Author's Note: Welcome back to another chapter of Leader of the Family of D. So now, here is where we finish Little Garden, and then we can move on to the next island. As this chapter will be satisfying with some fighting as well along with some surprises, so hope I deliver on that. Also make sure to read the end chapter note as well on this chapter with the double update I've provided all of you. Now, on a side note, a friend of mine asked about Luffy's face as it's the overall same but with some changes to eye color and a bit more enchanting to women as his demon slayer mark makes a good fit, along with the scar on that resembles Ban's from Seven Deadly Sins along with the very small ones that trail on his left side jawline, so to answer this his face is overall, greatly intact and in one piece. So without anything else to say, let's get into this chapter.
I don't own One Piece or any crossover elements from other anime's which all belong to the respective owners.
"..." Character P.O.V.
'...' Character thoughts
"..." Attacks
'...' Narrator
Chapter 15: Strength Of The Captain, And Little Garden's Conclusion
- With Luffy -
It had been a couple minutes since Luffy had picked up the signatures across the island, and was a wondering what the other three were as he found them unfamiliar but strong. So now, Luffy had still kept his guard up as he saw Dorry and his opponent get up from the ground. The other giant handed Dorry something before they went their separate ways. So now, as Dorry came back over and sat down with some barrels in hand, he spoke to the group.
"Brogy over there, said he has guests of his own and they gave him these wonderful refreshments. As he was kind enough to share them with me." says Dorry as he sat down.
Luffy had perked up at this and decided to speak now.
"Ah, so more of my crew." says Luffy already knowingly.
"He didn't say names but from what I could see, there was a young lady with orange hair and a long nose fellow." says Dorry causing Luffy to chuckle a bit.
"Yep, definitely Nami and Usopp." says Luffy with a smile.
"Gegyagyagyagya! Then I should thank you for this alcohol as well." says Dorry with a smile.
Dorry held the barrels in his fingers, and popped the tops off on both of them to begin drinking. While he was drinking them, Luffy noticed the look on his face suddenly change and before Luffy could think about it further the alcohol in the barrels exploded. This caused Dorry's eyes to roll back into his head, and collapse to the ground on his back.
"Dorry!" says Luffy, Lily, and Vivi as they all got to their feet.
Luffy went over to the wreckage of what was left of the barrels to analyze them, and come to answer.
"This is the same alcohol that was on the ship." says Luffy coming to this answer.
"Then what could have caused this?" asks Lily confused.
"I'm not sure myself." says Luffy still trying to figure this all out.
"The other Giant must have booby-trapped it." says Vivi making an assumption while causing Luffy to speak.
"Shut it, Vivi." says Luffy lowly as he stood up to speak again. "There's no way he would do that as there is too much pride and honor involved here for him to pull a low move like that." says Luffy reminding her of that.
"Alright, then who did do it?" asks Vivi.
Before Luffy could respond, Dorry had come to and spoke as he got up slowly with his weapon in hand for which Luffy noticed.
"You pirates, it wasn't Brogy, that much is clear. No warrior of Elbaf would dare try such a thing. So, who else to suspect on this island other than those in front of me!" says Dorry causing Luffy to step up to protect his group with narrowed eyes, as he spoke.
"I and my crew have no part to play in this, as we are not the only ones here on this island of yours." says Luffy surprising him and Vivi as Lily already knew.
"And just who else is on this island besides you?" asks Dorry in a dangerous tone.
Luffy brushed that off with a sigh as he spoke.
"An organization of bounty hunters called Baroque Works. If I'm correct, you are Dorry the Blue Ogre, and your friend who is also your opponent is Brogy the Red Ogre, the former captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates." says Luffy surprising Vivi at this information, as he continued. "And so, each of you have 100 Million Berries on your head a piece, together it's 200 Million Berries. Am I right?" asks Luffy to the Giant.
This caused Dorry to nod while looking at the straw hat wearing pirate before him with suspicion, as Luffy spoke again.
"Then let me, and my crew take care of them while you focus on your fight with Brogy." says Luffy giving him an offer.
"Even though your well informed, why should I trust you?" asks Dorry while towering at full height above Luffy as he continued. "And how do you know they are on this island?" asked Dorry once again.
"You're from the New World, the same as me, and Lily. I'm pretty sure you know about it, what it is, and what it can do." says Luffy calmly, not at all intimidated but in a knowingly tone.
Dorry knew it was true what Luffy was saying to him, as Elbaf was in the New World. It was clear to the Giant that Luffy had learned much, even for his young age. So now, Dorry decided to speak on this for an answer.
"I do know of it, but I've never used it." says Dorry causing Luffy to nod.
Luffy had his assumptions of why he and Brogy never used it. The conclusion to him was that the two probably found it dishonorable to their duel, and would rather battle it out in their own strength to determine a winner. Though, he pushed this aside as he spoke with cold eyes.
"Then like I said before, the people who did this will pay for disrespecting such a sacred duel." says Luffy with an ice cold look in his eyes now.
As he said this, the volcano erupted again to signal that it was time for the next battle. Luffy looked at Dorry again to speak.
"I take it you will still be going to fight, even with your condition." says Luffy to Dorry, but continued before the Giant could speak. "I understand, do what you must." says Luffy now looking away.
"I must as an Elbaf warrior." says Dorry as he coughed up some blood while causing Luffy to be a bit concerned for his condition.
However, this caused Vivi to yell out in obvious worry towards the Giant in seeing the blood.
"What?! Dorry, you need to rest!" says Vivi yelling out trying to reason with him.
"I am Dorry, and I will fight for Elbaf's pride and will die as a warrior!" says Dorry as he began taking slow steps towards the battleground once more.
While Dorry went off to fight his duel, the rage from Luffy was starting to build as he was keeping his wrath in check to focus it on the right people. So now, Luffy stood there with a blank look but if you looked at his eyes then you would see that of someone ready to brutally beat down their enemy. So as Dorry and Brogy began their duel, Usopp suddenly dropped in from the air, right in front of Luffy, Lily, and Vivi. This got surprised looks from everyone there as Lily spoke.
"Usopp?" asks Lily surprised as her tone of voice said the same.
Usopp got to his feet, and started to try holding back his tears while in front of Luffy as he spoke.
"Luffy! Nami was-" begins Usopp as he Luffy cut him off.
"Let me guess, your going to say Nami was eaten by a dinosaur right?" asks Luffy while making Lily, Vivi, and Karoo's eyes widen in shock as he continued. "Relax Usopp, she's alive. Considering I can sense her aura still out there." says Luffy assuring him of that as he sighed in relief.
Lily went on to explain that Baroque Works is here on the island, and had done something in tampering with Dorry's alcohol. When Usopp heard this, it caused him to become somewhat angry as he clenched his fists. So just as Usopp was about to speak on this, they all noticed Dorry beginning to fall down while Brogy was going for the finishing blow to end it. Everyone's eyes widened as they saw blood squirt from Dorry's wound courtesy of Brogy cutting him across the chest.
"Dorry!" they all yelled out in shock while extremely worried.
So before they can say anything else or try to do anything else, two people emerge from the bushes not far to the right of the group as the male of the two spoke out.
"What a shame. After a hundred years their duel finally ends...so dishonorably." says Mr. 5 making himself and Ms. Valentine known.
