Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or One Piece. How about a contract for probationary ownership for a year? Come on you guys, take a vacation and let someone else handle it for a while. Everyone needs a break right?
Chapter 36: At Your Heels
Almost a full day after the arrival of the Foxhound Pirates, the doors to a casino set in the titanic meteor of Constellation Island flew open with Paulie getting hurled out by bouncers, "An I.O.U.? What the hell kind of place do you think this is? Come back when you actually have money to gamble with!" The burly men said before walking back into the establishment.
Paulie picked himself up off of the ground and dusted his clothes off as he grabbed the cigar that had fallen from his mouth off of the ground, "Okay! Fine! I didn't want to stay in your shitty casino anyway! The dice are loaded! There's no way I could lose that much for real!"
Soren and Johnny walked out of the doors behind him with grins on their faces and multiple six-packs of bottles in their possession, "I told you, don't gamble unless Naruto-aniki is around. You'd never lose that way." Johnny said as he handed a bottle to Paulie only to grab it right back once he saw the shipwright prepared to chuck it at the casino he had just been thrown from, "No."
Soren shook his head in complete amusement at what he had just borne witness to for the last several hours, "You fucking suck dude… that was just a joy to watch."
Before possibly further raising a stink about his monetary situation, Paulie decided to be proactive over the whole situation, "Hey, can I borrow some money from you guys?" Instead of answering verbally, Johnny and Soren looked at each other and simply began walking away, "Oh come on! We're crewmates aren't we? Doesn't that mean something?"
"My pay goes here." Soren said, holding up a bottle before downing it swiftly and wiping his mouth, "It'll come back out later if you still want it though." He finished before getting caught in Paulie's ropes wrapping tightly around his body, "Ha! Oh come on, that was a good joke. No need to be so sore about it."
The less inebriated of the pair that included himself and the acid-spitting first mate, Johnny made sure to take the other six-packs from the tied up Soren to make sure that he didn't drop them or melt them by accident when he decided to break out of Paulie's strong ropes, "If you really want money you should go find Nojiko-aneue. She's the one that hands it out no matter what Naruto-aniki says about him being the boss."
Soren rolled his eyes, still allowing himself to be tied up by Paulie's ropes instead of just generating acid and getting through them, "If you ask for money from Nojiko you'd better do it behind some cover. Actually nevermind, because she can fire behind cover."
"She wouldn't shoot anybody just for asking for money. Now you're getting ridiculous." Johnny said before looking around the part of town they were in, "Hey, where did everyone go? The streets were kind of buzzing when we went in there and now this place is dead." As far as they had seen this town never really stopped operating because of the lack of daylight, making it so that light was not really a factor in the activity of the island.
Paulie took a puff of his cigar and joined Johnny in looking around the deserted streets, "Maybe this place's lazy clock just had everybody synch up at the same time and they're all taking one big power nap?"
"Fire!"
"Or..." Soren said, trailing off once he heard the firm call for something to fire, "This could be happening."
BOOM
The sound of a cannon blast got all three of the Foxhound Pirates to scatter before a cannonball smashed into the ground right where they had been standing. They looked in the trajectory of the blast to see a cannon set up on a hill in the meteor that had a good vantage point on them.
"Johnny-boy if you would." Soren requested plainly from a perch on an awning of a building as he saw a mass of Marines charging down the streets at them with sabers drawn.
Johnny nodded and flicked his guard from his sheathe with his thumb before taking off directly at them faster than they could see, cutting down the lesser sword users with nothing visible other than flashes of silver and the blood flying off of the wounded Marines, "Suberu J (Sliding J)!" With the dozens of Marines dealt with he proceeded to charge through the streets towards the hill where the cannon was set.
The cannon operating team on the hill could see Johnny moving towards them at a blisteringly inhuman pace, with any Marine group trying to halt his rush getting cut down without his sword looking like it was never even drawn to strike them down with. A second cannon blast missed him miserably and before the desperate team could load another shot he was upon them, easily defeating them.
After taking out the cannon, Johnny took a seat on top of it and waved down at Paulie and Soren before hopping off and racing back to them. In a few seconds he stood in front of them with his hand on his sheathed sword, "Time!"
"Twenty six seconds and I think you got over a hundred guys at the fifteen mark. One hundred seventeen in all." Paulie said as he placed a stopwatch back into his pocket.
"Fuck! I'm slow!" Johnny yelled loudly, kicking a nearby wall, "Zoro-aniki would have finished that in fifteen!"
"What did you do to my men?"
At the end of the street all three of the pirates could see Tashigi standing there among her gravely injured underlings with an angry look on her face while she clutched her sword tightly.
Johnny and Paulie took one gigantic step away from Soren as he continued to stare at her. Both of them pointed at Soren to shift blame while Soren was unable to point the finger at anyone due to the fact that he was still tied up, "Uh… hi." He eventually said, trying to smooth things over with a sheepish grin, "I bet you're wondering why so many Marines are laying here and bleeding out all over, and that's actually a funny story. Well, not so much 'ha-ha' funny as 'painful' funny… because I can tell you that they're definitely in pain."
"You again!" Tashigi said fitfully, drawing her sword and pointing it at Soren. As she did this hundreds more reinforcements came up to back her up, but she held up a hand stopping them from advancing, "Don't get any closer to him, he's too dangerous for you all to fight."
"Baby I'm too dangerous for you to fight." Soren said with a wolfish grin though any charming effect it would have possibly had for him was stunted by the tattoo going down the side of his face and the sharp canines, "So did the lesson from the last time I kicked your ass sink in yet? I can do it without my hands if that'll help." He wiggled his fingers tied to his sides earlier by Paulie for emphasis.
Tashigi immediately set herself in a ready stance, prepared to take him on, "You're all trapped! There's no way for you to even get out of the meteor, let alone all the way back to your ship. Just surrender now!"
Soren just gave her a deadpan stare before opening his mouth to speak. Whatever smart remark he was about to make never came to fruition as he bent his body back almost inhumanly to avoid a slash of Tashigi's sword meant for probably his neck, "What the hell!" Soren yelled as he jumped and landed on another awning out of her striking distance, "You don't ask someone to surrender and then attack them before getting their answer!"
