"Well then… BRING IT ON, YOU WEAKLINGS!" Burgess grinned, clenching his hand so hard it made an audible sound. He flexed his right arm behind him, ready to take on any number of the innumerable pirates making their way towards his floating restaurant. It didn't take long for the clashes to fill the entire outer deck of the Baratie, wrestling chefs and pirates without a theme engaging in all sorts of battles. Due to their captain's tendency to not be quite sure about his statements, the Maybe Pirates did not have a unifying theme.
Chopper fought side by side with Porche, striking enemies from a medium range with his staff and Electro while Porche finished them off with suplexes and throws.
"You've become quite the fighter, Chopper" Porche grinned, before letting out a small grunt as she heaved a wide man three times her size over her shoulder. The man slammed into the wooden boards with such force that his nearby crewmates staggered backwards.
"A-ah! D-don't think complimenting me makes me happy, you dummy!" Chopper replied with a happy face, swinging his staff at the ankle of one of the staggered pirates and making him fall over. Once on the ground, the Maybe Pirate was in the perfect position for Porche to do a jumping elbow drop on him.
While the battle mostly consisted of melee skirmishes, the Maybe Pirates had several ranged fighters peppering the Baratie staff from various pieces of flotsam on the sea. However, the mostly short-ranged cooks had a particular ace up their sleeve to counter that: a man with sunglasses, speedo and a bazooka. Franky's precision blasts were quickly taking out the Maybe Pirates' ranged support, launching beam after beam of superheated fire to blow up their respective floating platforms and send them flying into the sea.
"YEAH! I'm feeling extra super this week! You guys with those dinky little peashooters don't stand a chance!" he boasted, taking aim at a pirate with a rifle on a barrel. He pressed the trigger… and suddenly his aim was thrown way off, the bazooka turning so the shot instead went straight towards Jesus Burgess' back! The blast struck the unsuspecting chef directly, sending him flying forwards and bowling over several Maybe Pirates. He turned around with an enraged expression to glare at Franky, who had just turned his head to see who had moved the bazooka.
"Sorry, but I already got a light. You can put that bazooka away now, Mr. Blue Hair" the culprit smiled calmly. A somewhat tall and fairly slim woman with short black hair, wearing a black and white jacket zipped up to show a yellow beaded necklace and a pink v-neck with a spider motif. A leg wrapped in giraffe-patterned pants, a white cardigan tied around the waist and a pink belt, was still pushed against the bazooka's barrel, and she had a lit cigarette between her fingers. Burgess immediately understood what had happened. Suddenly, as Franky was staring at the newcomer, a bullet flew into his shoulder.
"Got him" the pirate on the barrel Franky had just been aiming at cheered, looking down his sights. "Good old Shakuyaku, she always knows the priority target."
Elsewhere, Mozu and Kiwi were fighting in ways that made them at times look like mirror images of each other. Moving in zig-zagged patterns, their skills with blades allowed them to easily cut down any Maybe Pirate that strayed too close. One of these unfortunate pirates managed to lunge backwards to avoid Kiwi's blade, only to stumble and fall over. He quickly got up into a crawl and raised his hands in panicked surrender.
"W-w-wait! Please don't hurt me! I surrender I surrender I surrender! I can't beat you, and I-I-I" he blubbered as tears and snot flew all over him. He looked truly pathetic as he trembled and panicked, absolutely desperate for mercy.
"Geez… now I'd just feel bad" Mozu groaned, glancing at Kiwi.
"Yeah… guys like this really shouldn't be pirates" her sister agreed with a nod, looking back at Mozu.
Then, the surrendered pirate grinned. They were looking at each other, not him. And they were lowering their swords. Perfect. While Mozu and Kiwi were distracted, they didn't react fast enough as the man lunged forwards, moving at an incredible speed. In the blink of an eye he had now moved past them, and both Mozu and Kiwi had been slashed flung into the air. And now, instead of looking like any ordinary pirate, the man had changed in appearance into a hulking beast.
The man had a long, thin mustache and a goatee, and a pair of sunglasses rested on his forehead. His braided hair resembled a scorpion's tail, and his clothing consisted of an opened tangzhuang, black pants with a red sash and black sandals. Finally he had a scar over his left eye. In his more bestial form he retained all these things, but was now larger, wider and covered in black and grey fur. His snout, ears, tail and claws were all that of a wolf.