Vivi was scared while Usopp was ready to go for his slingshot instead of his pistols. Though for Luffy his whole mood changed when seeing these two, as he clenched his left fist. It was quite clear that he was angry for what they did to Dorry, and for becoming a greater annoyance to him. So now, the words Mr. 5 said pissed Luffy off more as he was ready to throttle them into the ground as he spoke.
"Vivi and Usopp go now, and find the others. I'll handle these two myself." says Luffy never taking his eyes off them, as the wind started to blow violently as he pointed to the nearest aura and spoke again. "Go find them now, and wait for me there. If you have no choice but to fight then do so." says Luffy commanding them.
It was clear by Luffy's tone of voice that he wanted to gone so that he could wail on the two agents before him. So with this said, Vivi then hopped on Karoo's back with Usopp next to them as they took off running in the direction that he said to go towards. As they were starting to running away from the area, Ms. Valentine bent her legs a bit as she spoke.
"Kyahahaha! I don't know who told you kids you were leaving so easily because we sure didn't." says Ms. Valentine as she jumped really high up in the air and floated right over the leaving group.
Just as she was right over them, and was getting ready to drop down on them. It worried Usopp, who was prepared to fight while fleeing as Vivi became even more concerned. Luffy decided to move quickly in helping his crew with something he learned in his youth from his grandfather.
"Geppo" says Luffy as he kicked up three times while managing to move a great distance in the air towards his target.
As he did this, he appeared in front of Ms. Valentine for which it shocked her greatly. With no words spoken, Luffy moved quickly to put a quake bubble around his index and middle finger to press them right on her chest as he spoke.
"Hito-Hito: Body Quake" says Luffy as his fingers touched her, Ms. Valentine freezes as cracks appeared along her body that shattered, only to send her hurling down to the ground.
As she hit the ground with a hard impact from the force of the quake she faced to her body. Dust around the area of impact had kicked up as Mr. 5 was shocked behind his glasses. Luffy landed to the ground gracefully as he stood standing while he spoke.
"If you thought that it was going to be that easy to attack my crew, then your dumber than you look." says Luffy with anger in his voice.
Luffy looked at Mr. 5's shocked face but put it off to look at Ms. Valentine with the dust clearing. He wanted to see how much damage was caused from the attack on her but was a bit surprised at what he saw. When Luffy saw her, she didn't look all that hurt as if a change in her body was made before making the hard impact that she did. As it became quite clear to Luffy what could have caused it, as she was demonstrating Devil Fruit powers, and he knew which ones they both had as well.
"How interesting. So you've eaten the Kilo Kilo no Mi and your partner ate the Bomu Bomu no Mi. Which means that you changed your body weight on the way down before impact to lighten the blow, and fall damage you would receive on impact." says Luffy as he continued. "Though it won't be enough." says Luffy with folded arms causing Mr. 5 to grit his teeth and angrily respond.
"Enough!" says Mr. 5 yelling at Luffy, only for him to turn his attention to the man as he continued. "I think it's time we got down to fighting. I've been wanting to pay you back for what you did to me at Whisky Peak." says Mr. 5 with a growl of anger in his voice.
"Likewise for what you did to Dorry." says Luffy with a cold tone of voice.
"Then prepare to die!" says Mr. 5 yelling as he charged towards Luffy for an attack.
Luffy for his part stared at the man with cold eyes, and an emotionless expression. It was quite clear these agents relied heavily on their devil fruits, and have not bothered in trying to refine other skills. So now, Luffy stared at the man before he spoke to use another technique of his.
"Those who cling to their Devil Fruit will get nowhere with me." says Luffy as he prepared his leg for another attack from the Six Powers to deal with the male agent of Baroque Works. "Rankyaku" says Luffy by kicking at very high speeds and strength, sending out a sharp compressed air blade towards Mr. 5.
As the blade of compressed air flew towards Mr. 5, he was shocked and knew he couldn't get out of the way quick enough. So upon impact without even using Haki, Luffy's attack hit Mr. 5 hard making the man wince in pain as he was sent back some paces. It was here that Luffy then went to appear in front of Mr. 5, only to send a hard rage-induced punch to the man's face. Forcing Mr. 5 to rollback across the ground harshly to only stop near Ms. Valentine as he was hunched over on the ground, not knowing whether to hold his stomach or face from the sheer pain of both attacks he just faced in quick succession. The man started coughing up some blood as well, which shocked Ms. Valentine.
"Mr. 5!" says Ms. Valentine yelling as she saw her partner's current state.
As she said this, Luffy was observing his attack power and looked at his legs for a moment with a thought.
'Dad said for some reason that a great amount of strength would be in my legs, and to use them well.' thought Luffy with a calm look and eyes a bit surprised, as he saw the damage from such an attack, even if not physical.
After a few minutes, Mr. 5 then got back up while struggling a bit. So as he stood up, he looked at Luffy and reached into his pocket to pull out his pistol knowing a close up battle would not work. Luffy not really being worried at all, unclipped the opening to his pistol holster on the left hip of his body while keeping the hand to his side, waiting to draw it at the perfect moment. Mr. 5 then opened the revolver's chamber and blew into it, before closing it and aiming it at Luffy's direction, as the straw hat wearing captain had already knew what it was he did to the pistol.
"Fucking die!" says Mr. 5 angrily yelling in pain as he fired at Luffy six times.
Luffy could sense the shots coming toward him. So in quick speed, he pulled out his own pistol full of bullets this time to fire at where the shots were with dead accuracy. Though for the last one, he let it come towards him as it hit him with a large explosion.
"Kyahahaha! Finally, that'll show him!" says Ms. Valentine being smug as it seemed the battle was turning.
"Oh really? That's very entertaining." says Luffy from the area of the explosion while shocking the two agents.
As the smoke was starting to dissipate, they see Luffy still standing in his same position as a large part of his left side is blown apart to only start reforming in red cubes. This shocks the two greatly, as Mr. 5 spoke out while unconsciously taking a step back.
"Jus-Just what are you?" asks Mr. 5 fearfully from what he's been facing.
"The Pillar General of Wrath." says Luffy being fully serious.
Once this was said, Luffy decided to activate his Vajra Asura form, deciding not to use the Six-Armed Version as his arms were coated in a metallic substance as proof. So now, he spoke out one word to begin.
"Soru" says Luffy as he moved forward at extremely high speed to appear in front of Mr. 5 with his fist aimed to his gut.
The minute the fist hit Mr. 5's stomach he was sent back further, and when he landed on his stomach, he started puking up what was assumed to be his lunch. Luffy knew at this point the man was done but saw in the corner of his eye that Ms. Valentine had managed to get up, and come at him with an attack of her own. So Luffy decided to end this quickly by pulling out his first katana and using his right hand for the attack.
"Hito-Hito: Asura's ROOM:" says Luffy as a spherical space appears around him and his target as Luffy then makes clean cuts on Ms. Valentine while speaking. "Amputate" says Luffy as when he was done, Ms. Valentine fell into pieces.
"AHHHH!" says Ms. Valentine shocked and horrified by what's happened to her body as Luffy picked her head up from the ground.
"Be quiet, I'll put you back together in a minute after I bind you and your partner up." says Luffy calmly with a sigh.
