaws open wide and ready to bury them into her.

Timber served as the alarm with his loud bark reaching the others.

"Now!" Coco signaled in a hush tone. The three heard before Luffy blurred out of sight, briefly shocking them with his speed.

The boy reappeared between Velvet and the feline Grimm with his leg stretched out.

"Gomu Gomu no Jet Whip"

His leg blindsided the airborne beast with incredible speed, sending it over to the rest of his team.

The Saber Fang plowed through the dirt towards Coco before she kicked it high in the air. Fox went up next as he spiraled into the air with his arm blades and lacerated the Grimm before using its body as a springboard. The creature recovered as it fell in Yatsu's direction.

The large man steeled himself before thrusted with his curved sword. A sickening squelch was heard along with a dying howl as the Saber Fang flailed around. Its claws scratched his arms several times and its tail was hitting him in the chest in desperation, causing him to grit his teeth as he endured the pain until it finally went limp.

Kicking the dead creature off his sword, Yatsu lets out a sigh as the corpse dissipated.

Once they regrouped, Luffy crossed his arms and pouted at the spot where the corpse was.

"I thought it'd be tougher than that. How boring." Luffy complained, overestimating their opponent. He had high hopes that fighting the Saber Fang was going to be exciting.

"Like Fox said, it was a Grimm centered around assassination. They're only effective when their presence isn't known yet. It also helped that there was so many of us huddled together." Velvet reasoned.

It was pretty much over when Luffy dragged it out of hiding once its attempt on the boy's life failed. While it was indeed fast, it was on its own against a team that gathered their bearings.

"The power of jolly cooperation." Fox added, earning some strange looks.

Luffy suddenly jumped in surprise when he felt a smack on his butt. He turns his head to see Coco smirking.

"Nice going there, Luffy. That Second Gear of yours really helped too. When they told us that you get a speed boost from it, I wasn't expecting near-teleportation." she said, very impressed with the technique's effectiveness.

"So why did you spank me?" Luffy asked in confusion.

"It's her way of showing some camaraderie. That and compliment on someone's performance." Fox explained.

"So she spanks people for doing something good? That's really weird." Luffy commented while tilting his head, earning sweatdrops from the others. He always thought it was a way for a parent to punish their child whenever they did something bad.

"D-don't think too deeply on it." Velvet advised after seeing how perplexed he is.

The short respite and chatter didn't last long as the ground started to shake underneath their feet. Now on high alert, the team searched the area for the thing responsible.

The sounds of toppled trees brought their attention and saw a huge white boulder heading their way. They stood their wide eyed at the thing that's about to steamroll them.

Luffy hastily thought of an idea and threw his arms out and wrapped them around a tree. The others, including Timber, quirked a brow at him until they noticed that they were between his arms.

'Uh oh' they thought in unison.

"Gomu Gomu no Rocket"

The rubber boy used his body and collected everyone as he reeled himself towards the tree. They all crashed into the tree he grabbed just in time as the boulder sped by, failing to run them over.

"Uugh... as much as I want to thank you for the save, you could've given us a heads up." Coco groaned within the heap of bodies.

"Hehe, sorry." Luffy apologized before looking to where the boulder went. Rows of trees have fallen in its wake, giving them a clear view of the anomaly.

The boulder hopped in the air before uncurling itself to show the familiar black skin of the Grimm. The creature before them had a hulking body that was designed to curl into a ball of incredibly thick bone armor, with thinner plating on the inside of the supposed shell.

Its backside had half a sphere attached to it, while the arms had large shields that made up for the rest of the sphere to make the boulder it once was. Its legs were very small compared to the rest of its appearance, yet it stands as tall as a building. The head was also small in size and was almost shaped like a orb with a mouth.

As opposed to the sleek and swift Saber Fang, this one looked to be a tank with all the armor found on it. Either way, Luffy was staring in childish amazement of the new species.

"What are you seeing? A steamroller." Fox joked. Even though he's blind and unable to 'see' the silhouette of the Grimm, there was no mistaking the sound of a huge object blazing through the dirt and trees.

"I think it's a Golem. First time we get to kill one, but I can tell that it's going to be a bitch with all that armor." Coco noted with a twitching eye. It did wonders to come prepared by skimming through a book that cataloged the many types of Grimm that humanity faced.

Kind of strange that no one bothered looking for such a book in the first place.

She emphasized her point by unloading some gatling rounds at it, but the Golem placed the shield arms in front to block the bullets. The armor was far more thicker than that of a Deathstalker's, which she would know since the ammunition was able to destroy the scorpion Grimm with ease.

Although, that defensive response must mean that the body inside the armor is not as tough. Which also shows that it had past experiences with firearms and refuses to take chances.

Coco gestures for Yatsu and Luffy to tag team against the Golem. The rest of her team didn't have any feasible way of harming the creature so they would just get in the way.

"This might be a job for your Third Gear, Luffy." Yatsu suggested. His own physical strength may also not be enough to get through the thick armor. If he struck a blow to the main body, then that should prove to be effective.

The Golem wasn't going to make it easy for them, though.

His words fell on deaf ears as the boy rushed ahead of him. Yatsu groaned at his reckless attitude, but soon followed him to offer support. Guess they're going to try without resorting to Third Gear for now.

Taking the drawback into consideration, it wouldn't bode well for them if Third Gear didn't outright kill the Golem.

"We have no choice but to leave it to those two, don't we?" Velvet grimaced from the sidelines, feeling powerless to help. Timber whined beside her, feeling the same as her.

These humans were going out of their way to liberate the den for his pack. His pride won't allow him to flee, not when there are other Grimm in his territory.