"Gyaaaaa ha ha ha ha! Once again brilliant trickery leads Jabra the Wolf to victory! Now then, since I'm such a nice guy, I'll finish you two quickly…" Jabra grinned, turning around with his claws ready to deliver the finishing blow to Mozu and Kiwi. But as he prepared to strike…
"Jabra, look out! On your right!"
Hearing that, Jabra quickly turned to his right and crossed his arms to block… only to see absolutely nothing. As he stared confused at nothing, his eyes suddenly bulged as something struck the back of his head. Someone who had come up on Jabra's left side…
"Usopp Special Technique: Look-The-Other-Way-Please Strike" Usopp called out, as his hammer blow sent Jabra tumbling forwards. The giant wolf man quickly rotated his body to be upright and facing Usopp, growling like a real wolf.
"That was a cheap trick! You dirty coward" he yelled, willfully ignorant of the hypocrisy.
"Look who's talking! You-" Usopp began to shoot back, when he was interrupted by a wounded Mozu and Kiwi crash landing on the deck beside him. "Oh, crap… probably should have caught them."
Before Usopp had much time to contemplate that, he was forced on the defensive as Jabra lunged towards him.
"You just let those injured women fall to the ground? You're a monster!" Jabra growled as he unleashed a ferocious barrage of slashes and jabs with his deadly claws.
"You were the one who injured and threw them in the air in the first place!"
Meanwhile, a Maybe Pirate was screaming his lungs as he was soaring through the air, held upside down by a pair of arms wrapped around his torso. He rotated rapidly until he smashed face first into the Baratie's deck from Luffy's spinning piledriver. Luffy quickly leaped backwards, doing a backflip for style as he looked around for his next target. He suddenly noticed something small and black fall towards him. He stared blankly as the black sphere grew bigger and bigger, tilting his head as he tried to figure out what it was. The lit fuse sadly didn't prove enough of a hint for him until it was too late.
Luffy was briefly engulfed in a small explosion which sent him flying backwards, though he quickly managed to skid to a halt. With grit teeth he looked up towards where the bomb had been dropped from, to see an unusual sight. Flying high above the battlefield was a vulture, wearing black goggles and a yellow aviator cap. Riding on the vulture's back was an otter, dressed in a dotted onesie and black sunglasses.
"Mystery animals… they must have seen who threw that bomb!" Luffy concluded, waving to them in an attempt to gain their attention. And indeed, Luffy did get an answer from the two animals. The otter pulled out a small bomb from a bag before lighting it and throwing it down at Luffy. This time Luffy did react fast enough, quickly jumping out of the way before the bomb struck the floorboards and exploded.
"Hey! Come down here! I can't kick your asses if you're all the way up there!"
Luffy's demand was met with absolutely no response, as the vulture kept flying at her current height. The Unluckies, the Maybe Pirates' assassination team, were nothing if not effective, and knew the effectiveness of an airborne bombardment of precision explosives. Seeing that the vulture was not, in fact, coming down so he could kick their asses, Luffy realized that he'd need to find a different approach.
At the same time, Nami's fight with captain Vander Decken was in full swing.
"You stole this axe from my personal collection, I suppose?!" the fishman accused, swinging his massive battle axe with ease.
"I've never even been on your ship!" Nami yelled back, Decken's aggressive attacks putting her on the defensive. She walked backwards as she deflected and avoided his swings with her own giant axe. "You're not the only one who's realized that having a big sharp thing is useful in a fight."
"Wha-HOW DARE YOU?! I'M A SUPER-GENIUS STRATEGIST, I SUPPOSE!"
"At least be sure when you're boasting…"
As Decken prepared a downwards swing, Nami made her move. She deflected the axe straight down, lodging both it and Nami's own axe in the wooden boards the Baratie deck was made out of. Then, she held onto the handle and swung her entire body forwards, allowing her to deliver a powerful kick to Decken's face. Her bootprint briefly marked Decken's face as he stumbled backwards.
"Bahohoho…" he chuckled darkly, as Nami swung back to a standing position and dislodged her own axe from the floor. "You may have taken my axe, but I…"
He raised his opened hand, and glanced at it… before suddenly getting a shocked expression, his eyes bulging and his jaw dropping.
"Forgot to take my glove off!"
Nami tilted her head in confusion as Decken quickly threw off his gloves.
"Now, do you think we could do that aga-"
Decken was interrupted as Nami's boot once again slammed against his face, knocking him back.
"I wasn't ready!"
Unfortunately for Decken, Nami had no interest in letting him do whatever it was he wanted his glove off for. As their battle continued, Jabra was getting frustrated with Usopp's evasiveness.
