Ch. 55- Making Acquaintance


One Piece © Oda

Blizzard, Jupiter, Monkey D. Aika, Kumi, Rita, Carla, and Lucky © Me


Down below the old Royal Plateau, inside the Scrap Heap…

"BWAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Kin'emon sobbed. "Oh, how I've missed you, so! I am so glad you are all right…my good friend Kanjuro~!"

"It was good of you to return, Kin'emon!" answered a shadowy figure, Kanjuro. "Forgive me for making your search difficult. I was hiding within the walls for so long, that I grew bored and cast into slumber!"

Around the Samurai Duo, the people who were once toys inside the Scrap Heap stared at the two in confusion.

"…A guy just popped out of the wall," said a Riku Army soldier.

"It took me far too long to reach you, Kanjuro!" Kin'emon cried.

"Kakaka!" Kanjuro laughed. "I always believed in you, my friend. I never gave it a second thought, so please, do not bring it up. Besides, with my sorcery, I will never lack for food! Not that I would ever be hungry, of course."

It is revealed that "Evening Shower" Kanjuro has long, bright red hair with two long ends sticking out over his chest and white makeup all over his face, a bit like the typical Kabuki poser. He is about as tall as Kin'emon, and wears a traditional samurai outfit with a blue ribbon tied around his waist and a pair of zori sandals on his feet. Strapped to his back was a giant paintbrush, and in his hand was a piece of lettuce that looked like it had been drawn.

"As long as Momonosuke is safe and sound," said Kanjuro. "That is all that truly matters!"

"Naturally!" answered Kin'emon. "He is unharmed, thanks to you!"

"Would you like some lettuce, my friend?" Kanjuro offered.

"No thank you," said Kin'emon. "Your food always give me a bellyache."

"Now then," said Kanjuro, "let us both leave this place! There seems to be an uproar above!"

"Ah, yes!" Kin'emon answered. "It is a very long tale, and I have many great things to regale you with, but that shall come later!"

"Leave?" whispered a man in the crowd. "How can anyone leave this place?"

Kanjuro then held up his paintbrush and began to draw something on the wall. It looked like…a crude drawing of a bird with a round, onion-shaped head and a beak shaped like a duck's bill.

"A painting?" asked a Riku Army Soldier.

"It's…terrible," said a woman.

Kanjuro then held up his fingers in a style similar to that of a ninja about to perform a technique.

"Come forth!" he ordered, and suddenly…the painting began to emerge from the wall!

"What the-?!" a man questioned in shock. "The painting…it came to life!"

"Does he have Devil Fruit powers?!" asked a Riku Army soldier.

"Spring Sparrow!" Kanjuro exclaimed as the painting began flapping its wings…rather poorly at that.

CHIRP! CHIRP! The sparrow chirped.

"No way!" everyone exclaimed. "A drawing came out of the wall!"

'His art sucks, though!' they all thought.

"Let us be off!" declared Kanjuro as he jumped up on the Spring Sparrow's back. "Come, Kin'emon!"

"Right away!" Kin'emon replied as he climbed onto the struggling doodle.

'This ability of his is ingenious!' thought a Riku Army soldier. 'But due to his poor art skills, the sparrow can barely fly on its own!'

"Hey, wait!" shouted a Riku Army soldier. "Some of us are former Riku Army soldiers and civilians who had been turned into toys by Sugar until just now! We don't know what's going on up above! We just keep hearing shouting and screaming and something a birdcage! Please…we have to know of King Riku's all right!"

Soon, everyone started clamoring at once.

"I have to get up there, too! My family might be in danger!"

"Please, take us with you!"

"We're begging!"

The Samurai Duo glanced at each other before looking back at the crowd.

XXX

Back at the New Royal Plateau, Luffy, Blizzard, Law, Jupiter, Cavendish (atop Farul), and Kyros are making the way up to the third step, but the foot soldiers are desperately trying to hold them back, to no avail.

"Your real target's right here, jackasses!" shouted Blue Gilly before he started kicking them away. "HYAO~!"

"GYAAAAAHH!" the underlings screamed as they all fell back, but as they did, Dellinger appeared and rushed Blue Gilly.

"Guillotine HIGH HEEL!" he shouted before he kicked him in the trachea!

"GUBWUHH!" Blue Gilly gagged, coughing up blood.

"Oh, no!" Luffy shouted. "The Long Leg guy is down!"

"Luffy, focus!" Blizzard cried as he kicked some more underlings away.

"Right! Sorry!" Luffy replied.

"This so-called 'game' that Doflamingo created is nothing but a bald-faced lie!" shouted Cavendish, cutting down more underlings.

"What do you mean, Cabbage?" Luffy asked.

"Think about it, Straw Hat!" Cavendish answered. "Nobody will actually survive this 'game' of Doflamingo's, even if they do succeed in capturing all the convicts!"

"He's right, Luffy!" Blizzard added. "Now that the truth about his smuggling operations and the secret of the toys has been revealed, Doflamingo wants to kill everyone on Dressrosa! He's not gonna let that information get out!"