"It was clear that you weren't going to surrender. You didn't even present your hands." Tashigi said, defending her actions.
Hearing that response, Soren got a tick mark on his head and growled at her, "That's because I'm tied up already! What do you want from me woman? Ibi Ibi no Danmaku (Rot Rot Barrage)!" He spat rapid acid bullets at Tashigi that she immediately began dodging as the Marines with her saw why they didn't have a chance once the bullets began to sizzle into the pavement. Eventually Tashigi got through them to reach Soren's awning and slashed it apart in her attempt to get him, missing once he jumped off again and seemingly skipped on the air to get to the roof.
As Tashigi attempted to find her own way to take off after Soren, Johnny and Paulie stood watching off to the side, "Should we, I don't know, get involved and help him out?" Paulie asked as the female swordsman eventually made her way up to the roof to try and give chase to Soren.
Johnny watched as Tashigi made it to the rooftop and again tried to fight Soren only for him to jump from building to building to avoid her, "Nah… he's fine. I think he'd be pretty upset if we just crashed his first date like that. Let's leave those crazy kids alone."
Paulie could see Soren continuing to dodge close-range sword strikes, still tied up by the way, as Tashigi continued trying to dice him up, "…You're kidding right?" It sounded bizarre, but with the people that he currently associated with it wasn't that much so in the grand scheme of things.
"Only a little bit though. That's the weird thing about it." Johnny said, adjusting his sunglasses on his face before paying attention to the Marines ahead of them barring their path, "So now what?" That was enough to get the Marines to pay attention to them again, the numbers now having increased in the meantime, "Get back to the ship?"
"Back to the ship…" Paulie said, disappointed that he wouldn't get more time to gamble and get his money back.
"Hey, you can't just leave! Get them!" A Marine shouted, getting the lot of them to charge at Johnny and Paulie to attack the two men.
Paulie sighed, breathing out smoke due to his cigar before he sent out several ropes from his clothes in order to grab multiple Marines, "Roupu Akushon: Raundo Taun (Rope Action: Round Turn)!" After grabbing the chosen Marines, Paulie spun around and used the men at the end of his lines as makeshift weapons to wipe out the attacking force by the droves.
Johnny ran forward once Paulie finished his attack and held out an arm. A rope from Paulie latched onto him and the shipwright spun around in another circle, using Johnny in the same manner that he did the Marines from just a moment ago as a weapon. A human weapon with a blade. One rotation from him and Johnny managed to cut down dozens of enemies. A second turn led to Johnny cutting himself loose, flying down the street at the other Marines as he bounced off of walls like a pinball, landing in the streets as well to cause havoc, "Hanekaeru Eikyou (Rebound Impact)!"
"Well that's one way to clear a path." Paulie said as he started to follow behind through the trail of bodies that Johnny happened to be leaving.
XxX
(With Soren)
"Okay…" Soren said, jumping away from another slash by Tashigi, landing on another rooftop, "I'm really tired of this. If you haven't noticed so far, I'm really drunk. I'm surprised I haven't fallen yet." He said, swaying slightly on his feet before standing back straight up, "What is Smoker's problem? How many times do we have to kick his and your asses for him to get the point?"
"You sure do whine a lot for being a part of one of the crews that destroyed Enies Lobby." Tashigi commented before jumping across to Soren's roof, only for him to move again, "Why won't you fight me?"
"Like I said." Soren said, still allowing himself to remain tied up, more or less ignoring his bindings, "I'm very drunk. And we had a really good reason to go to Enies Lobby. We didn't even destroy it. You guys did that to yourselves." He dodged a swing before letting his body go stiff to block Tashigi's sword with his Tekkai.
Tashigi was stunned by her sword just bouncing off of Soren's body as if he were a rock, however she didn't give up, "You pirates can't just do as you like! The law exists for a reason. The world is bad enough without outlaws like you disturbing what little order there is on the seas!"
"I agree." Soren said, throwing a lazy kick that Tashigi dodged before pulling his leg back, lest he lose it messing around with the woman, "And if it wasn't for the fact that tons of Marines don't abide by their own laws I probably wouldn't be living like this. If Marines don't follow their own rules then why should I?" A series of backflips got him back out of Tashigi's range again before he threw a kick that fired a blade of compressed air, "Rankyaku (Storm Leg)!"
The swordswoman didn't feel like testing her luck with seeing if she could block the attack and let it pass her by, "Whatever happened to you doesn't make the most of the Marines wicked." Tashigi said, not bothering to charge Soren again since she could tell he would have beaten her by now if he had been serious. He wasn't even using his abilities like the last time they fought, thus he didn't see her as a significant threat, "A minority of the population shouldn't influence your opinion of the vast majority. You can't even say the same about pirates, even if you were good that would make you the minority in that instance."
"I wouldn't ever talk about myself like that." Soren said, scratching his leg vacantly with his other leg, "I'm a horrible bastard that has a spot reserved for me in hell when I die, like most pirates. But the rest of the crew are good people. Things aren't black and white. Marines aren't as wholesome as you want them to be… sometimes the only thing separating them from the pirates they fight are the colors they fly."
Tashigi just narrowed her eyes at Soren from the distance they were standing apart, "That may be, but until I'm given the opportunity to clean things up my job is to defeat people like you. You all chose your side. I will beat you one day, and I will bring you in for the things that you've done. I swear it."
Soren nodded and turned his back, finally burning his way through the ropes around his body, "If you want to beat me you'd better get faster… and stronger to boot. But feel free to try because I'm never going to kill a Marine like you. The more of you in the world the better the place is. Maybe you can clean it up. If you can beat me and bring me in they'll shoot you right to the top." He turned his head to spare Tashigi a glance before giving a wave, "Until the next time then. Later." And with that he suddenly left her sight in a burst of speed.
Tashigi let out a low growl and sheathed her sword before turning to walk away and find a team to link back up with. There was still an operation going on.
