- once again, I have illustrations for this fic at zinfer. deviantart .com -

"GATTLING!"

Before Dr. Akins had time to prepare for the pirate's attack he was overwhelmed by the onslaught of powerful fists driving him into the wall. Luffy continued to yell in rage as his fists carried on with their pounding, blood accumulating on his knuckles as he blasted into the man who had tormented him over the past two days.

The others watched wide-eyed as the enraged captain continued to mercilessly pound the other man until he finally ran out of energy, his fists slowing as his breaths became more labored and rapid. Falling to his hands, he panted, anger still rippling off of him almost like a physical force the others could feel.

Dr. Akins slowly slid to the floor, a bloody crumbled mass of broken bones and bruises. Slowly making his way over to the man, Usopp checked to see if he was still breathing.

"Good crap Luffy, you killed him" Usopp exclaimed, astonished at the extent of his captain's physical abilities even after being experimented on for days.

Orrin stared in shock over what he had just witnessed as Robin grabbed the keys and released him from his handcuffs.

"Remind me not to get on your captain's bad side" he stated, pressing his hand against his injured shoulder.

"This guy must have done something awful to him for Luffy to do this much damage" Usopp responded as he turned back toward the others, "and considering how ticked my captain is right now, I believe I would want to give him a pounding myself. What the heck did this guy do Luffy?"

The dark-haired boy didn't respond, still panting with anger and exhaustion.

"It's ok captain" Robin said, kneeling down beside him with an arm on his shoulder. "He's gone, he can't hurt you anymore."

As she spoke she reached down and picked up the mask she had given him earlier, realizing he needed it more than she did, and held it out to him. He had dropped it during his attack and she knew he was struggling without it.

Luffy was surprised to find that he wasn't happy about what he had done to Akins, but he felt the rage that he had been holding inside of him lift off of his chest. What was nagging him now was the pain in his lungs every time he inhaled. It was different than before, where it weakened him and made it difficult for him to breathe, but this time he didn't feel so much as weak, but he felt hot pain coursing through his body. He graciously took the mask that his historian had handed to him.

- Meanwhile with Nami, Paul, and Sky -

After having experienced dozens of rescues and escapes in her pirating career, Nami was quite accustomed to sprinting for long periods of time. Though she didn't know who Canaan was, she knew he had cared for her captain and that his life was her responsibility to preserve. She led the way, followed by Sky and Paul who were both pleasantly surprised at her impressive stamina.

They had made it all the way to the final hallway before meeting up with opposition. A few commanders, who apparently had been given the responsibility of guarding Canaan's cell, charged at them once they were spotted. The three didn't slow as they continued for the cell a few yards away. The men lifted their rifles to fire but Sky and Paul were swift to hinder them. One of the commanders was shot in the hand by one of Paul's bullets, while the other had his rifle yanked from him by a snap of Sky's whip, which the boy had lashed out quicker than he had been able to comprehend.

Grabbing the rifle, Sky skidded in-between the two commanders, swinging the butt of the gun into its owner's head while Paul shoved a palm into his opponent's face, leaping over him acrobatically, both of them landing gracefully on the other side, their large cloaks flowing continuous with their movements.

All the while, Nami had been forming an ominous cloud over the two unfortunate commanders who could only look up in surprise before a bright bolt of lightning cracked down upon them. Paul and Sky had made their way to the cell, the glow of the attack hitting their backs as they skidded to a halt, their coats hovering in the air as they changed their course.

Sky did the math for the security code and typed it in. Opening the door, the two boys peered in to see the wrecked room sodden with water. At first they didn't see their friend, but both eyes fell upon a puddle of blood near the center of the room. It trailed off as if someone had dragged themselves forward, leading up to behind the door where they finally found Canaan. He was lying unconscious, one arm tucked protectively around his side while the other was out, like he had been had been reaching for the door. Immediately the two boys fell to his side, Sky quickly moving his arms and cutting away his shirt to assess the damage.

Nami came running in, taken back by the appearance of the room. What had happened in there over the last two days?

Canaan gasped as he was awakened by Sky putting pressure on the bullet wound in his side. At first he looked confused, his glazed eyes trying to figure out who was inflicting pain on him, then recognition crossed his face and he let his head fall back into Paul's lap.

"Nice to see you guys" he said weakly, a hint of a grin on his lips.

"Likewise" Paul replied, his voice breaking a bit.

The elite creased his eyebrows as he regained focus, "you guys need to hurry and get Luffy, they took him to be executed … crap, how long has it been? I'll be fine, just go… he could be…" he let out another gasp.

"It's all right, it's all right" Paul said, placing his hand on Canaan's forehead, "we got him, he's safe." He glanced up at Sky to see an expression of horror and rage as the young marine looked over the multiple burn marks on his friend's body in addition to the bullet wounds he had received.

"Who the heck did this to you?" he growled in anger, trying to restrain his tone of voice to keep calm.

Closing his eyes, Canaan didn't respond, but continued to pant heavily as he struggled to breathe normally in his weakened condition.

Nami knelt down in front of him, resting a gentle hand on his heaving chest. He opened his weary eyes again, gazing up at her kind face.

"You must be Nami" he said smiling. "Your captain told me about you" he continued, seeing the confused surprise on her face.

She felt tears well up, letting them slip out as she closed her eyes.

"Thank you" she said "for caring for Luffy."

He grinned again, his breath hitching as Sky tightened the wrapping around his side.

"We've got to get him out of here and give him some real medical attention" the grey-haired marine said, looking up from his work to the other two. "And the men outside will be needing our help, so we can't make them wait any longer."