"Hold… still!" the wolf-man growled as he slashed his claws at Usopp, only to meet air. Usopp's smaller size allowed him to dodge most of Jabra's onslaught, but some slashes still passed through. As Jabra slashed once more, Usopp suddenly flew backwards with a screech.
"Wait… did I hit you that time? I… didn't even feel it" Jabra said confusedly, tilting his head as he looked down at his claws.
"Ooooh, the pain, the pain…" Usopp groaned as he trembled in a fetal position, clutching his chest. "T-the wind… your claws are so sharp and deadly that they launched blades of air that cut me up! Oooh, I'm dying, oooooorgh…"
Jabra looked at his claws some more, then clenched his fist with a dark chuckle. He then held his arms out to his side as he laughed maniacally and howled like a wolf.
"Gyaaaaa ha ha ha ha haoooooooooo! I'm even deadlier than I thought! As for you, don't worry: I promised I'd make it quick."
He grinned as he walked over to Usopp, leaning down to the defeated Straw Hat as he raised his claws to finish him off… only for Usopp to spring back up and hit Jabra in the jaw-bra so hard he backflipped and landed on his back.
"Special Technique! M-Usopp Possum!"
"OW" Jabra cried out. He glared up at Usopp, who notably had no fresh slash marks where Jabra's air slice would have hit him. "You-you liar!"
"Didn't you do the exact same thing two minutes ago?"
"Shut up!"
Usopp raised his hammer to hit Jabra while he was down, but stopped when Jabra raised his hand.
"Wait! I… I'm sorry! I… I'm not really part of these pirates. I've been fighting like a coward because I'm being forced to join these vicious brutes. They kidnapped my sister, and they're gonna kill her if I don't obey them! But you… you're strong. Please, help me save my dear sister" Jabra pleaded, tears streaming down his furry cheeks.
"What's your sister's name?" Usopp asked plainly.
"Ja…ma…saya, uh, takat…suka…bra."
"You really need to plan out your lies better."
While Jabra tasted hammer, Luffy was being kept on his toes by the Unluckies soaring overhead. Anything he'd throw at them the vulture would easily fly around, and the bomb-lobbing otter was keeping him from coming up with anything else. Luffy looked around, hoping that someone else could deal with it instead. That's when he spotted Franky being attacked by Shakuyaku, who was far more experienced in close quarters combat than her blue-haired opponent.
Franky could do little but swing his bazooka around wildly while backstepping, as all of his explosives were of little use in melee range. Shakuyaku swung her fist into the side of the bazooka's barrel, knocking it aside and making Franky nearly fall over as he held tight onto it, trying not to fall over. Shakuyaku launched a kick to strike Franky while he was defenseless, only to get interrupted by a sharp pain in her side. And her entire body flying sideways, as Luffy had done a leaping tackle into her, carrying both of them off and making them roll on the ground.
"Hey Franky can you shoot the otter and vulture thanks" Luffy quickly yelled before Shakky kicked him in the face, knocking him off her.
Franky stared at him in confusion for a second, before he suddenly spotted a bomb flying towards him. He dove out of the way in time before the explosion, and soon saw the Unluckies soaring overhead.
"Alright then, now this is more my style" Franky smirked, aiming his bazooka up at the two animals.
Over at the duel of the captains, Vander Decken finally managed to tap Nami's arm after she punched him in the face. Despite his face being bloodied and beaten after multiple hits from Nami, he nevertheless grinned widely at this.
"Aha! I touched you! Now I win, I suppose" Decken declared, before promptly turning around and running as fast as he could. He laughed as he jumped onto the various bits of flotsam in the sea, leaping between them to make his way back to his sinking ship. "Bahohohohohoho!"
As she was still holding her own axe, Nami didn't have the mobility to catch up with him before it was too late.
"What a weirdo… guess I'll have to worry about him later. For now I should-"
Nami's train of thought was interrupted as she noticed a small hand axe soared towards her, forcing her to leap backwards to dodge it. The axe lodged itself in the deck right in front of Nami.
"Geez, that was close. Where did that come from?"
She got her answer as she looked up towards the top of the Maybe Pirates' sinking ship. A veritable stream of weapons and objects were being flung into the air from it, only to curve in midair and fly towards her. She held her axe up in front of her and crouched behind the blade, letting it block the plentiful swords, axes, spears, furniture, barrels, cannonballs and guns flying at her. From the corner of her eye she saw a spinning axe doing a wide curve going around her axe-shield. The axe was of the same size as her and Decken's personal weapons, so Nami was forced to leap out from behind her cover to avoid it. The giant axe lodged itself in the floor where Nami had been a second prior, as the orange haired captain was now out in the open.