Luffy then went to grab Mr. 5, who was in between consciousness at the moment from the beating he got, and froze his wrists with Ice Haki.
"Ice Lock" says Luffy making cuffs made of strong Ice.
He then went over to where Ms. Valentine's split body parts were at, and froze the wrists as well only to then use a technique in putting her severed body parts back together. So now that the two agents were bonded together, he could see that Ms. Valentine was trying to break out of her restraints only to fail miserably.
"Don't bother. The ice might not give you frostbite but their infused with something that nullifies your Devil Fruit abilities." says Luffy being serious as Mr. 5 had came to now for him to continue. "Now, the two of you are going to tell me why you planted a bomb inside the drinks and I want an answer now, before I decided to freeze you both. Permanently." says Luffy bringing forth ice into his left hand while scaring them.
The got Mr. 5 to respond as best as he could with the pain he was currently enduring.
"Fine...well tell you...just no more." says Mr. 5 still in pain.
"It was our superior, a higher ranked member of Baroque Works who came up with the idea," says Ms. Valentine as she continued for Mr. 5. "His name is Mr. 3! He wanted the bounty on both of the Giant's heads, and decided to help us in killing two birds with one stone as it benefited him as well." says Ms. Valentine hoping this was enough to stop Luffy from killing them with Ice.
It was very clear that Ms. Valentine had seen how easy it was for Luffy to defeat them both. As it also became clear to her that Mr. 3's words were true about pursing this fight with Luffy and along with the fact that if he was this strong as his reputation precedes him, then what were the other eight generals like. In her mind, they weren't facing people but demons as the title of the Nine had described. So now, she found it better to speak rather than die at the hands of this monster of wrath.
"Mr. 3 huh? So I assume he's a bit more powerful than you both are?" asks Luffy hearing this.
"We don't know his real name, as our organization works that way but yes. He is stronger than me and Mr. 5 along with having a cunning nature with the tactics to back up his rank." says Ms. Valentine as she continued. "He ate the Doru Doru no Mi, which means he can control and produce wax from his body." says Ms. Valentine causing Luffy to nod at this information.
"And his partner?" asks Luffy needing know what he's walking into next while knowing Mr. 3 had a female partner like this pair did along with Nice Robin to Crocodile.
"His partner is Ms. Goldenweek, age 16 and uses paint to control a person's actions and emotions, though it's not Devil Fruit based. It's called Color Trap." says Ms. Valentine making Luffy's eyes widen a bit.
"Interesting considering that's not something you get to face everyday but that's the world. Though, it can be dealt with." says Luffy realizing this.
As he said this, he went to notice that in the distance was a large giant cake like structure, for which he assumed was made from wax by the scent. Along with this the fact that the structure had candles spinning at the top.
"Mr. 3's work right?" asks Luffy with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes." says Ms. Valentine nodding.
"Well, I'll give him points for creativity considering he might put up more of a fight than the both of you did." says Luffy as he went to leave the area but spoke for a final time to the two tied up agents. "The ice will melt off your wrist after three hours but will keep it's hardness all the same until fully gone. Be lucky I'm sparing your lives." says Luffy as then he went on to run off towards the wax structure with Lily.
- A Few Moments Later -
Luffy and Lily ran forward towards the structure for sometime but made good time in arriving there. So when he arrived, he saw a sight that caught him off guard just by a bit. Trapped in the wax of the structure was Vivi, Zoro, and Nami while Karoo was tied up near some little girl who was drinking tea as Usopp was stuck to a nearby tree with wax covering his body. Though he did sense now that Dorry was alive along with Brogy who was captured near them.
He also sensed Giyu and Nojiko heading here quickly, which was most likely due to Giyu sensing the change in emotions along with the extra pair of aura's on the island while Sanji was somewhere else on the island. Luffy also sensed the other three powerful aura's on the island heading to his exact location in quick speed, so he knew he had to finish this quickly.
"Luffy!" says Nami and Vivi yelling out to him upon seeing he arrived.
Luffy didn't bother to acknowledge them as he was currently sensing out the aura he was looking for. So when he did find it, he decided to speak out to his crew.
"Yea?" asks Luffy with a calm look on his face.
"Seriously?! Can you get us out?!" asks Nami yelling at him.
"I will when reinforcements arrive." says Luffy as he turned his full attention to a man with hair shaped in the form of a number while Lily went over to get Dorry and Brogy out of their prisons. "So your Mr. 3. Kind of expected you to be more subtle about it." says Luffy seeing the man's hair while looking at him.
Mr. 3 is an average-sized man with a rather frail-looking build. Like other male Baroque Works agents, Mr. 3 has his number hidden somewhere on his costume. For Mr. 3, he has 3's visible on his vest design, upper part of his glasses, and one big 3 achieved through his top knot. He also wears glasses and has neatly combed hair. He was also seen wearing a Log Pose on his left wrist.
"That I am. I see you defeated Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine as expected of someone of your reputation." says Mr. 3 as he adjusted his glasses to continue speaking. "But that also means very little from the current situation, as you can see I have captured your crew and their all about to die except for your fellow general! What was his name again? Hmm… Ah! It was Maris D. Giyu." says Mr. 3 as he started laughing a bit sadistically.
"Yes, you are correct." says Luffy. 'Though you forgot to account for Nojiko, who is with him.' thought Luffy as Nami spoke again.
"Luffy just what is your deal?! Were about to die!" asks Nami yelling at him in anger and frustration.
"My problem is the fact that my crew is in this position right now. Honestly it pisses me as it looks like Usopp put up a good fight by how he looks. Though, my first mate was trapped by this wax bastard in front of me, and wants to be the greatest swordsman in the world only to find himself trapped by this weakling." says Luffy making them flinch at the calm nature in his voice as he continued. "I swear it's moments like these were my temper is tested." says Luffy.
Luffy then decides to quick coat his arms in Ice Haki to then fire a shot off near Mr. 3's partner as it traps her from the neck down. He then brought forth his Conqueror's Shadow to go over towards her and chop the back of her neck, effectively knocking her out. So now, he then decided to turn his attention back to Mr. 3 while deactivating the Ice as he spoke.
"Your in for a world of pain." says Luffy as he went to go in for an attack with his fist. "Hito-Hito: Asura's Kaishin" says Luffy punching the air to make blue cracks appear that ultimately shatter and then send a shock wave forward.
The shock wave heads toward the cake made of wax destroying it while freeing his crew. Mr. 3 looked on at this scene shocked as his masterpiece was destroyed, so effortlessly and his prisoners were now free from the cake but they still had the candle lock attached to their legs. So with his partner out for the battle as a whole, he turned his attention towards Luffy and looked at him with pure hatred, and anger in his eyes before charging towards him for an attack.
"Candle Lock" says Mr. 3 yelling out while thrusting his hands forward causing a wave of wax to rush forward towards Luffy.
Luffy turned to see this and prepared to fire off another shock wave as a quake bubble surrounded his fist. But when he was about to do this, he sensed and felt a large amount of heat coming from his right while hearing someone yell.
"Kagutsuchi" says the person yelling as they sent out very hot orange flames at the wax while creating a wall of flames in the process.
This caused Luffy to stop for a moment to look at it as he sensed Giyu, and Nojiko jump down into the area. Lily stopped for a moment to see this as she heard something else.