XxX
Miss Valentine and Nojiko walked out of a clothing store with Perona in tow, and the ghost-generating girl looked far happier now that she apparently had clothes purchased off of the Foxhound Pirate beli, "You see, we're not so bad." Miss Valentine said with a small laugh, "Once you get past the 'we-tied-you-to-the-front-of-the-ship' thing of course."
Nojiko lightly elbowed the bubbly blonde woman, "Stop bringing that up. I think she knows that we tied her to the front of the ship by now. She was there."
"I'm just saying… that probably left a bad impression." Miss Valentine defended for the fact that she had been constantly bringing it up since they had started shopping. She was about to continue talking when she noticed Nojiko freeze midstep, looking up in the air at seemingly nothing, "What's the matter?" She asked, knowing that the young woman didn't just zone out for no reason.
Nojiko's thousand-yard stare gave way to a pursing of her lips and a suspicious look at her surroundings before she mumbled lowly, "…At least they didn't just storm the shop while we were in there." She quickly grabbed her Waver Skates from her supply belt and slung them onto her feet in one motion.
Seeing Nojiko grab her practiced method of speedy transportation, Miss Valentine quit holding her umbrella by the middle, holding it by the end to prepare to use it properly as a weapon. She set the parasol/weapon over her shoulder and looked around trying to spot anything suspicious.
Perona noticed the two of them go on alert and got defensive herself. They were two of the ones that she had been unable to hit before her scuffle with Vivi on the ship so that had to mean that if they thought something was wrong it was worth paying attention to, "What's wrong?"
"You'll help us fight back to the ship won't you?" Nojiko asked, subtly moving her hands towards the pair of pistols on both sides of her hips, "It's okay if you don't, it just might go faster if you do."
Perona blinked, "But I'm part of a Shichibukai's crew. That kind of makes me off limits doesn't it?"
"I was too honey." Miss Valentine said matter-of-factly, "It doesn't matter. Shichibukai or not the Marines don't really like pirates at all. They'll toss you into Impel Down just because, especially since you're with us and Moriah isn't around either."
"I think I'll hang back anyway…" Perona said, willing to hedge her bets as an observer for now. If her 'captives' wound up losing to the Marines she could at least take a chance with the Marines having refrained from fighting them.
"Suit yourself but keep up." Nojiko said, "It's time to go. Now." With that, the Marines appeared standing on the rooftops with rifles in their grasp. Miss Valentine opened her umbrella and took off into the air, drawing the attention and fire of the Marines while Nojiko took off on her Waver Skates, blasting off onto the rooftops to blaze around the Marines trying to ambush them from there.
Hearing Nojiko tell her to keep up made Perona want to fight just to show her exactly what was what. Then she actually watched Nojiko fight and realized that the reason she didn't try attacking her astral projection freely during the ship fight was because she would have destroyed the deck in doing so.
Nojiko dropped a bunch of grenades around the hapless Marines on the rooftops as she sped past them. They attempted to bail out off of the rooftops prior to the explosives going off, but they detonated regardless and sent an absurd amount of the poor men flying from the blasts they tried to avoid.
Anyone still able to get up and continue saw Miss Valentine land lightly on the ground from her diversionary flight and twirl her umbrella as she calmly walked forward through the group of them, batting her eyelashes at them, "All of you against little old me? How unfair."
The Marines that got back up drew their sabers and went to attack Miss Valentine all at once. She just calmly lifted her leg high in the air and dropped an axe kick with all of her weight added to the leg of the heel that smashed the ground and caused a small tremor.
"Sheru o Houkai-fuu (Wind Collapsing Shell)!" From the air, Nojiko pulled out her shotgun and let off a massive wind blast that took the form of a large jagged arrow three times the size of a normal person that ripped through the masses of Marines stopped by Miss Valentine's tremor, easily sending them flying down the street, picking up more Marines in its wake until it faded.
Meanwhile Miss Valentine was humming a content tune to herself as she used her umbrella as something of a riot baton, skillfully cracking skulls and smashing hapless foes aside with barely any wasted motion from the process, "You can follow along whenever you'd like." She said to Perona as she turned to face the ghost-using girl before using her Haneho (Feather Step) to speed through the Marines, beating them so that they couldn't even see her tearing through them.
"I know you're having fun and everything, but stop playing Valentine." Nojiko said, hovering by her side after she was done with her arms crossed, "We need to get back to the ship in case I run out of ammo or chakra… or both."
"Okay, fine." The dejected sound of Miss Valentine's voice was defeated by the smile that she was still wearing firmly on her face, showing that she didn't particularly care one way or the other, "Did the Log Pose even reset yet? We've been here for a bit over a day, was that enough time?"
Nojiko looked at the directional device on her wrist and saw that it was firmly pointing in a direction instead of looking like it was going haywire the way it had been when they had arrived, "Yes, it's got a new location somewhere that I guess we'll find later so we need to run."
Miss Valentine dodged an attempted armed sneak attack of another Marine and kicked him with crushing force into the side of a building for his insolence before running with her speed technique to keep up with Nojiko on her Waver Skates, "We don't have to run. I kind of want to stay and fight. I haven't had a good one in a while." She said before weighing herself down to come to a stop. Not only did they have to wait on Perona, they saw a strange sight directly in front of them, "What in the world?"
In front of them blocking the street stood a few hundred Marines with two men at the front of the pack in particular. One of them was a man wearing a blue shirt, orange checkered pants, and a Marine cap. Under an eye he had a scar and on both of his fists there seemed to be bolts attached. The other man was more bizarre in appearance, as he wore a Marine bucket hat, heart-pattered glasses, a loud yellow and purple button-up shirt and a blue tie with blue pants.
At the moment the second man seemed to be swinging a pendulum in front of the mass of Marines with him and his comrade. He held his hat down over his eyes as he did so, "Okay guys, when I say 'one, two, Jango' you will feel ten times stronger than you've ever felt before. Ready? One, two, Jango!"
The look in the eyes of the Marines seemed to turn berserk and they looked at the two women with an aggressive gaze. The hypnotist turned to the man with bolts on his knuckles, "Okay, now they're ready to attack. These ones won't be so easy to beat Fullbody."
The man with the bolts on his knuckles, Fullbody, knocked his fists together and cracked his neck, "That hypnotism crap of yours is pretty useful isn't it Jango?"