"Damn it damn it damn it!" Nami cursed as she ran, jumped and rolled, narrowly avoiding the barrage of weapons flying at her. She also kept in mind that she needed to avoid running too close to any of her allies to keep the weapons from hitting them instead. Suddenly a soot-covered, twitching vulture and an otter in equally poor shape slammed into the deck near Nami, to her great confusion.
"Bullseye!" Franky yelled in celebration, smoke still billowing from the barrel of his bazooka. Nearby, Luffy was choking Shakuyaku into unconsciousness with a headlock.
Brief as it was, the distraction would have been enough to let Nami get struck by one of the many sharp objects flying her way. But strangely enough, nothing happened. She turned to look at the sinking ship, seeing that the barrage had stopped. Had she been close enough, she'd hear Vander Decken curse up a storm as he had run out of things to throw. After a little bit, however, Decken emerged from the now almost full submerged ship. He held a large metal ball over his head, almost two meters in diameter. Nami was not the only one who saw this, several Maybe Pirates staring at their captain with widened eyes and terrified expressions.
"Hey… he's not gonna use that, is he?" "He can't! Not while we're in the blast zone." "He'll blow us all to pieces!" "Even Decken's not that callous!"
"Ah, I can just get new underlings, I suppose" Decken shrugged before slapping the large metal ball. Red lines in the shape of an anglerfish's face lit up all over the bomb, and the Maybe Pirates who could still walk abandoned the battle to flee. With a grunt Decken heaved back before throwing the huge bomb towards the Baratie as hard as he could. Like the rest of the things he'd thrown, the bomb curved in the air to home in on Nami.
Nami's legs moved before she even had time to think. She knew exactly what the bomb was going to do. So she only had one option: she needed to get as far away from her friends as she possibly could. She leaped off the Baratie's deck as high as she could, extending the distance between her and the others. In the air, she had no hope of avoiding the explosive. She turned around in midair and raised her arms to hopefully at least block the blast somewhat. Glancing over at the Baratie, she saw that she had reached a good distance from everybody else. Satisfied, she grinned as the bomb slammed against her arms and exploded.
The gigantic blast knocked most of the people on the deck over, shattered the Baratie's windows and glassware, and singed the hair tips of more than a few. The sky was filled by a blinding ball of fire and concussive force, soon followed by a cloud of dark smoke. And from the smoke dropped a dark, soot-covered figure. The figure fell into the sea, creating a large splash.
"NAMI!"
The Straw Hats' desperate cry was immediately followed by another splash. Luffy's silhouette disappeared under the waves, swimming like a torpedo towards the sinking Nami.
"Bahohoho! Excellent! Now I won't have to find new underlings" Decken cheered, clapping his hands. He looked down to see that he only had a tiny bit of his own ship left. "Ah, I should make my way back over there, I suppose."
Decken kicked over a piece of wall, then tapped it once to send the wall flying with him on it. The wall flew through the air towards Nami, who had just been thrown back on the Baratie's deck by Luffy. The Straw Hats and various Baratie staff crowded around her, nervously checking her condition.
The shout of "She's alive!" was met with a chorus of jubilant cheers.
"WHAT?! HOW COULD SHE POSSIBLY BE ALIVE?!" Decken cried, bending backwards and shaking his fist at the heavens. He then immediately stood back up straight with his arms behind his back. "Well. I'd better fix that."
That's when Jesus Burgess leaped up in front of Decken, arm outstretched and teeth grit.
"Ah. Hello there" the fishman captain said simply.
Burgess' right arm slammed against Decken's chest, as the wall splintered against his sheer mass. The wrestling chef spun around in midair as Decken was dragged along with him, before slamming Decken into the deck as Burgess landed, breaking the floorboards and leaving Decken in a small crater. By now the remainders of the Maybe Pirates had seen the writing on the wall and surrendered, laying down their weapons in exchange for not getting hurt.
"Give her some water!" "Do we have a doctor?!" "Brush her off!" "Bandages!" "Cough drops!"
Nami coughed a few times and slowly opened her eyes, seeing the sky blotted out by a swarm of panicked pirates and cooks.
"Hey… have we won yet?" she asked weakly.
After getting an indiscernible amount of answers and questions about her own health, she chuckled.