Nami and Paul nodded.

"You ready Canaan?" Paul asked as he brought his arms under the elite's triceps.

"Whenever you are" he mumbled back; his voice a combination of lightheartedness and pain.

With a heave, the younger marine dragged his friend to his feet and wrapped his arm over his own shoulder.

Canaan couldn't repress a yell as he was forced into a drastic change in position and Paul mumbled an apology.

Not wasting any more time, the four rushed back into the hallway and made their way as quickly as possible towards the entrance of the prison, lead by Nami who had no trouble finding her way through the confusing passages.

-Zoro-

The sound of his captain's voice had been music to the swordsman's ears as he charged down another hallway. It was Luffy telling him that he was ok, and the panic that had been twisting in his stomach released its hold on him.

However, the enraged panic he had been filled with shifted to an annoyed frustration as he continued to wonder through the maze of hallways, stairs, and dead ends. He heard his captain's voice echoing through the ventilation and would head in the general direction he thought it was coming from, but there was always a troublesome wall in the way. Despite his constant failures to find his way to anywhere productive, he felt that he was nearing the right floor and the sounds of his crewmates drew closer.

-Luffy, Crew, and General Yu (lol, it rhymed) -

"General Yu and Alvida are in there" Orrin pointed to the metal door on the other side of the room.

Nodding, Usopp walked over and did the math to deactivate the security box on the wall. The moment the doors opened up they saw Yu holding Alvida in front of him, his sword aimed at her belly.

"Any of you try to make a move and I'll kill her" he said threateningly.

"Alvida!" Orrin shouted in fear for his friend.

Luffy, on the other hand, stood to his feet and walked forward.

"Hey" the general growled "didn't you hear me? I'll kill her." As he spoke he slid the blade a few more inches into his captive's stomach, drawing blood. She didn't make a sound though, staring intently at the captain walking towards them.

"And that's supposed to stop me how?" Luffy said coldly, bringing a fist back to attack.

He shot his arm forward, aimed at the face of the man whom he had grown to despise, but for a moment he sensed an imposing threat and he caught his arm before it made contact with its target. At that moment, a long blade sliced through the empty air where his fist would have been had it continued on course. The man had come out of nowhere, placing himself between Yu and the pirates.

Snapping his arm back, Luffy tensed at the surprise visitor, feeling that this opponent was different from the ones he had dealt with so far.

The tall, lanky guard stood from his crouched position and withdrew his blade from the empty space it had sliced. Everything about him was long; his sword, his jacket, his scarf, and out of his knit cap was a long feather.

"I've come to escort you safely from the premises" he said coolly to General Yu, his narrow eyes shaded by his hat.

"Who the heck are you?" Usopp exclaimed.

"I'm guard number 1, and I'm sure you know guard number 2" he replied, raising his hand to the door as a blade shot into the room, directed at Robin. Luffy went into defense mode and, with abnormal speed, snagged it from the air; a bit of surprise crossing his face as the blade fought his grip to reach its intended target.

"Oh crap!" Usopp shouted "it's that knife guy!"

"So nice to see you again" the man said as he wandered into the room calmly.

TBC…

ANDD another chapter! Woohoo! WILL WRITE FOR REVIEWS ^_^

Thank you guys so much for the support so far! I know this was a bit shorter of a chapter but I want my scenes to be grouped in a particular set and to try to add the next few scenes would be a hassle to this chapter soooo, they will be coming in the next chapter.

RusalkaHime- thanks! I'll try to keep it up

Ghost of the moonlight- lol, I think we'd get along quite well XD I'm so glad you're up and about ^_^ I hope the update didn't come too late O_O I wonder what her real background is… I bet she's just a stuck up jerk by nature, I just made up her past to work with my story so… XD thanks again for the review!

WezL- I hope this chapter was a nice start to some vengeance XD thank you so much for the review and I do believe there's gonna b quite a bit of fighting happening in the upcoming chapters

vivi-chu-ie- I'm glad you enjoyed the bit about Alvida's past. Thank you for bothering to read it XD (I know sometimes I would skim over those details… which is so sad when an author went through the trouble of writing them) I hope that the rest of the story keeps you entertained and you're welcome ^_^

12TheFallenOne12- heck yes you are! I was really looking forward to reaching the 200 review mark so you're feedback made me super excited and happy! *parties in my head* thank you so much!

Ri-Chan 89- I'm glad your computer is safe and sound I'm glad the story is making you happy ^_^ cause that makes me happy. To be honest, I can't help but think about the Adkins diet myself… I dunno if that was what motivated me to name him that or not (it's been a while… but I was once on that diet and it was pretty much torture *irony*) and you're welcome! Thanks for checking the pictures out, hopefully I'm make some more as the story progresses to some more exciting scenes.

Kitty-bandit- there you are! I was like "*whistle whistle* I wonder what had become of my friendly neighborhood Kitty-bandit", and here you are! :D Wow, you seriously are busy (I should b busy but I choose to live in a world where u don't bother with responsibilities till they smack you in the face). To be honest, I didn't start with the intention of Alvida being saved… the original plotline was a bit more simple and straightforward, but someone who used to read the story (way back when… who was really supportive… then was lost to my procrastination) suggested she not be the villain and I went with it XD I hope the rest of the story continues to surprise you ^_^ ooooh, your encouragement has made my day! Thank you so much for all of the support!

Once again! Thank you to all who have read my story! I hope you enjoy the next few chapters!