"Wind Cutter" says the second person as the wind based cuts free the crew from their wax restraints.
Luffy sees this and hears it as he comes to a conclusion while overall shocked. Though before he and Giyu could speak out, due to him knowing what this exactly was another voice spoke out as the flames died down.
"It's been quite some time hasn't it, Luffy?" asks the voice of the fire who fired off the first attack.
So now in response to this, Giyu chuckles a bit along with Luffy getting amused as he chuckled a bit before speaking.
"Yes it has. Though let me finish this so that we can speak properly." says Luffy with a grin.
He then turned his attention to Mr. 3, only to disappear and reappear in front of the man with a rage-induced, Haki coated fist being sent forward to hit the man of wax hard in the face. This sent Mr. 3 flying out of the clearing they were in and into the jungle. Luffy turned while wiping his hands together a bit as he spoke.
"Well that takes care of him and this whole situation of the agents for now." says Luffy all the while calm about everything.
So now with this said and done, the crew had wide eyed expression as Vivi spoke.
"He beat Mr. 3" says Vivi in a voice of pure disbelief but at the same time believing his strength had grown since they saw each other so many years ago.
It was quite clear that Luffy was a force to be reckoned with if given the proper opponent. She knew he was strong but she didn't think by this much as she had doubts of her own about him. The fact that he went back to back fighting these agents without even breaking a sweat and calmly disposing of them as if they were annoying ants was something to see. As she thought Mr. 3 would make him go to his limits. So now, Nami spoke out in annoyance of something.
"Damn it, my shirt got burnt off!" says Nami annoyed.
"Mine too." says Lily causing Luffy to look over and see it.
In a quick movement of reflex, Luffy used the phoenix ability of his Devil Fruit to create a robe of fire for Nami. As for Lily, he went over in speed to hold her in a way to cover her assets from being exposed to everyone. Lily didn't mind the closeness but blushed all the same while pouting at his stupid grin, and had gone to mutter something along the lines of perverted captain. He heard this and just decided to kissed her on the forehead as he spoke.
"Your not opposed to it, so don't complain." says Luffy.
"Yea, yea." says Lily with a smile while glad that he did this for her while leaning her head on his chest.
As this moment went on someone cleared their throat and decided to speak.
"Ahem! You know were still here right?" asks the first of the three cloaked individuals as Luffy turned to them while holding Lily.
"Oh yea. hehe." says Luffy as he got a smile on his face along with Giyu.
The two know something about all of this would be interesting, as did the three individuals with the rest of the crew except Lily being confused.
- With Sanji -
Sanji had currently stumbled upon Mr. 3's wax house to find it abandoned completely, save a couple of things still remaining here. So after arriving here, he sat down while in thought of something that ranged in his mind about Crocodile while looking at the Transponder Snail inside this building. Though, he had finally came to the conclusion that on the other side of the call was the man, who was one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. As this conclusion came, Sanji was knocked out of his thoughts by the voice of the man on the other side.
"It's been a long time since I issued your orders Mr. 3. What's happening on that island?" asks Crocodile on the other side.
'Alright, I guess this Mr. 3 character is the owner of this Transponder Snail. So Luffy was right, Crocodile did send agents here anyway. Damn it, I hope their all alright.' thought Sanji not liking this situation as he spoke under his breath while blowing smoke. "Shit." says Sanji under his breath.
"Well are you going to answer me? When I ask a question, I expect an answer. Have you eliminated Princess Vivi, and the Straw Hats if possible as you were ordered?" asks Crocodile on the other side.
'Alright, time to work my magic in this conversation as best as I can to take the heat off us for a while.' thought Sanji picking up the piece to talk now. "Oh yea, the mission was successful though it didn't come easy. I eliminated all those pesky brats like you said to with your secret being completely protected. So there's no need to keep going after them anymore." says Sanji pretending to be Mr. 3
"I see, so as we speak the Unluckies are heading your way to confirm the success of your mission, and to deliver a certain package." says Crocodile on the other side.
"The Unluckies of course, and a package?" asks Sanji curious while keeping the act up.
"It's an Eternal Pose that will point you to Alabasta Kingdom. Once that arrives, you and Miss Goldenweek will head for Alabasta. It's time for the next phase of the plan, were about to begin embarking upon our most important operation to date. Details will follow after you reach Alabasta, wait for my orders." says Crocodile as this gets Sanji to narrow his eyes in thought.
'Luffy's not gonna like this. Not one bit.' thought Sanji as he heard about this 'next phase' while not liking it.
As Sanji had this thought, his Haki picked up something to his right only to find it was both the bird and otter from Whisky Peak. Sanji had to assume these were the Unluckies of Baroque Works.
"What the...what are those?" asks Sanji still a bit confused.
The next thing Sanji notices is that the Bird takes aim at him with firearms attached to his back with the Otter taking out some sort of shelled-shaped melee weapons.
"Mr. 3, what was that?" asks Crocodile as he hears the sound of weapons moving on the other side, which was from the Unluckies.
"Oh uh…it's nothing really." says Sanji sweating.
The minute he said this, the Bird flapped its wings once more to only fire at Sanji. The cook dodged all of this under the table so when the gunfire stopped, he got up while gritting his teeth a bit as the Otter now came running at him for an attack. Sanji stood up to dodge by raising his left leg while putting it in a position for an attack.
"So I guess your trying to kill me, huh? Well Monkey bring it on!" says Sanji as he sent a kick to the Otter's head while making him slam into the nearby wall to slide down, obviously unconscious.
With one opponent down now, Sanji then turned his attention to the Bird at the window, as it then aimed again to fire.
"Alright you, what now?" asks Sanji prepared to fight once more with the other agent.
As the Bird fired off it's guns at Sanji, he maneuvered his body to stand on his right hand, so that his legs would fall to the Bird's head in a lock.
"So what're you gonna do now? You over-sized chicken!" says Sanji as he turned his body with the bird in lock, to twist its neck.
When this was done, Sanji stood up fully as the bird fell to the ground. As both threats were eliminated, Sanji's attention turned back to the Transponder Snail.
"Hey, what's going on? Answer me Mr. 3!" says Crocodile raising his voice a bit.
"Oh it's nothing sir! It's just that damn Straw Hat was still alive. It's okay though, I finished him off real good. No need to worry." says Sanji making Crocodile on the other side question this.
It was clear to Crocodile that something was off. So he decided to figure out what it was before continuing with his earlier conversation as he spoke.
"What do you mean he was still alive? I believe that just a moment ago, you said that your mission was completed successfully. Isn't that correct?" asks Crocodile not liking what he had just heard.
Sanji now decided to speak a bit nervous now while thinking of something on the fly.
"Yes that is what I said. I was absolutely sure that it was completed then, but that Straw Hat guy was really a lot tougher than you expect. Especially with the skills he had, a real pain." says Sanji covering up what just happened.
"So let me see if I understand. The report you gave me was a complete lie?" asks Crocodile not liking this one bit.
This made Sanji get even more on edge than he was earlier, due to seeing this situation possibly going from good to bad as he found his act was not holding up.
"Well...yea. When you put it like that I guess the report wasn't the truth but now I've gotten rid of him for sure. So there's no need for you to send anyone after him and the others." says Sanji.