"Nothing much we can do except rely on our heavy hitters." Fox confirmed as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

The rabbit faunus gave a reluctant nod. Her ears stiffened when she heard strange clicking sounds, but couldn't distinguish which direction it was coming from yet.

"Looks like we have ourselves some company." Velvet notified. The three scanned the area around to find no movement while the timber wolf stood tall with his ears twitching.

"Coco!" Fox shouted in alarm as Observation Haki picked up an attack. He was about to shove his leader out of the way, but Velvet beat him to it. The moment the girls switched places, a net forced Velvet to the ground. Struggle as she might, the net was stuck to the ground with her trapped under.

"You alright?" Fox asked Velvet.

"Peachy..." was her response. Her voice held some annoyance as she knew what exactly they're up against.

"Great... we have a Widow." Coco recognized the sticky web as a primary feature to the Widow. Recalling where the shot came from, her sprayed some rounds into the branches, forcing the Widow to come out of hiding. Meanwhile, Timber was by Velvet's side as he tried to bite through the web to free her.

The Widow was a cross between a spider and a humanoid. The bottom half consisted of the body of the spider with rings of armor around the abdomen with small spikes. The top half housed the humanoid portion from the waist up, bearing clawed hands and mandibles for a mouth.

The girls felt a shiver go down their spines at the sight of the grotesque creature. Out of all the Grimm they encountered, that had to be the most disgusting one in their opinion.

Wanting to get it over with really quick, Coco trained her sights on the Widow. Before her weapon could rev up completely, the spider Grimm shot a rope of string from its wrist and attached it to the gun. Grabbing hold of its strings, the Widow yanked on them. Coco didn't give an inch as she held strong in a match of tug a war, unable to shoot her gatling.

Since it wasn't getting anywhere like this, the Widow jumped up and reeled itself towards her. Sensing the distress that she's in, Fox runs up and severs the string while the recently freed Velvet leaps up and connected a kick to the Widow's neck.

The oversized spider snarled at her for the interference.

"You know what... screw bullets! You're getting crushed under my foot, you pest!" Coco shouted with shark teeth, growing infuriated by the second. She tears the web that was still on her gun before strutting her way to the Widow. To her surprise, Timber jumped over her and bit down on the nape of the neck on the Widow's humanoid half.

The spider hissed as it thrashed around to shake off the wolf. Timber lost his grip and flew back to Coco's side before gagging at the taste of the Grimm.

"Aren't you gutsy. No wonder why you're the pack leader." she cooed as she patted his head, earning a yip in response. They both turned to see the Widow shooting web nets at the duo, making them backpedal to avoid them.

Two small explosions made contact with the Widow, causing it to shriek. Velvet kept her aim on the Grimm with a hard light version of Black Kabuto. Hearing the sounds of its legs, Fox capitalized on its stunned state and ran past it while severing half of its legs on one side.

Realizing its life threatening predicament, The Widow tethered two strings to a pair of branches and pulled itself out of reach before Coco could smash it with her handbag.

Velvet took a few more shots with the slingshot, but the tree branches were blocking their course. They soon heard four squelching sounds beyond the veil of tree leaves, signaling them of the spider's unique ability.

Regeneration... specifically its lost limbs. However, it needs to put in some heavy concentration to initiate the regeneration.

Coco clicked her teeth in annoyance at the thought of dealing with a fresh new Widow. A pair of white whips lashed out from hiding, surprising the group.

Fox was able to avoid the attacks with ease, but the others weren't as fortunate. Each whip clung to the girls, one on Coco's ankle and the other on Velvet's arm. The two were yanked off the ground and were helpless as to what was about to happen.

The whip holding the fashionista flailed about, slamming her against the trees before crashing into the ground. The air was squeezed out of her lungs as she made a rough impact to the dirt.

Velvet suffered a similar punishment, but she managed to conjure a hard light copy of Gambol Shroud and sever the string holding her.

"You okay, Coco?" she called out in concern after cutting her leader loose.

"Y-yeah." was her response as she recovered from her dazed state and stood back up. She looked around for their blind teammate, but soon found her answer from the rustling branches.

The Widow emerged from the trees and crashed onto the ground with its arms severed, most likely Fox's handiwork. It tried to stand up, but Coco planted her foot on the back of its head and forced it back down to eat dirt.

A rope of string shot out of the abdomen in an attempt for a slippery escape, but Velvet chipped off the end where the string came from.

"We're not letting you get away again!" she claimed. Coco gave her a nod while her thoughts were on how to dispose of it. Fox dropped in and landed in a crouch and felt the ground shake under them.

The Golem was still around...

"Hey Timber. Wanna do the honors?" Coco called out to the wolf, gesturing to the vulnerable spider Grimm. As much as she wants to crush its skull herself, she would let him deal the finishing blow for the sake of his territory.

Timber understood what she meant and ran beside the creature and clamped his entire mouth around the slender neck. The Widow squirmed in futility as the timber wolf chewed through its jugular, ending its life.

To celebrate his kill, Timber howled into the air to signal his brethren of a victory.

"Guess he couldn't help but gloat to his friends." Fox snorted, earning nods of agreement.

The ground shook again as a reminder of Luffy and Yatsu's ongoing struggle. They don't know if they could be of any help against something so heavily armored, but they may as well try to find the two and what they can do.

Coco nodded to Fox in silent communication for him to use Observation Haki to get their location before he started leading them.

"So guys... who wants to bet that the Golem is the big boss here?" Coco asked. The two grimaced at the thought, realizing where she was getting at.

"No one, because we all think there's something more nasty." Fox countered. Imposing as it is, he had a feeling that it wasn't the one leading the vanguard of Grimm.


End of Chapter

With Christmas around the corner, this story won't get updated anytime soon. Just one more unidentified OC Grimm and the Golem left, and Luffy's side should be finished.

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