Perona eventually caught up with Miss Valentine and Nojiko as they stared at the Marines barring their way, "You two…" She said, placing her hands on her knees and panting, "I'm not that fast… and I'm carrying stuff." She looked up and saw the multitude of Marines standing in front of them, "… And I have really bad timing." She said to herself.
Before any real fighting could begin, from the back of the pack of the Marines they started to be thrown all about as a trail was blazed straight through the line right to the three women that had been prepared to face them. Eventually the sight of what was doing it came into sight, Muret riding on Funkfreed with his trunk turned into the straight blade of a sword, swinging his head around as he cleared a path through the enemy forces.
"You guys!" Muret stopped right in front of them after Funkfreed broke straight through the thick line of Marines that been about to confront the others, "Man, you don't know how long it took to find you from where I was." She said with a relieved smile on her face after running into people that she knew again. Looking down at the weapon-turned elephant she was riding upon, she gave Funkfreed a pat on the head, "He got me all the way here didn't you?" In response the sword/elephant trumpeted happily.
Nojiko raised an eyebrow, "Where'd Yosaku go? He was with you wasn't he?"
XxX
"Oufuku (Round Trip)!" Yosaku spun around in one big circle before throwing Kubikiribouchou directly at the Marines that had been warily approaching him in an attempt to corner him. The weapon flew through the crowd of them cutting them down with the force behind the throw and the pure weight that the weapon held, tearing them asunder.
"He's a monster!" One of the wounded Marines said. He was one of the lucky ones able to survive a cut from the massive sword, "How can he swing that thing?"
The sword came back around flying down from the sky and returning to Yosaku's hands, allowing him to catch the heavy weapon and spin around once to steady himself after doing so, "Shut up!" The angry power swordsman shouted as he raised Kubikiribouchou over his head, "You tried to hurt my beloved and you ruined my date! Prepare yourself for an oblivion of which there is no preparation! Keruberosu no Hitsuuna Koe (Yowl of Cerberus)!" He then slammed the sword down hard on the ground, sending off three blades of energy in different directions that continued to do damage.
XxX
"I don't know." Muret said dryly, still sitting on Funkfreed, "I'm sure he's doing just fine somewhere." Paying attention to the doctor of the crew, Nojiko quickly drew a pistol and fired, seemingly right at Muret, only to hit a flying circular blade out of the air that was thrown right at her. Once she knew what had occurred, Muret let out a sigh of relief, "Uwaa… Thank you Nojiko."
Nojiko nodded before aiming her pistols at Jango who held a pair of chakrams at the ready, the same weapons that had just been thrown at Muret, "I'm sorry." Nojiko said, speaking in a sickly sweet voice, "I'm just stunned that you attacked a woman from behind that can't really fight. I'd love to see you try that with me though." Before any response could be given or made, Fullbody attempted a surprise attack on Nojiko that she managed to avoid with her quick movements on her Waver Skates.
Fullbody tried attacking Miss Valentine with his bolt-plated knuckles but only struck her umbrella as she repeatedly blocked him as if she were fencing, "Captain Hina and Commodore Smoker have got you all now! You're never getting out of the meteor, let alone off of the island! Just surrender!"
"I'm not going to Impel Down with bells on just for you sweetie." Miss Valentine said as the umbrella easily kept Fullbody's punches away from her. She eventually smacked him on both knees with the item, dropping him down to them before she used her pointer finger and poked him on the forehead with a bright smile on her face, "Kilo Kilo Henkan (Kilogram Conversion)." And with that, Fullbody felt like he was weighed down with crushing force, unable to rise from his place on the ground on his knees. Even staying on his knees looked like it was a strain for him.
Muret sat with Funkfreed at full attention as he seemed ready to charge back through what was left of the Marines blocking the women, "So do we just break on through and find a way out or what?"
Nojiko still had a glare locked on Jango, "One second… you all can try to get out. I'll catch up."
Muret shrugged and pat a spot behind her on Funkfreed that Perona didn't need to be told to hop onto as she immediately did so. Miss Valentine let out a laugh as she opened her umbrella and took off into the air over the Marines trying to block them in, "That little vengeful streak of yours. Are you sure Naruto hasn't rubbed off on you?" Willing to possibly remain behind and trap herself to prove a point didn't seem like a very Nojiko thing to do.
A small smirk appeared on Nojiko's face at the comparison, "I don't think it's that bad. I think I unlocked a new element anyway… I'm not sure how it'll work though." She pointed one pistol at Jango and pulled the hammer back with a click. He tried to move out of the way of the bullet when Nojiko fired. Behind the bullet a thin trail of electricity ripped from the barrel as well, giving a shock to the men that wound up in the aftertrail of the gunshot.
Jango even felt a small shock from the metal chakrams he held for fighting, "Whoa. You carry some pretty funky weapons little miss."
"They work for me." Nojiko said with a smile on her face at unlocking a third element, 'I guess feeling confrontational about him trying to hurt my friends unlocked the electricity element for me. Let's see what else works.' She pulled her shotgun from her back and holstered her pistols as light charged from the barrel of the gun, "I don't really know what this one will do, so I'm sorry in advance." She said right before pulling the trigger, "Um… Raihakpa (Lightning Blast)?"
XxX
(Observation Area of the Meteor Interior)
A massive blast of electricity arced up from some point in the town before a series of loud crackling explosions that sounded similar to gunshots rang out.
"What's going on down there Naruto?" Vivi asked, having just heard cannon fire beforehand and then the strange explosions currently echoing through the meteor. They had just been hanging out while she looked through the telescopes provided as a means of leisure.
"I don't know, give me a second." He said as he sat down on the ground and shut his eyes, beginning to build nature chakra to easily sense his surroundings. After a few seconds of waiting, his eyes snapped open with the orange pigment around the edges and the toad appearance of his irises and he stood back up, dusting his pants off, "Oh hell. Okay, time to go." He said hurriedly reaching out to grab Vivi's hand so that he could keep her with him for a Hiraishin back to the ship.