It was quiet for a moment or two as Sanji thought he had screwed up. So now, Crocodile decided to speak now to determine where Sanji was in his act.
"Very well, take the Log Pose and head straight to Alabasta from there immediately. Do you understand me?" asks Crocodile.
"Of course." says Sanji still keeping up the act as Crocodile continued.
- Back With Luffy -
"It sure has been a while huh? Agni, Akeno, and Inosuke." says Luffy as he identified the people before.
"Your damn right it has." says Agni with a grin as he took off his cloak.
Agni is a 17 year old, well built muscular young man as he usually is bare-chested and wears just an orange skirt that reaches the ankles with black pants underneath with a pair of his own black sandals. His hair reaches his hips, while maintaining the same orange color. Though due to the nature of his Devil Fruit his hair also seems to have a fire-like nature, and it often appears to be literally made of flames. As for other pieces of appearance to the young man, Agni has feathery black wings as well as having flames rise from his back at all times. On his right ring finger was his ring, which was orange and bore the kanji for "Fire" (火, hi) as he also possesses one of the 10 Divine Grade Swords which is called Wailing Dark. (An: Read End Chapter Note)
"Oi! How can you say my name last you bastard?!" asks Inosuke yelling at Luffy as he took off the cloak next.
Inosuke is a 17 year old, well built muscular young man of average height and pale complexion with an extremely toned and muscular build for his age, possessing large, defined muscles most notably over his stomach and arms. In sharp contrast to this, he has an incredibly pretty and feminine face, with large, wide eyes that are framed by an array of long eyelashes, their irises a dark to soft pale green, thin eyebrows and what could be a small, well-mannered mouth.
His thick, black hair reaches just past his shoulders, fading into blue at the tips and forming an unruly and uneven fringe that falls just above his eyes, puffing out before curving and thinning towards his forehead. The key piece is that Inosuke wears a boar's pelt on his shoulders along with the head laying perfectly on his right shoulder while he wears his own unique pants. While on his right ring finger was his ring, which was a light blue and bore the kanji for "Wind" (飌, kaze) as he also possesses his own Divine Grade Sword, which is unique for being dual katana blades called Divine Wind Breather.
So now with this said, Luffy turns to Inosuke and speaks loudly.
"I didn't mean anything by it! You wind based bastard!" says Luffy yelling at him.
"Who are you calling a 'wind based bastard' you haired seething idiot?!" asks Inosuke yelling again while looking for a challenge with him.
"You heard me!" says Luffy yelling right back at him
"Ara Ara~ calm down you two. I'm sure were all glad to see each other again." says Akeno trying to diffuse the situation between the two people she sees as her brothers in all but blood.
Akeno is a 17 years old, beautiful young woman with a voluptuous figure, very long black hair and violet eyes. Her hair is usually tied in a long ponytail, reaching all the way down to her legs with two strands sticking out from the top and sloping backward, with a red ribbon keeping it in place. Akeno wears traditional miko attire but altered in color a bit, consisting of a black haori with red accents, a red hakama, and a pair of zōri with white tabi. On her right ring finger is her ring, which was a black and bore the kanji for "Lightning" (霆, ikazuchi) as she also possess a Divine Grade sword like her other generals but the unique piece about it is that Akeno's can take the form of a spear and katana as it is called Divine Storm Breather.
So now with this said by Akeno, Giyu decided to speak to her on this while walking up to the group.
"Yeah like that's going to diffuse this whole situation one bit between those two." says Giyu walking up to her.
"Oh it's you Giyu! it's been a while hasn't it." says Akeno with a smile on her face excited to see him, as she had her eyes closed with a hand to her face as well while continuing to speak. "Are you still as serious as ever or have you lightened up a bit?" asks Akeno wondering about him.
Giyu saw this and immediately answered before she could make a remark.
"I know what your thinking." says Giyu looking very serious as everyone got a bit tense as he spoke again. "I'm not...I'm not disliked by people." says Giyu being very serious and passionate about what he just said.
'Huh?' was the collective thought of everyone there as they all thought they could hear something shatter almost by what he just said.
Akeno decided to open her eyes while keeping her amused expression while speaking to Giyu.
"I see. Ah well, I'm sorry. You still haven't even realized after all this time that people don't like you then?" asks Akeno as she continued in a correction of her own. "That was uncalled for. Please forgive me." says Akeno apologizing and asking to be forgiven.
Once again everyone felt like they could hear something shatter, even Giyu this time as well by what Akeno said to him. By the way she spoke, it was too nice and pleasant for it to even be an apology as everyone had their thoughts on this.
'Seriously...' was the collective thought of Luffy, Agni, Giyu, and Inosuke knowing how these two could be.
'I swear it's like their all crazy, and messed up in the head somewhere...' thought everyone else watching the interaction between Luffy and his old friends.
As Giyu was about to speak again, he felt someone or some presence looking at him. So he turned to where it was, only to see Inosuke looking at him. Giyu could swear he saw sparkles around the guy while looking at him. So in return
"..." Giyu only gave the most blank look and uninterested look towards Inosuke and turned to walk away.
As he did this, it brought Inosuke out of his moment to yell out.
"Hold up a second!" says Inosuke stopping the man. "Fight me, Giyu because as it stands we never got to finish our fight! Just because it's been sometime, does not mean you can brush me off! I refuse to leave things unfinished!" says Inosuke yelling towards
Giyu.
"You still haven't learned from the last time have you?" asks Giyu being serious as always as he spoke again. "Go back to training, idiot." says Giyu.
This shocks Inosuke a bit as it's seen in his facial expression but it quickly turns as a vein pops up on his forehead.
"What the…" says Inosuke yelling in a bit of anger.
As this happened, everyone was having their laugh as Luffy spoke out to pause this little reunion.
"Alright alright, you guys let's do this later." says Luffy as he went to make a robe of fire for Lily as well with her pouting a bit from them being removed.
Luffy went to a good look at his old comrades to notice, they all still had SWORD's signature tattoo on their left Deltoid just like his that resembles his of a black sword with a small black flame-like motif. So when using Observation Haki, he noticed their aura's had become very large than what they were years before, for which he knew and took it was them training since being separated. Pushing this aside, he then turned his attention to the two Giants that were off to the side and walked over towards to speak.
"Sorry about not freeing you immediately Brogy. I just wanted you to make sure these were my friends and not potential threats like the guy we just dealt with." says Luffy as he focused a quake bubble around his hand, only to touch the wax and focus his power through it in a precise way to destroy it.
"It's no problem at all, my young friend!" says Brogy with a smile as he looked over to the form of his friend, Dorry.
Luffy, and the crew saw this with Agni deciding to give him the news. One that was good.
"Don't worry about him. He's still alive." says Agni causing those who didn't know to widen their eyes in shock.
"What?! Dorry is still alive?! How?!" asks Brogy looking back between Agni and Luffy.
"Well I can only guess, no scratch that. I can now confirm it by saying because of your duel that's lasted for a hundred years, your weapons have dulled due to constant clashing and time." says Inosuke over by one of the weapons and running a finger down the blade as he noticed the blade wasn't sharp at all.
"Oh yea! That makes sense, not even the weapons made in Elbaf could withstand two Giants dueling to the death for a hundred years." says Usopp happily as he was glad Dorry was alive.
