Chapter 7 : Sword vs Rubber

"That's Hawk eye!"

Luffy, who was relatively eased up due to assistance of the Whitebeard pirates and Rayleigh, knew that this was a battle he would have to fight on his own. He did not want anyone else to interfere in it, as it was a matter of pride and it's a true test to his abilities and will evaluate as to where he stands amongst the best of the world.

"I will fight Hawk-eye. Don't interfere in my fight."

Though Luffy was probably the most inexperienced and probably may not be the strongest fighter in the group, the pirates knew that this was a matter of honor.

"Hmm. Looks like Ace's brother has a history with Hawk eye. I will have to save my battle with him later" thought Vista, one of the Whitebeard's commanders.

" I wonder if fate will end the life of one of the next generation's top pirates." Said a battle-ready Hawk eye, his eyes piercing into Luffy.

"Luffy, remember what I said." warned Rayleigh.

"Ossan was right. I need to think calmly and should not act without thinking." Thought Luffy, remembering the conversation he had with Rayleigh atop the Moby Dick, a few minutes ago.

"Be careful, Luffy." Thought Rayleigh nearly at the exact same moment, thinking about the same conversation Luffy was thinking about.

Flashback

"Luffy, I need to talk to you." said Rayleigh, his expression serious. Whitebeard did not try to intervene into the conversation, as he continued observing the battleground from the pinnacle of Moby Dick.

"Ok Rayleigh-san. Tell me what you have to say."

"Luffy, I saw you arrive from the sky, with pirates and revolutionaries who were locked up deep in the Impel down. Did you actually break into Impel Down?"

Luffy, who was a little distressed at the direct question, just nodded.

"How in the world did you get into it. Never mind getting into the prison, how in the world did you manage to go through the 6 levels of literal hell, and come out relatively unscathed? And not to talk about the jail warden Magellan. He has a dangerous devil-fruit. How did you manage to defeat him, without which you couldn't have broken out of the jail?" asked Rayleigh, showcasing his extremely good analyzing skills by deducing stuff out of limited information.

"Erm, Rayleigh-san. Hancock helped me to get into the prison. And I had Buggy and Mr 3's help. But, er, how shall I say. I actually got poisoned when I fought Magellan. But Iva-chan did something to my body, and gave me some hormone boost or something. I was really hungry after I woke up, and Iva-chan said that her boost will last for a day, so no worries!"

Rayleigh was stroking the beard more and more as Luffy's explanation continued. "This kid has gone through a lot and is still standing. And what's more, he wants to go head on into a war-zone. This is not good for his health. Ivankov must have given some sort of adrenaline boost. It won't last more than an hour under extreme distress or workload. And fighting in a war is no small deal. I need to advise him to be careful."

Whitebeard, who was gently listening to the conversation, was impressed as to how dedicated was this kid in regards to saving his brother, even if it means risking his health and body. "Ace has a great family. Apart from Whitebeard pirates ourselves, I am glad that he has nakama who would stake their life for his benefit."

"Luffy, will you listen to me?"

"Yes, Rayleigh-san."

"The condition you are in now is very severe. Your body is terribly beaten. Those hormones stuff Ivankov put inside you just fools your body. You won't reach even the scaffold if you fight with your full strength so early. So listen to me carefully. Do not engage any Admirals. Do not engage any other marines with Devil fruits."

"And Whitebeard, let's split up your forces. I would suggest you to send some of your best commanders with us. You can analyse the situation up from the back, and step in whenever you are needed. Moreover, we cannot rule out an attack from the backside. I saw some of the Bartholomew-Kuma clones in Sabaody, who were as powerful as a vice admiral. And if Sentomaru was right, they have a small army of them. So, we cannot rule out Sengoku employing them in the battlefield. I would suggest you wait till either Akainu or Sengoku personally enter the battlefield. I can handle the non-Devil fruit marines, including Garp. Do you think this will work out?"

Luffy was dumb folded listening to Rayleigh having such an insight in such a stressful situation and coming out with such a plan. Whitebeard was impressed with Rayleigh. He knew about Rayleigh's caliber as a fighter, but his strategical mind was something he never came across. "No wonder Roger used to get away even from worst of the situations. This guy is a genius." Thought a slightly impressed Whitebeard.

"Whitebeard, give me a den-den mushi. I will contact you if there is a need."

Whitebeard obliged by silently handling him one of the transponder snails.

" Do you agree with what we have discussed? Will you obey as I say?"

Luffy, who was fighting an internal conflict, nodded slowly. Whitebeard, who did not the recent past of Luffy, was looking at him in a whole new light. "this brat packs more punch than he looks. "Red haired" chose well"

"Cmon Luffy, what are we waiting for!? Lets go and save your brother!"

Present.

"So here we meet again, Straw Hat Luffy. Let's see what fate has in store for you." Said Mihawk, demolishing some of the lower ranked Whitebeard pirates with a single swipe of his black sword.

"I cannot defeat a swordman of this guy's caliber now. I need to do something such that he is disabled from fighting for atleast a minute! Wait! This is it!" thought Luffy, with a firm plan in his mind.

Luffy charged towards Mihawk, but suddenly vanished, by using Soru.

"So he's familiar with Rokushiki. Interesting." Thought Mihawk, who was able to track Luffy's moments to an extent.

"Wait? I just saw him there? How come he vanished?And what's with that steam?" thought Mihawk, before being forced into a defensive position due to sudden attack from Luffy.