Before he could get to the princess to grab a hold of her, a cloud of smoke separated them, trying to wrap around Naruto and cut him off from reaching Vivi, "Not a chance Uzumaki! Howaito Supauku (White Spark)!" In the massive cloud of smoke surrounding Naruto, the upper body of Smoker could be seen, "You're not cutting and running from this one!"
"Naruto!" Vivi shouted seeing him dodging the top half of Smoker's body while simultaneously trying to avoid getting caught in the solid cloud trail of his smoke.
"Yeah right!" Naruto shouted, avoiding the swings of Smoker's jutte, "As if I'll let a ransom like Nefertari Vivi get away! Who do you think you're dealing with?" He shouted before delivering a punch to Smoker's torso that actually hit him with his Sage Mode active.
'He can hit me without that sword of his!' Smoker's sneak attack was mostly rooted in the fact that he didn't want Naruto to draw Samehada. This was mostly due to his last few conflicts with Naruto shaping his opinion of the rather destructive fighting style of the blonde shinobi.
Had the actual events of Enies Lobby become mandatory for other Marines to know he might have learned of the battle with Aokiji, but much like his previous encounter with Kizaru no one outside of eye witnesses or the top of the top bore any knowledge of the Buster Call, the involvement of an Admiral, none of it aside from the story of the two crews attacking and destroying Enies Lobby even though the ships really did so.
The punch sent Smoker spiraling into the air, leaving a trail of smoke underneath him that eventually evened him out in the air. The lower half of his body being smoke, Smoker held his stomach with spittle lining his mouth. He had not expected Naruto to actually punch him, he usually just blew him away miles from the site of the battle. He was not going to be able to do that in the meteor of Constellation Island. The walls would keep Smoker's smoke body from being blown far away by any of Naruto's wind attacks.
Holding his body from the force of the punch, Smoker glared down at Naruto who was glaring back up with his abnormal eyes, "I wonder if this'll hurt smoke." He said as he formed a Rasengan in his right hand before closing the fist and coating it in the technique, "Senpou: Rasentaihou (Sage Art: Spiraling Cannon)!" With a punch he shot off the rapid Rasengan projectile.
Smoker grit his teeth over his cigar at the sight of the blue blur flying at him at blinding speed, narrowly moving his upper body out of the way to let the Rasentaihou smash into the top of the meteor. His smoky trail lower body was inconsequential. If Naruto managed to actually hit him with that it would do him damage though.
"Wow." Naruto said, as the Rasentaihou didn't even chip a piece of the meteor off, "This place is sturdy." The Rasentaihou was weaker than a regular Rasengan, but there was still more than enough force behind it to do quite a bit of damage on contact. In Naruto's opinion it should have at least left a spiral mark on the roof. It would have on a person.
A scoff came from Smoker, "This hunk of rock fell from space and didn't burn up on entry into the atmosphere. Do you really think you can produce a more damaging force than that?"
"Is that a challenge?" Naruto quipped with his arms crossed. As the two bantered to one another a fence-like cage tried to bar him in, but Naruto was able to avoid it prior to being caught and captured within, turning to glare at the new arrival that had attempted to attack him, "You getting help just to fight me now Smoker? That's usually a sign that you should leave well enough alone."
Smoker growled at the attempted assistance, "Hina I told you that Uzumaki was mine. Coordinate the forces to keep the rest of his crew in the meteor!"
"Hina is sorry Smoker-kun." The pink-haired woman said as she walked onto the scene with a smirk on her face showing that she really wasn't too sorry. She had a cigarette in her hands as she casually spoke, "But Uzumaki Naruto is a dangerous man. The entrances to the meteor are covered extensively. A murderous fire of cannon and rifle are there if any of the Foxhound crew tries to leave. They are trapped within."
'I'm so useless.' Vivi thought to herself, fists shaking by her side as she watched what was most definitely about to become a two-on-one assault. All she could do was sit aside and be the princess in peril as long as Marines were watching her. All of her training, everything she had done to keep from being a burden and she was still the albatross around her friend's neck. If word got back to the World Government that she had attacked a Marine of any sort things would not end well for Alabasta.
Almost as if Naruto could sense her frustration at her own limitation he looked towards her and made eye-contact, getting her full attention as he gave her a reassuring smile. Why was he smiling?
Suddenly his face turned grave serious and he made a half-ram seal as he used a free arm to point at Vivi, "Nefertari Vivi, my entranced slave, you're such a good girl to remain where you are for your Uzumaki-sama! Keep doing that!"
Hina and Smoker just stared at him with slack-jawed expressions at his declaration while Vivi just stood in puzzlement of what was occurring, "What the hell are you on kid?" Smoker said to him from above.
Ignoring the 'kid' jibe, Naruto broke into a grandiose pose of superiority, "Do you think I would freely carry around my hostage without taking precautions? No the princess is a crafty girl, she's tried to escape me several times before." His grin then turned positively evil at admitting what he was about to say, "So I just brainwashed her to make keeping her around easier. Why else do you think she looks so docile at my side?" He pointed over at the extremely confused looking Vivi again for emphasis, "I mean look at her! Does she look like she knows what's going on right now in the slightest?"
She most certainly did not, but that wasn't because she was brainwashed… she just didn't know what the hell Naruto was talking about or trying to do.
"It could be possible…" Hina said, looking as if she were trying to process the faculties of Naruto's statement, "My subordinate Jango can hypnotize others… and Uzumaki could possibly do something similar since he isn't a bumbling idiot as far as I've seen." Yeah, as far as she'd seen. She clearly hadn't been around him for a long enough period of time to have a doubt of his mental processes, "The princess does look like a dullard right now." The intended or not intended insult put a tick mark on Vivi's head.
"Vivi will do anything I ask of her the way she is right now." Naruto said with a villainous confidence befitting of a man deemed to be a monster the way he had been labeled in the papers, motioning towards said princess again, "If I told her to she'd attack you both like you were trying to kill someone close to her."
At that moment Vivi realized what Naruto was trying to do. He was trying to give her an out for running away or (she hoped) to fight. Maybe with any luck if they pulled off a convincing act then that could be the excuse that could be used whenever a Marine tried to engage them. It was going to add on to the 'bad guy' label, but it was Naruto's idea and he didn't seem to have a problem with it.