As he said this, Dorry was beginning to regain consciousness. After Luffy finished focusing his tremor power on the wax in a precise way, cracks appeared across the wax that shattered to break it entirely while freeing Brogy. Dorry, and everyone else started to sit down in the area after this fight as Luffy still had the lunches Sanji packed for everyone to eat, as Dorry patched himself up.
- With Crocodile -
Crocodile was currently still on the Transponder Snail speaking, and finishing up what he was saying to Sanji while assuming he was Mr. 3 without a doubt.
"We'll have no more radio contact from now on, Understand? If the Marines were to catch on to what we're doing that would be most unfortunate. From this point on, all of my orders will be sent via letter following the usual protocol. That will be all Mr. 3, good luck on your mission." says Crocodile as he hung up the Transponder Snail.
The moment he did this, he seemed to be in thought for a moment. Though, he decided to stand up in his dark office while facing away from someone, who was petting an actual and very large crocodile, only to speak out.
"Ms. All Sunday." says Crocodile identifying it to be Robin under her code name.
"Yes sir?" asks Robin turning to Crocodile.
"I want you to send Mr. 2 to Little Garden immediately." says Crocodile making Robin seem surprised as he spoke again. "Mr. 3 is on his way from Little Garden to Alabasta, I want you to say that he is eliminated." says Crocodile giving out her orders.
Robin still kept her calmly amused expression as she spoke.
"Perhaps that might be a little extreme, Crocodile." says Robin as she stood up to walk towards the steps.
"We still have plenty of agents to spare. Are you arguing with me Ms. All Sunday?" asks Crocodile in a tone of stern challenge.
"No. I'll make the arrangements at once. Consider it done." says Robin following the order.
"Good because the quicker we move, the quicker this next phase can be completed. As I still don't believe Mr. 3 defeated the Straw Hats. Not one bit." says Crocodile with calmly narrowed eyes.
This stops Robin as she turned her head a bit to speak.
"What do you mean?" asks Robin curious at this change in her superior that seemed almost like...fear.
"Do you really think the captain of this crew would fall so easily?" asks Crocodile being skeptical on the matter as he continued. "I don't. As it stands we must confirm Mr. 3's statement is true, so that we may take the proper course of action moving forward." says Crocodile as he turned his eyes a bit in her direction. "Got it?" asks Crocodile in a stern tone.
"Yes sir." says Robin nodding while turning to leave fully now but still having her thoughts on what Crocodile said.
- Somewhere On The Grand Line -
On the sea, a marine ship was currently in search for someone and a certain pirate crew. Currently the one commanding it was Smoker from Loguetown, as he was currently in front of one of his Marines who had a Black Transponder Snail attached to his wrist.
"Play it one more time." says Smoker ordering his marine.
"Yes sir." says the marine as he does as told.
"Crrk...tsst...Princess Vivi and… Straw Hat Pi-crrk...yes, I've carried out my miss-...crrk…" says the Black Transponder Snail playing back the eavesdropped conversation but very much distorted.
"The Straw Hats?!" asks Tashigi hearing this.
"Yes…the source was too far away for us to intercept the whole thing but we can note 4 keywords from this conversation." says Smoker as he continued. "Princess Vivi", "Straw-Hat", "Mr. 0", and "orders." says Smoker noting the things he heard the previous time along with what he heard this time.
It was quite clear to Smoker that whoever was involved in this situation had something to do with it revolving all around the Straw Hat Pirates and Princess Vivi along with certain orders. Though what did get his full attention was the one known as Mr. 0 and how he had a part to play in all of this. So now, Smoker had to finally come to an ultimate decision of where he was going next.
"Plot a course for Alabasta Kingdom now." says Smoker walking back to the front of the ship as he gave his orders.
"Yes Sir!" says everyone present hearing these orders and going to follow them.
- Back On Little Garden -
The crew had officially gotten done eating after some time, as Luffy decided to ask a question to everyone.
"Someone wanna tell me where Sanji is?" asks Luffy wondering where his cook is.
The moment the crew was about to respond except the newcomers, they all heard the voice of Sanji coming from behind them in the jungle, as he made his way into the clearing.
"Oh Nami, Vivi, Nojiko, and Lily! Did you miss me?!" asks Sanji with heart eyes as he skipped over towards the crew.
He stopped in his tracks when he first saw the two Giants, along with the three newcomers and the four Baroque Works agents tied to a nearby tree. He then looked to the crew who all had blank faces, as Luffy spoke.
"You mind explaining where you've been all this time, Sanji?" asks Luffy a bit irritated.
"Well, you see I've been a bit busy." says Sanji sitting down with them as he continued. "I just got off this Transponder Snail call with Mr. 0." says Sanji causing most of the crew's eyes to widen in a bit of a shock.
"You what?" asks Giyu a bit shocked himself.
"Yeah, I found this small wax house in the middle of the jungle. So I answered the call and he thought that I was some guy by the name of Mr. 3, who apparently was sent here to kill us but mainly Luffy, Giyu, and Vivi." says Sanji blowing smoke from the cigarette in his mouth as he continued. "I told him that Vivi and the Straw Hat Pirates had been eliminated." says Sanji reporting his good work as everyone looked at him.
"So that's that huh? He thinks he doesn't have to send any more agents after us anymore." says Vivi to herself while a bit shocked.
"Well let's see how long that lasts for us because Crocodile will be suspicious, considering he won't believe one of his agents took me down or this crew in general." says Luffy thinking about it as Usopp spoke.
"So your saying that were free of them chasing us further because we can't go anywhere?" asks Usopp looking gloomy at the situation.
"We can't? Is there something we still need to take care of here?" asks Sanji still unaware of the whole Log Pose problem and how it takes a year to reset as he continued. "That's a shame really, after I even managed to get a hold of this." says Sanji as he pulled out an Eternal Pose set for Alabasta while causing everyone's eyes to look over in shock.
"That's an Eternal Pose for Alabasta!" says Inosuke yelling out in shock due to being caught up on their current situation by Luffy.
"So we can leave? Finally." says Agni relieved and eager to go.
"Good then we should move at once." says Luffy causing everyone's celebration to stop as he continued. "Dorry, Brogy, it's been fun overall but we must go. Time is of the essence for where we're going now." says Luffy to the two Giants.
"Yes, it's a real shame that you must leave so soon." says Dorry with Brogy nodding at this.
"Take care." says Luffy with a smile as he turned to his crew and spoke. "Let's go." says Luffy as he began to walk.
"Right." says the crew getting up to follow now.
- River Shore -
After a few minutes of talking with the newcomers of the crew, and walking back to the ship. They arrived back at the Going Merry and began their preparations to set off, as Lily and Nami went to go get new shirts with their respective styles considering they were burned off their bodies earlier. So after they came back, everyone could see three large dead dinosaurs being dragged in front of the ship by Zoro, Sanji, and Giyu. So Lily decided to speak on seeing this.
"I take it this our meat from your little contest?" asks Lily while looking at Sanji causing him to nod along with Zoro, Giyu, and Nojiko.
"Yeah and as you can see, mine is clearly bigger than the rest." says Sanji being smug.
"As if! Mine is clearly the largest!" says Zoro yelling at Sanji.