"Dressrosa is now an isolated island, cut off from the rest of the world!" Cavendish explained. "Praying for a miracle and waiting out to the end…is the same as waiting for death! The only way for everyone to survive…is Doflamingo is defeated! True, he may've always been one step ahead of all of us, but he's made one fatal mistake: soliciting and gathering this assortment of powerful and belligerent miscreants for the Corrida Coliseum! We will not be subdued…and…as much as I begrudgingly admit…you, Straw Hat, are the one who must take Doflamingo down!"

"Well, duh!" Luffy exclaimed. "That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

"Hey, wait a second!" Law shouted. "Doflamingo's mine to kill, not yours!"

"I appreciate the thought," Kyros began, "but I shall be the one to do it!"

"Hey, wait a minute, Soldier Guy!" Luffy shouted. "That's not fair! I thought you were gonna take care of that executive guy! Dia-something-or-other!"

"That is a personal score!" Kyros replied. "Returning the kingdom to King Riku is my sworn duty as captain of his army! I must bring an end to the tragedy of ten years ago!"

"If we're basing this on time," Law began, "then my grudge began, 13 years ago!"

"Then mine began 30 years ago!" declared Luffy.

"YOU'RE 19 YEARS OLD!" Blizzard and Jupiter barked.

"Look alive, now!" Cavendish called. "We are about to reach the third step!"

"All right!" Luffy exclaimed. "We're almost there! We just make it through the third step and meet Becky at the Flower Field so we can get the keys!"

But as they finally reached the third step, Farul and the two canines froze as they looked up, panting heavily.

"Hey," Luffy said. "What's wrong, guys? Why'd you stop?!"

"…We have a bit of a situation," said Cavendish.

As Luffy looked up, he gasped in shock upon seeing giant, foreboding nutcracker soldiers!

"Whoa!" he cried. "What the hell are those?! Giant puppets?!"

"…Of course it wouldn't be easy," Blizzard said. "It's never easy!"

XXX

Concurrently, back at the base of the New Royal Plateau, Zoro is still doing battle with Pica, who seemed to be having a hard time with the Straw Hat First Mate.

"Is this really the best you can do?" Zoro asked. "I'm surprised you thought you could take my captain like this."

"Damn you!" cursed Pica, stretching out his stone arm (his actual arm) to stab at Zoro, but he easily dodged to the right, slicing the arm into pieces as he did…but as he got closer, Pica's whole body turned to stone and he crumbled!

"Dammit!" Zoro cursed. "He escaped! Where are you, you coward?"

Just then, he spotted him again, forming a long neck of stone.

"PULPOSTONE!" he shouted as he formed several sharp-tipped stone tendrils, attempting to skewer Zoro, but as the swordsman looked up, he noticed some familiar silhouettes in the sky, and he gasped upon realizing it was Robin, Aika, Kumi, Rebecca, and Bartolomeo, using the Yellow Kabu beetles to fly!

"What the hell?!" Zoro questioned.

"Oh! Hi, Zoro!" Robin greeted.

"Hi, Zoro!" Aika waved.

"H-how in the hell are you guys flying?!" Zoro asked.

"Z…ZORO-SENPAI!" cried Bartolomeo. "Did…did you remember my autograph?!"

"Rebecca…!" Pica hissed as he spotted her.

"It's the stone man, again!" Aika cried.

"Pica!" Rebecca exclaimed. "He's a Supreme Executive!"

"Zoro!" Robin called to her boyfriend. "Keep him occupied for us! We need to reach the Flower Field by jumping over him!"

"Uh…sure!" Zoro answered. "But how are you guys fly-" He stopped when he noticed that Pica had disappeared, again. "What the-?!"

"Huh?" Bartolomeo muttered. "Did the enemy flee?"

"KYAAAAAAAA!" Aika shrieked. "LOOK OUT!"

Zoro turned to see Pica's giant fist heading right towards Robin's group!

"The statue…it's alive?!" Robin questioned.

"HOLY CRAP!" cried Bartolomeo. "MY BARRIER CAN'T STOP THAT!"

Luckily, Zoro was already on top of things.

"Three-Sword Style…1,080 CALIBER PHOENIX!"

SLASH! With a gigantic, powerful air-compressed slash, Zoro not only cut Pica's statue right down the middle, he also hit Pica inside!"

"WHAT IN THE WORLD?!" Rebecca questioned in shock.

"Wow! Way to go Zoro!" Aika cheered.

Both Robin and Kumi sighed in relief.

"Thank the stars," whispered Robin.

"…Oh, yeah," Zoro said. "I forgot to say one thing…there's more to the Straw Hat Pirates than just Straw Hat Luffy, White Wolf Blizzard, and God Usopp. Don't forget this, you damn rock…I will be the next World's Greatest Swordsman…and I'm on a whole other level than you!"

Hearing this caused Pica to gasp while Bartolomeo started crying in awe.

"ZORO-SENPAI~!" he cried.

TO BE CONTINUED…


Zoro is just so badass...

Sorry it's short, but at least I got more than one up, today!

Review, please, and goodnight!