"Vivi-hime!" Naruto said with authority in his voice, enough to actually make the young princess shake a bit until she settled down, knowing that he wouldn't ever hurt her, "Please show them what you do to Marines that try to take you away from your Uzumaki-sama." In the back of his mind he was pleading with her to somehow sell this like her life depended on it. They needed to be able to work together because if Vivi was only able to stand there and watch one of the two fighting him could take advantage and try to 'rescue' her, making things way harder. Now at least she could fight back, and if he was able to reach her side and grab her they were as good as gone.
Vivi let out an angry growl and pulled her sharp jewel belts off before linking them together in a very long chain and swinging them at Hina, "Anything for you Uzumaki-sama… Kujakki ga Shinreideatta (Peacock Ranged Slasher)!" She amazingly thrust the weapon out in a straight line like a spear at Hina who was amazed at being attacked by Vivi.
The standout Marine captain dodged the attack with quite a bit of effort due to it actually being very fast, "Princess don't listen to him! You are not to be harmed in your retrieval, but Hina does not need to harm you to restrain you! Awase Baori (Lined Kimono Feather Cage)!" From Hina's sleeve a fence-like cage of bars came out of them, but before it could shut on Vivi she dodged the motion and rushed towards Hina, "Did he hypnotize her to make her faster and stronger?" She couldn't believe that the previously meek Vivi could move so well.
"There's my girl!" Naruto shouted as Vivi continued to battle with Hina. Hina was not going to be able to trap Vivi with her intensely developed evasive skills. It was as if Hina was tailor-made to adhere to Vivi's strength of dodging since her Devil Fruit was basically meant to trap others. Well, good luck with trying to trap Vivi.
While paying attention to Vivi to ensure his plan was working, he was wide open for an attack that Smoker took full advantage of, barreling into Naruto as he was propelled by his smoke and lifting him off of the ground, "Got you!" Smoker said as he proceeded to keep Naruto wrapped in his smoke, periodically pummeling him harshly before using the smoke Naruto was caught in to slam him into the ceiling of the hollowed out meteor, "There's more than enough room for you and yours in Impel Down!"
"…Someone got tougher…" Naruto said as he freed his arms from Smoker's smoke and pried his entire body free. He then proceeded to run up Smoker's solidified smoke trail, surprising the man at his balance. Before anything could be done, Naruto drilled Smoker in the face with a hard kick that sent him spiraling back towards the ground. Upon hitting the ground, Smoker's body completely turned into smoke before reforming to his normal appearance.
He looked up and his face turned to one of horror as he saw Naruto falling towards him from the sky with a massive Rasengan in his hand two-thirds his own size, "Senpou: Odama Rasengan (Sage Art: Great Ball Spiraling Sphere)!"
XxX
(With Soren, Johnny, and Paulie)
A massive shaking of the ground went through the entire meteor that rattled windows and knocked things over. Johnny almost lost his footing mid-run, "What was that an earthquake?" They had been fighting their way through town in an effort to reach the main exit from the meteor. The drawbridge path that led to the outside of the night-island was their destination since it had been the way in that they had taken.
"Who cares? Just another reason to get the hell out of here!" Paulie said as they turned a corner and wound up on the main street, "Oh crap." He said as he shoved both Johnny and Soren back behind the corner as a blast of cannon fire went off, aimed directly at them. More accurately, several cannons… and there were still more that hadn't fired still there.
Soren peeked out from behind the corner and quickly ducked back behind when a series of rapid bullets struck nearby, "Was that a machine gun? What the hell?"
"There's another one! Fire!"
All of the pinned down pirates looked towards the other end of the main street and saw Yosaku running down it just in time for the cannons to take aim at him. The cannon balls flew at him and he let out an unmanly scream before stabbing Kubikiribouchou into the ground and hiding behind it, letting the most accurate cannonball smash into the weapon, breaking it nearly through the middle and sending him flying backwards a few dozen yards, "Ugh… what the hell?" He said to himself with a slur in his voice as he got back up with the busted weapon in his hand.
This was the opportunity for the Marines pursuing him to pounce on him, "Now what are you going to do now that your stupid gorilla of a sword is broken!"
"Sanhyakurokujuudo Funkei (Three-Hundred Sixty Degrees Decapitation)!" Getting his bearings back as he was surrounded, Yosaku spun in a full circle and brutally slashed the Marines that attempted to take advantage of him with his segmented blade, "MY sword can't ever break for real!" He said as the blood from the fallen enemies began to reform Kubikiribouchou.
Johnny's eye twitched at Yosaku's use of his very powerful sword, "He never did try to take care of his weapons in battle… now at least he has a decent excuse as to why he doesn't." He then saw Yosaku run like a scared chicken once the machine gun opened fire on him again, "Oh yeah. We still have to deal with that."
"Yuudou no Handou (Induction Backlash)!"
The sound of a shotgun blast sent out a hard wave of electricity that flew directly at the entrenched positions of the Marines before suddenly expanding in a burst. This burst encompassed the cannons, the machine gun, even the ordinary firearms that the marines held, somehow causing them to explode.
Soren, Johnny, and Paulie stood with wide-eyes as they had been planning a half-assed three-pronged attack plan to get past the Marine defenses… and yet somehow someone had just annihilated their weaponry in one move, "Well I certainly feel inadequate…" Soren said plainly.
"I am not doing that again." Nojiko made her appearance, dropping from her former place on the roof in front of the three men looking a little winded, "Lightning takes more chakra than wind for sure."
Paulie just stared at her as Muret, Perona, and Miss Valentine caught up with them as well, "What the hell just happened?"
Nojiko tapped her finger off of her shotgun before slinging it over her back, "That attack sends out electricity that can ignite gunpowder through the metal of a firearm… not mine since I guess my own guns can handle it if they can fire electricity. The Marines can't seem to take it though."
"That's totally cheating by the way…" Johnny commented, getting Nojiko to stick her tongue out at him before he pointed at the now clear path, "Well we're wide open now. So let's get out of here before more guys show up to block us off!"