This caused an argument between the two making Luffy sigh a bit but Nami decided to speak upon seeing something.
"Actually if we're being honest, Giyu got the larger catch." says Nami seeing it while making everyone turn to him to see Giyu did, as his was a full grown T-Rex.
This caused Zoro and Sanji to become shocked that neither of them got the larger catch. Inosuke become irritated that they didn't get here sooner to participate. Make Akeno and Agni chuckle a bit along with Luffy. So now, Luffy decided to speak out and end this.
"Alright alright you guys. as it stands, Giyu is the winner of this round." says Luffy making the man nod as he continued. "So get to cutting it, and storing it all away. I want us to get a move and set sail from here." says Luffy ordering them in a calm but commanding tone.
The three nodded and started getting to work on cutting meat from the three dinosaurs. The rest of the crew began getting everything prepared to sail off, as Luffy went to walk over to Akeno on the upper deck and speak.
"Thanks for letting me borrow these tomahawks Akeno, they really helped me get a grasp for Lightning based attacks for the past couple of years." says Luffy handing off the Twin Wild Breathers to her.
"No problem, Luffy. It was my pleasure to help you." says Akeno with a smile that turned serious now. "So were you able to reawaken and fully bring out the properties of the Goro Goro no Mi?" asks Akeno being serious now.
The reason she was being serious now was because Luffy's Devil Fruit was special, and very good in terms of all around compatibility. As he could use all the elements except for Lightning to an extent, as Lightning was his weakest element. Though on a few occasions it would come forth violently.
"Yes I did. I remember when I first ate the fruit, I was able to summon lighting due to Shanks shaking me to spit it out but I could never summon it after that. On a couple of missions in our previous affiliation. I could feel always feel something surge in me." says Luffy remembering that day and those couple of times where he had unconsciously called upon it.
"What else?" asks Akeno being calm now while wanting to learn more.
"Well during my training when I was able to fully awaken it, the power came with a message." says Luffy as he continued. "Power without a purpose is meaningless and worthless. A purpose that is firm can change the impossible to the possible. That is the power of our cause, young carrier of D." says Luffy reciting what he heard that day.
"I see." says Akeno nodding.
"It seems as though the ghosts of the past are speaking out to you." says Agni getting their attention to look at the top of the deck for where Nami's tangerine bushes are, to him laying down at the edge as he spoke again. "Though, for our clan it's not unnatural to hear the voice considering we've all heard it as well." says Agni being serious for his part.
"Right." says Luffy agreeing with him as Akeno nodded as well, only to speak again.
"Well, let's not dwell on it right now. We'll talk about this later tonight in your office while you bring us up to speed on what has been going on so far." says Akeno with a smile.
"Yea." says Luffy with a smile.
As this conversation ended between the three, it only took a couple of minutes for Zoro, Sanji, and Giyu to cut the dinosaur meat and put it away. With the crew moving to get the sail ready, tighten the ropes, and raise the anchor. Usopp was on the rudder ready to go, Zoro and Giyu had pulled the anchors up now. Nami came to stand by Luffy along with the three newcomers on the crew. Sanji and Lily were waiting for Luffy to give the signal for releasing the sails while standing by the main mast of the ship. Nojiko and Vivi stood by the railing of the ship while staring out as Zoro came to speak.
"Everything's ready, Captain!" says Zoro yelling out as everything was secured.
"Alright then, let's set sail!" says Luffy as the sails were released causing the ship to start moving forward.
As they began to sail down the river that goes through Little Garden, Nami decided to speak.
"The Giants said going straight would take us to the western end of the island." says Nami causing Luffy to nod.
"Good." says Luffy nodding as he was satisfied with this.
- Western End Of Little Garden -
As the crew sailed further down, they started to see the edge of the river that leads out of Little Garden and into the open water. Though they could also see that on either side of the river was Dorry and Brogy standing and looking out at the horizon.
"Hey look, it's the giants. They must have came down here to say goodbye." says Inosuke happily.
As they sailed forward, Brogy began to speak.
"A great danger still lies ahead of you." says Brogy as he did not move.
"It is an obstacle that has always been here. Trying to prevent people from reaching the next island." says Dorry causing a few of the members to perk up with others panicking a bit as he continued. "Everyone of you fought like true warriors in order to protect the pride of our duel." says Dorry in a serious tone.
"And because you were willing to that no matter what enemy you face," says Brogy continuing.
"We will never let them destroy your pride, friends." says Dorry.
"You must have faith in what we say, and go straight. No matter what happens, keep going straight understand!" says Brogy yelling out while causing Luffy to nod as Zoro spoke to Usopp to take his role as First Mate.
"Usopp?" asks Zoro causing the sniper to nod and go for the rudder to do as told of them.
"Right." says Usopp going to the rudder now and doing as told by the Giant's
As soon as the ship sailed out of the river and into the ocean, Dorry and Brogy gave their farewells while saying that they hope to meet again someday. Though soon after sailing a bit further out, a very large presence started rising from the water only to show a giant goldfish big enough to swallow an entire island and was now getting ready to swallow the crew along with their ship.
"Usopp, work the rudder before we get eaten!" says Nami yelling out from next to Luffy.
"Luffy said to go straight." says Usopp replying.
"Keep going straight!" says Luffy yelling out without turning his head while causing everyone except Giyu, Lily, Inosuke, Akeno, and Agni to become shocked and look at him as though he were suicidal.
"Luffy don't be a moron this is not going to turn out like it did with Laboon!" says Nojiko trying get Luffy to understand the magnitude of their situation.
Luffy ignored all the cries amongst his crew and let the ship sail right into the beast's mouth. When the large beast closed its mouth and began to swallow them, a sudden and bright white light appeared behind their ship as everyone saw red and blue energy fly past the ship and piece through the throat of the giant fish while pushing the ship out of this enormous hole as well. This seemed to get a smirk from Luffy, Giyu, Agni, Inosuke, and Akeno while the rest of the crew were shocked.
After flying for a few seconds the ship had finally hit the water and was moving at high speed. Everyone looked back behind them to see the enormous fish had a giant hole in his throat and through the hole, everyone could see Dorry and Brogy standing there at the edge of Little Garden holding their broken weapons.
"Friend! Go! Good Luck!" says Dorry and Brogy giving their final farewell to the crew.
As they saw this, they couldn't help but smile.
"Well that was fun." says Inosuke with a smirk.
"Yea." says Luffy as he then turned to Nami and spoke to give out orders. "Set our course for Alabasta immediately." says Luffy causing her to nod and go off to the main deck to do just that as he turned to his fellow generals. "All of you with me." says Luffy as the four nod and head with Luffy to his Captain Quarters.
- A Few Moments Later -
It had been sometime since, Luffy had brought them into his room to talk. Luffy and Giyu decided to catch up with their old friends while bringing them up to speed on everything that has happened so far. It came as a shock that Luffy had possessed the Devil Fruit power they were searching for. Though now, Agni decided to speak.
"So that's that, huh?" asks Agni amused as he spoke again.
"Yep, about." says Luffy nodding.
"By the way, did the Marines send anyone after you guys? Because they sent some people after me when I was in hiding." says Inosuke surprising them.
"Wait you were being hunted? By who?" asks Agni not knowing this and just hearing it now.