Luffy, who took Rayleigh's advice by heart, actually started to use his powers to an advantage. By fluctuating his speed by using gear 2 for a few moments, he caught Mihawk off balance, thus enabling him to find an opening. He nearly managed to hit him only to be blocked by the flat surface of Mihawk's blade. But that didn't stop him from pushing the swordsman into backfoot. Only Rayleigh noticed the Luffy's fist blackening for a few moments before fading away.

"This kid is a natural! He will be a very interesting pupil to train." Thought Rayleigh, analysing the battle in front of him.

The marines watching the battle were little awed seeing the great Shichibukai Mihawk in the backfoot, even if it was only for a moment. "This rookie is seriously something else all together." thought some of the marines.

Mihawk, who was a little annoyed at being brought into a defensive position, gave his black blade an almighty horizontal heave. The resulting slash made the whole battle-field stop in awe looking at the shear force he put up into that attack. The attack dissipated only after Whitebeard countered it with his tremor powers. The pirates were more than a little afraid looking at what the great swordsman was actually capable of.

Luffy, just managed to jump after attacking Mihawk, only to be on eye level with Mihawk again. Luffy noticed Buggy and some of his allied pirates in Mihawk's background, who were stuck in some sort of sandstorm. Just before Mihawk made another one of his mighty slashes, Luffy used up his rubber powers mid air, and brought Buggy right in front of Mihawk's blade.

Mihawk's slash split up Buggy into two, with his torso floating up and his legs falling down freely.

"Hey you are Mihawk aren't you! How the hell do you attack me!" said an enraged Buggy, who sent his special muggy ball at him. Mihawk, who was already descending towards the ground, just tilted his blade and deflected it back towards Buggy, who became a victim of his own attack.

Luffy, who was in mid air far above the ground, was thinking about a way to adjust the intake of air without overdoing it and facing the repurcurrsions. So he inhaled a medium amount of hair, which he normally uses for one giant fist, and split it into two, and concentrating it completely only onto the fists. He was surprised to find that only his fists were now enlarged, and it gave him more mobility unlike his previous version of gear third. Satisfied with his modification, he turned towards implementing the second part of his plan.

Mihawk noticed Luffy enlargening his fists, probably to put his entire strength into some sort of final attack. Positioned himself to cut the hands off even necessary.

Gomu Gomu no- Gigant GATTLING!

Luffy started hammering his heavy hands right around Mihawk. Due to his improved gear 3, he noticed that he got more mobility in his arms, and he could use it to implement his gattling attack. Mihawk dodged Luffy's attacks, but couldn't actually return any as the pace of the attacks kept him onto his toes. He did not notice that Luffy's attack's were such that he was forced to come back to a central position, and the ice around him was cracking.

Just when he noticed that most of the ice collapsed around him, Mihawk was temporarily shocked to find that he had underestimated his opponent. "I thought he would be reckless. But that was some good planning. "Red-haired", he's growing up well. But I won't underestimate him the next time.".

Just as the ice collapsed around Mihawk, who was temporarily distracted, Luffy managed to land a blow on Mihawk, completely submerging him into the water. The marines were awestruck that a rookie managed to land a blow on Mihawk. The Whitebeard pirates were delighted with this mini-victory, and were even more pumped up with their fights.

Luffy managed to get back to the ground, and brought his fists back to normal size. He was glad that the problem with gear 3 was solved.

"That was some good tactics, Luffy. Lets march forward!"

"Yosh! Lets go!"

Luffy, Rayleigh, Jimbei, Ivankov and rest of the commanders progressed forward. Mihawk, who simply jumped back to the ice as if nothing ever happened, was impressed looking at Luffy's performance. And he was not at all disappointed at seeing Whitebeard pirates' best swordsman right in front of him.

"Flower Vista. I have heard a lot about you."

" I am glad to hear that. It's a compliment coming from the likes of you." Said Vista, before getting into a deadlock with Mihawk.

Mihawk was easily holding upto Vista's best, but his thoughts were on Luffy.

"A pirate's strength is not some sort of trick or devil fruit. A pirate's strength is in his ability to gain powerful allies. This kid has surpassed my expectations. He has made allies with Whitebeard out of nowhere. And what's more, this goofy exterior is filled with excellent battle intelligence. This kid will be THE pirate of the near future." Thought Mihawk, before concentrating on his duel with Vista.

At the Scaffold

"Are we all set?"

"Yes, fleet-Admiral san. Even the bay."

"Cut the den-den mushi connection right away! We must win this war at any rate, on the name of absolute justice! It's time to show the true might of the marines, and crush these pirates. But it will be too gruesome for the people of the world to see it. So cut the live video streaming!"

Back at the edge of frozen bay

"Look there! There's something coming!"

"Why are there so many Kuma's!"

Moby Dick

"Gurara! This must be the Pacifista Rayleigh talked about. Looks like I need to stretch my hands now."

Edge of frozen bay

"Damn it was getting boring! Time to get into the battlefield!" yelled out a pumped up Sentomaru.

To be continued

(A/N Luffy shows signs of Armament haki. Just like he activated his observation haki, in cannon, I assumed that Armament haki is activated under similar circumstances. And looks like whitebeard is going to enter the battlefield eventually! Cannot say when can I update the next time, might take a week depending upon my schedule. Anyways, reviews appreciated!)