XxX
(Constellation Island – Meteor Interior – Observation Area)
"Princess!" Hina yelled as she faced off against the deceptively talented Alabastan princess, "Hina and Smoker-kun are trying to help you! Fight Uzumaki's mind control!"
"I am Uzumaki-sama's princess…" Vivi had to hold back a laugh at this point and keep the angry yet strained look on her face. All she had done through the battle was shout in effort and act entranced. So far it had been bought hook, line, and sinker. So she made a show of trying to stop fighting so that Hina would lower her guard, but as the woman's guard seemed to drop, Vivi's hands quickly showed that they were holding the sharp smaller Peacock Slasher jewel weapons on strings attached to her fingers.
Her hands quickly had them all spinning on her fingers before sending all ten of them flying at Hina as small projectiles, difficult to see with the naked eye due to the speed they were released at, "Kujakki Sutingau (Peacock Stinger)!"
All of them were on target, stabbing into Hina's body and knocking her to the ground. A weaker attack than with her now usual powerful cutting weapons that cut her opponents deeper and dealt more damage, the regular string-attached jewels were still incredibly sharp and Vivi found an even more ranged use for them instead of attacking with them up close which made little sense. She was a mid-range fighter, able to stay out of an enemy's range with her fleet footed movements. A few projectiles would only help do more of the same.
Before Hina could get back up, Vivi was already over her and delivered a powerful heel drop to the pink-haired Marine captain's chest, driving the air out of her and rendering her unconscious. A series of handsprings allowed Vivi to get her distance back and observe that Hina was not going to be getting back up to keep fighting, putting a smile on her face as she sighed in relief before looking over to Smoker and Naruto fighting a distance away.
XxX
Naruto's Odama Rasengan probably would have killed him if it had hit, thus Smoker collapsed his entire body into a plume of smoke that fell apart outwards and allowed the attack and the outpouring energy from it to disperse his smoke outward where he quickly pulled himself back together, something he had been working on doing since the last two times he lost due to being unable to reform from smoke fast enough to continue pursuing or battling Naruto because of his wind keeping his smoke body separated.
It took a few seconds for his body to reform, but it was better than the few minutes it had taken in Loguetown and Nanohana when they had fought before and his body had been dispersed all around the entire town, "You are a real pain in the ass, you know that?"
"More like you're a pain in mine." Naruto said as more smoke began to billow from Smoker's body. Great, more smoke. Naruto had to punch his way through the gobs of smoke to pound away at Smoker which was absurdly easy in Sage Mode. He was even able to better anticipate Smoker's attacks to respond accordingly, "You can't beat me, and just chasing me and trying to corner me isn't going to do it."
"What are you on about now Uzumaki?" Smoker growled out, almost biting through the cigar in his mouth, "You've never put me down, you just keep finding ways to get away."
"This is the third time we've fought." Naruto said, "You're using the same moves that I could have beaten back then without even fighting the way I am now. The first two times I didn't know that Sage Mode would let me literally kick your Logia ass. If I did I wouldn't have been wasting all of that time just blowing you away. It didn't even hurt you." And pain of course is the best way to get any point across. With that realization, Naruto's eyes widened, "You've never really been beaten up before have you?"
It made all kinds of sense. With Smoker's Logia fruit it would have been hard for anyone to hurt him even on the Grand Line, and until leaving Loguetown he had been stationed in the East Blue for his entire career, widely perceived as the weakest of the four seas. Smoker had risen to prominence due to his chasing of Luffy leading to him getting mixed up in the Alabasta situation where they gave him credit for Crocodile's defeat instead of Luffy. Even then he didn't get hurt, he just got wet and had to be saved from drowning. That was it.
Nobody in the East Blue could hurt a Logia user, so sea water was the only thing he really had to look out for at the time. Had anyone even defeated him outside of his Marine training? And that was a weakness of Logia users… well, not Aokiji or Kizaru, but definitely Smoker; their powers were so great immediately after the activation of their powers that growth was difficult, especially in a place like the East Blue.
Fighting on the Grand Line was most definitely working for him as Naruto could notice the difference from the last battle, but it wasn't enough. Smoker had never been pushed before fighting him because no one could hit him… no one that he had actually fought at least. When was the last time Smoker had been given a good thrashing?
"You don't just keep coming after someone that you can't defeat. Fights don't work like that unless you held out on me the last few times." Naruto said, setting himself in the fighting stance picked up by his long past training with the toads, "What do you think you changed? Did you figure out some big secret to beating me? No, you haven't done anything that you didn't already try on me. I've never fought you the same way twice have I? You're just using the same old tricks and relying on your Logia to beat pirates that aren't me!"
"I'll show you the same old tricks! Howaito Ranchau (White Launcher)!" Smoker launched himself at Naruto in full-on smoking attack form, set to smash into Naruto with his jutte and overpower him with the force of his Logia.
"Same old trick…" Naruto mumbled to himself. He should have long since left, and he probably should have long since Rasenshurikened Smoker back when he realized that the interior of the meteor was very sturdy and put an end to it, but he had a point to prove now as he held both of his arms out in front of his body, "Senpou: Rasenkara (Sage Art: Spiraling Shell)!" The Rasengan shell engulfed his entire body just as Smoker crashed into it and caused a massive explosion.
The smoke from the clash cleared to find Naruto's body standing over Smoker. Smoke was lightly wafting off of his frame, but Smoker didn't generate the force from his charge needed to disrupt the defense and deal Naruto the backlash damage that had occurred in his battle with Kuma.
Out cold from running full force into the defensive variation of the Rasengan technique, Smoker's eyes were rolled in the back of his head as he lay flat on his back, "You need to never stop improving. You don't have to run your head into the brick wall to get through it, you can go around it or over it. Logia users aren't untouchable or unbeatable… but you're probably not going to listen to me anyway."
Vivi ran up to Naruto, seeing him standing over Smoker, "Naruto, you won!"
"Yep." Naruto said dusting his hands off as he walked towards the young princess, "You did too didn't you?" The beaming smile on her face told him all he needed to know. She seemed ecstatic at finally getting the chance to fight, and with her new built-in excuse to do so chances were she'd be doing a lot more of it.