"Cipher Pol. More specifically CP-9, the assassination squad." says Inosuke shocking them as he continued. "And the one leading them was Rob Lucci." says Inosuke informing them of that.
So when he said this, everyone's blood lust went up a bit including Inosuke's. It was no secret to them that Rob Lucci intended to pay the Pillar Generals back in blood for how he was badly beaten and broken by their leader, Luffy for what he did during the events in Mariejois. Lucci had hated the fact that Luffy's growth surpassed his when at the age of 9, Luffy worked his way into CP-0 and had gotten permission from the Five Elders to form the Nine Demonic Pillar Generals. Though the man did soon harbor hatred for the nine in total due to them always interfering and keeping all of the Cipher Pol divisions in check. So to send Rob Lucci and CP-9 after Inosuke meant that the Five Elders had officially ordered them to begin hunting their members down.
"Wait, is that the reason why you were with Akeno all this time until I ran into you both in West Blue a year before?" asks Agni wanting an answer while generally curious.
"Yes, that's the reason why I've been with Akeno for the past two years. I found it better being in a pair instead of just by myself, I maybe able to fight Cipher Pol to a great extent but if their on the move after us, then it means an Admiral is not far behind." says Inosuke as he continued. "And I can say it now, he's gotten stronger. The bastard must have taken the loss to Luffy badly because he's refine his skills." says Inosuke telling them this.
"It would make sense after what happened." says Akeno putting a hand on his shoulder.
"The whole situation that happened in Mariejois was because the Celestial Dragons got cocky and delved even further into their madness of thinking they were Gods. It's one thing for them to have the power that they do, but for them to suggest putting forth Operation Firestorm to Five Elders was borderline- no scratch that. It was plain genocidal considering those five bastards were actually thinking of going along with it, and planned to use us as their personal Vanguard." says Agni pissed off as his hair was flaming a bit as everyone nodded in agreement remembering it too.
"From what I've been hearing lately, the Marines have officially labeled our crimes as the God Fall Incident instead of keeping them separate." says Akeno informing them of this.
"Why exactly? Wouldn't it have been easier to keep them separate?" asks Giyu as it was perfectly fine to keep the names of each crime separately.
"The reason why was due to the killing of those Celestial Dragons in the dead of night along incinerating Mariejois to the ground a mere month later after being found out by the Marines to have committed the crime. The whole incident needed one name as they both coincide within a short range of time." says Akeno giving him the reason.
"It's quite fitting really. We killed some of them in their own realm, and then burned their most untouchable city to the ground. The name fits for a "God's Fall" in all seriousness." says Agni making finger quotations.
"The question is what are we going to do?" asks Inosuke being serious again as they all turned to him.
"What do you mean?" asks Luffy curious.
"About our other teammates? Luffy when they came after me, they didn't just send CP-9 after me. They came with an entire fleet that had the authorization to launch a Buster Call from an Admiral, as you guessed right before we went through with deserting our positions and going into hiding." says Inosuke serious as he continued. "As it stands, both the World Government and the Marines want us gone before any of the information we know on all of their cover-ups and fuck ups get out to the public. So I assume you have a plan." says Inosuke assuming his captain has a plan.
It was quite clear that this was weighing heavily on Inosuke's mind. It wasn't just about being hunted, it was about the extreme nature in which their former affiliations were bearing down on them as a whole. Luffy took a breath before speaking to answer Inosuke and the room as a whole.
"Yes I do. Giyu already told me that the rest of our teammates are already in Paradise and as it stands now, we can brush off any fleet that doesn't have an Admiral present with them. As Admirals are the more costly. Inosuke I know it isn't enough to satisfy but trust me, the others are strong." says Luffy being serious.
Inosuke nodded at this, though not all satisfied but knew Luffy was trying. So after this was said, something got their attention.
"Purururu...purururu...purururu." says the voice coming from the desk as they find a straw hat wearing Baby Den Den Mushi with his demon slayer markings on it.
It sat on the table by the group in the room continuing to ring. So Luffy went over as it rang some more with him looking back at his teammates, only for him to pick it up.
"Gacha" says the Transponder Snail proving Luffy had accepted the call and spoke.
"Hello?" asks Luffy wondering who it was.
"Luffy?! About time! I thought I wouldn't get through, I've been calling for sometime now." says the man on the other side as everyone in the room knew who it was as well.
"Marco? Why are you calling? Considering you never do unless it's serious." says Luffy wondering why Marco would call his personal and secure line.
Marco on the other side was silent for a moment before taking a deep breathe to speak now.
"It's about Ace." says Marco getting Luffy's attention fully along with everyone else present as he continued. "And Sabo as well." says Marco getting serious.
"What's happened?" asks Luffy wanting an answer.
"Their not in the New World, Luffy. Haven't been for a while now." says Marco shocking Luffy as he continued. "Their somewhere in Grand Line…" says Marco.
Luffy knew what he meant by this along with being shocked by it as well too. The others in the room were shocked as well knowing it was serious by the way Marco spoke. So now, Luffy sighed a bit and rubbed his eyes before speaking.
"So their in Paradise, huh?" asks Luffy not liking this one bit.
One adventure on an island ends but the journey continues on with more questions still left to be answered in time.
Done!, good, bad, don't like it that's on you. So yes, this chapter gives insight on how the Nine Demonic Pillar Generals were taking their time in hiding as some and maybe the rest of them were being hunted along with the man power being put forth in such a hunt. Inosuke may seem different here but that's reasonable as he will have concerns for his fellow Pillar Generals. Now, Agni talks more about his feelings on the whole stand point of what happened in the incident resulting in their defection as he seems to not care much about the consequences too much for a good reason.
Now let's get down to business, yes I gave the tomahawks over to Akeno as they were made for Luffy to have better control over Lightning and Lightning based Haki as a whole but will play a key role later on down the line and for what he said about Shanks, refer to the Prologue.
Secondly yes, I decided to incorporate a piece of the Manga with Smoker in this chapter as the anime did not show it but with my changes, I figured it was a nice piece, so as you've seen I've changed the names of certain Pillar Generals around a bit, feel free to read the bounty chapter to know the change and understand it.
Now Thirdly, as for the other Nine Demonic Pillar General's appearances, Agni is also a member of King's Race as well. For a while, I thought about his appearance for the story and this is what I came up with as it really fits for his Devil Fruit and overall appearance. Though Honestly, It was a pain just figuring out how I wanted to go about some of the other characters appearances. So now, I'll give you a bit of what they look like and what to search up.
- Giyu (Looks Like His Demon Slayer Appearance.)
- Gyomei (Looks Like His Demon Slayer Appearance.)
- Agni (Looks Like His Kubera Webtoon Appearance Overall.)
- Inosuke (Looks Like His Demon Slayer Appearance.)
- Alizeh (Looks Like Shuri From Kubera Webtoon.)
- Akeno (Looks Like Her High School DxD Appearance.)
- Alina (Looks Like Seilah From Fairy Tail.)
- Derieri (Looks Like Her Seven Deadly Sins Appearance.)
So there it is for the appearances of all the rest of the Pillar Generals. Now with Little Garden finished, we can move on to Drum Island and get closer to Alabasta now. So without anything else to say, please review and I'll see you all for the next chapter.