"Ok… I'll be fine if I just get some rest. Just… can someone carry me to a bed? Kinda hard to move right now…"
As the Straw Hats and Baratie staff futzed about who would carry what, their attention was suddenly drawn to the beat of wings nearby. They were louder than those of the vulture, and belonged to a larger creature. The beat of wings was joined by the splashing of water, from many different sources. And soon, they spotted the cause of these sounds. Most recognized the new individuals who were arriving, with only Franky, Mozu and Kiwi being left in the dark.
"Hey… who are those guys?" Franky asked with an eyebrow raised.
Dozens of people riding large animals emerged from the sea, most having swam but a few riding flying beasts. Among these riders was Mohji atop his white lion Richie. Yet unlike last time the Straw Hats had encountered the riders, he didn't seem to be in a leading role.
"It's those, those Riding Squad guys!" Usopp gulped.
"Rider Corps" a voice corrected him. A man atop a bizarre-looking mount descended from the sky, landing in front of the rest of the Rider Corps. The man was old and skinny, with a white beard and mustache. He was clad in metal armor with a cape and wielded a lance in his right hand. His mount was some kind of pink, polka-dotted pegasus. The look in his eyes was calm, serious and a little morose. "Greetings. I am Gan Fall, General of the Rider Corps. Although some of you already know my name."
"When we raided you guys to get Chopper back…" Porche said through grit teeth, as Chopper himself hid behind her leg in his usual backwards fashion.
"Yes. And I assume you've already guessed what we're here for. But please, make no mistake: we are not here for a fight" Gan Fall stated calmly, sitting almost motionless atop his mount.
"Well, old man…" Burgess grumbled, taking a single step towards Gan Fall. "If you think we're just gonna let you take Chopper again, then you-"
"What can you do?" Gan Fall interrupted, before gesturing to the battered, tired fighters around him. "You're wounded. Weakened. Exhausted. If we wanted you dead we would have joined the battle beforehand on the side of the Maybe Pirates. This is a chance to end this without any bloodshed. Simply hand Chopper over and no more violence will be needed."
The chefs and pirates who had crowded around Nami stepped back, as the battle-damaged captain had stood up. She was covered in soot, her hair and clothes were burned and ruined, her mechanical arm had almost entirely fallen apart, and it looked like it took all her energy just to remain standing. Yet the intense look in her eyes as she glared towards Gan Fall sent shivers down the spines of many members of the Rider Corps.
Before she had the time to speak, the sound of light, rapid footsteps drew everyone's attention. Chopper had dashed out from hiding behind Porche, and ran up to Gan Fall. Porche started to rush after him, but stopped as Gan Fall pointed his lance at her.
"Please…" Chopper pleaded. He looked back at Porche, Burgess, the Baratie staff, the Straw Hats and finally Nami. "I don't want to see anyone get hurt because of me…"
"You are kind and wise, little one" Gan Fall nodded as he reached down his free hand to help Chopper up on his pegasus mount. "Please harbor me no ill will. I'm merely obeying my captain's orders."
"If you think we'll just you wander off with Chopper, you-"
"Let him go" Nami said in a raspy voice. "If we try to fight them now… we'll all die."
"Knowing how to accept hard choices is the sign of a leader" Gan Fall nodded. "This is the best way for all of us."
As the Rider Corps prepared to leave, Mohji shot Nami and Usopp a dirty look. He was clearly not satisfied with simply leaving them, but couldn't disobey his superior. He was already on thin ice after the failure in Orange Town. Every one of the Straw Hats and Baratie staff wanted to rush forth and try to save Chopper… but in the back of their minds they all knew it would be futile. Silence reigned as Gan Fall and the other riders either flew or swam off, leaving the defeated Maybe Pirates and the mournful Straw Hats and Baratie staff.
"Three days" Nami suddenly said, breaking the silence.
"What?"
Heads turned towards Nami, who had pulled back her thumb and ring finger on her right hand, indicating the number three.
"I showed Chopper this to reassure him… in three days I'm landing on whatever island Chopper's on, and I'm either gonna save him or die. Whoever wants to join me, go ahead" Nami stated matter-of-factly. After a moment of silence, every single person around Nami roared in agreement, along with a few Maybe Pirates who didn't know what was going on but wanted to feel included.
"We shouldn't just rest, we should plan and prepare" Nami continued. "What can you guys tell us about these pirates that captured Chopper?"
"Well" Burgess started. "They're called the Kawaii Pirates, and their captain is the 'Ghost Princess' Perona."