Her smile dropped when she realized that they weren't the only ones that could have been attacked, "Ah! What about everyone else? They were in town while we were up here! Do you think they're alright?" She asked worriedly.
"They're fine." Naruto said, still able to sense signatures due to being in Sage Mode, "They're on their way back to the ship now, they got out of the meteor. That means it's our turn to go too. You ready?" Vivi nodded and wrapped both of her arms around Naruto's neck, "Alright, hold on." Both of them then disappeared in a flash, leaving the two unconscious officer Marines behind.
XxX
"So this kind of thing happens to you guys all the time huh?" Perona asked as they were sailing away from Constellation Island. Having attacked from the backside of the island, the Marines were unable to move fast enough to the front side of the island to corner the far faster Natural Disaster, allowing the Foxhound crew to get away without any real issue, "Must be a real pain." Still, the fact that they had fought their way out of the rat's nest of Constellation Island was something she had to admit was impressive.
Nojiko shrugged as they sat in the common area. She was taking the time to clean her guns after the extensive use they had just seen, "It's more annoying than anything else now though. This is the fourth time Smoker tried to mess with us. I think he chased after us all the way from San Salvacion Island."
Muret popped in from down the hall where her office/room was, "Does that mean he chased us through the Calm Belt or just waited for us to get back onto the Grand Line?" A series of unknowing shrugs happened to be the response. Probably the latter since they hadn't been attacked during one of their unplanned detours.
"Naruto-aniki's going to have us making tracks to get some distance this time though. I think he's really sick of running into Smoker." Yosaku chimed in from the kitchen where Miss Valentine was overseeing the grazing that he and Johnny were trying to do while she was making dinner, "Soren's going to be pissed though." At that, both swordsmen grinned mischievously and had to believe that Soren was lucky to not be in the room at the moment, otherwise he'd be getting razzed about his run-in with Smoker's swordswoman subordinate.
"Speaking of Naruto, someone go and get him." Miss Valentine said, leaning against a counter in the kitchen, "The food is almost ready and I don't want him not eating on time again… he'll just sneak stuff out of the pantry and the fridge later after everyone else is done and he doesn't know how to snack with moderation."
"Yeah okay, I'm on it." Nojiko said, getting herself up to head outside to the helm to inform Naruto to come inside to eat.
As she went outdoors and walked up the stairs to the steering area she stopped at the top of the stairs and shook her head with a smile on her face at what she saw. Naruto sitting against the steering column with Vivi leaning against his shoulder, both of them asleep with Carue nearby doing the same.
The lack of sunlight had been messing with Naruto's internal clock for days and she didn't think he had slept eight hours in around a week since they had gotten in the area with that and the fact that he had to stay up to make sure the ship didn't crash into anything in the dark. Everybody on the ship knew that Vivi was hard of sleeping and didn't get very much of it ever. It was amazing that she was as energetic as she was when even Muret couldn't tell where she got it all from with as little rest as she got.
Needless to say, the two of them were the ones that needed a few hours of shuteye more so than anyone else on the ship. And it looked so cute with Vivi leaning against Naruto's shoulder comfortably that she couldn't wake them up right then. They could eat later, food could be saved for them if Miss Valentine was asked to do so.
"Goodnight you guys… or morning…" Nojiko said quietly as she turned and decided to head back inside, "…I don't really know what time of day it is right now." She finished with a yawn.
Omake: 21
(Constellation Island – Meteor Interior – Starlight Casino)
As Paulie sat at the blackjack table in the casino of his choice, Soren and Johnny just stood back watching over his shoulders and drinking at the same time. The entire time there had been a how-to of what to do in a casino to lose all of your money in the most ass way possible. It had been really entertaining for them.
"You've got 20." The card dealer said to the shipwright who was steadily smoking away on a cigar while playing.
"Hit me." Paulie said with a nonchalant kind of confidence that can only come from years of experience… or idiocy.
Soren put a hand on Paulie's shoulder before he could make the hand motion for a hit, "I don't think that's such a good idea dude." It was funny at first, but seeing Paulie lose repeatedly was starting to get old, and the question of his mental state while gambling was beginning to come into question. No one could be that bad at games like this. It was just impossible. It was like he was trying to suck on purpose.
Paulie shrugged him off and tapped his finger on his cards, "Hit me." Soren and Johnny both palmed their faces at being so casually ignored.
"21."
The look of shock that then appeared on the two observers' faces would have made for a fantastic photo, "Did he just win?" Johnny asked in disbelief. What were the chances of being dealt an ace? It was absolutely absurd, but it looked like Paulie had proven them wrong.
"Hit me." Paulie said again nearly robotically as if he wasn't aware of the fact that he had just won, and technically he really hadn't since the dealer hadn't had the chance to declare him as winner since there were others that still had turns to take.
"Dude…" Soren said, trying to inform him that there was no better deal to receive than 21. He was going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory if that were even possible.
"Hit me." Paulie said again for emphasis, and of course the willing dealer did just that. It wasn't his money.
"That's 30."
Paulie looked down at his cards blankly before looking around at Soren and Johnny who were just in awe, and not in the good way. Shrugging his shoulders, Paulie turned his attention back to the dealer, "…Hit me."
And he did get hit. By a pair of bottles over the back of his head by his own crewmates that decided to save him from himself. Johnny dragged Paulie away from the table by the collar of his jacket while Soren carried all of the booze with him, "Do you think he'd be better at roulette or should we just quarantine him at the penny slots?"
Done. Sorry for the wait, I got on a roll with another story of mine and just kept updating it so that I didn't lose anything that I had in my head for how to proceed with it. I think things for it came out well and now I'm at a point where I can stop and get back to updating other things.
I don't believe that anyone expected there to be too much trouble from Smoker and Hina, even with an ambush. And now Vivi has an excuse to fight Marines without getting blamed for it which will dredge up some rather humorous scenes later. Now next chapter should be a bit of fun for the masses that seem to enjoy this story. I'll just have to wait and see in the end though… and so will you.
Later all, I have to get my ass ready for the commute from hell so I'll catch you around I guess.
Kenchi out.