One Piece - Island of the Gum Gums - Chapter 6
Written by Steven Kunz the Fan Author
Disclaimer: I do not own nor invent One Piece. This excellent manga was written and drawn by Eiichiro Oda.
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Luffy and Nami sat there, staring at both the stars and the blazing ship, as Zoro and Usopp hurridly paddled their way to the surface.
In a few minutes, Zoro blinked as he turned around and pointed his thumb at the island. "There's our ship."
Everyone turned around as they looked at the ship at it with a sense of security and awe. Even though it has only been a couple of hours since they left, they have never felt more glad to be what they called 'home'.
Zoro stood up and dove for shore with Usopp along after taking a deep breath and a quick prayer in hopes that he won't be bitten by any bad fish, leaving Luffy and Nami alone to see if Rousse would escape or not.
The two just simly sat there and stared at the ship and at the stars once again. Nami now felt as if she could be with Luffy now. However, the thought of her mother dying by the hands of different pirates still caused her to be against becoming a pirate, much less being in a relationship with a pirate. She gathered all her courage to tell Luffy that it simply won't work out, but she was simply too scared and too nervous at what could happen to their friendship.
"It's not going to work out, is it?" Luffy finally said after looking at Nami with a concerned look.
Nami blinked and looked at him. She was obviously stunned that he could guess what she was thinking, but in a way, she wasn't surprised. She shook her head and whispered, "No."
Expecting an angry response from Luffy, she bent her head and thought to herself, "What have I done....?"
Instead, she felt his hands on her shoulders as she looked up and was ready to accept what was coming to her. To her surprise, she sweatdropped when he saw that very same wide grin on his face.
"That doesn't change a thing between us, you know! Just because we broke up doesn't mean we still can't be friends, am I right?" He said with that very same enthusiastic tone of voice.
He knew what sort of reaction Nami would make in the short time the two were together. She smiled softly at him, and then said back at him in that same enthusiastic tone, "Yeah! Nothin isn't gonna stop us from going to the Grand Line! Am I right?!"
The two smirked at eachother and shook hands. In both of their minds, they felt as if their friendship had been reborn. However, the two of them still felt a little something for eachother, so they were unsure if they would be back together at a future date, whether they would remain friends forever, or something else would occur.
Suddenly, there was a huge explosion that rocked the burning ship. It wasn't the tiny explosions that came from Takanachi whenever his limbs were severed, but it was one from the ship itself. It exploded two more times as many splinters and boards of wood were flung in all directions.
"ROUSSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The two yelled out as they were now very scared of what could have happened on that ship.
~
A few moments ago on that very same ship...........
~
With the north and south sides of the ship burning to cinders, Takanachi and Rousse were in the heat of battle, both wanting to escape before either one of them would be caught in the fire.
"GRAH!!!" Rousse said as he leapt forward, and with one hand, swung his sword across Takanachi and aimed for his neck.
Takanachi leaned back as far as he could and prepared to raise his two daggers. Rousse leapt over him as far as he could and bounced off him when he couldn't reach over him. This left Takanachi on the ground, but he was able to stab Rousse in his left ankle before he went down.
While Takanachi was getting up, Rousse tried to adjust his landing so that he wouldn't land on his left ankle. He needed a little more time to heal so that he would be at least somewhat manuverable. Quickly, he thrusted his right leg as he hoped he could pull his left leg back in time.
It did work. Rousse landed on the tip of his right foot, but was quickly going to lose balance. As soon as he landed, he bounced off the ground and slashed right through Takanachi as he leapt pass him. Rousse couldn't land on the ground safely enough, so he ended up skidding on the deck and landed against the outer wall of the captain's quarters, where he was interrogated. He got up quickly and looked at the damage he could have caused, making sure to lean on his sword a little.
Takanachi stood there and without making a sound, he felt his two arms fall off as they soon began to take a life of their own again. He turned to Rousse and grinned at him with an insane look in his eyes. He yelled out at Rousse, "NOW!! THIS TIME, I'LL MAKE SURE YOU'LL PAY!!!!"
Rousse knew the two arms would be going to go after him, so he decided he would make Takanachi's death quick and easy. He dashed forward with his sword ready, ignoring the pain on his left ankle.
The first arm went low with it's hand opened while the other one went high with it's hand open as well. Rousse leapt over the low arm while he simply shoved the high arm out of his way. He dashed toward Takanachi as he stood there, waiting for something. He yelled out to Takanachi, "No, you'll pay!!"
He would have dashed through Takanachi and would have attempted to hit one of his vitals, but instead, he tripped forward and screamed in pain. When he leapt over the low end of the arm, the lower end of that wrapped itself tightly around Rousse's left ankle, making sure it would hurt.
While the low arm squeezed tightly, the high arm went around Rousse's neck and began to squeeze him there. Rousse tried to scream whenever the squeezings became mroe intense, but was also trying to breathe as well. He was being suffocated by being choked and unable to breath due to his attempted screams in pain.
Soon, Rousse grew tired of this and bit Takanachi's arm. Takanachi wasn't able to feel any pain when his arms were severed, but he could still feel his arm be bitten. Immediately, he pulled his two arms away and went back to his normal self, nursing the bite Rousse had done. He growled, unsheathed the only dagger he had left, and yelled out, "DAMN YOU!!!"
Rousee chuckled as he began to brush off his wounds and attempted to walk. However, it was very hard with the stab wound in his left ankle. In order to stall for time, he said to Takanachi, "Well well well, Brother. Seems like you aren't at your best."
He growled even more, giving Rousse more oppurtunities to stall. However, it was Takanachi who asked the questions this time.
"Rousse, before I kill you, I've got to ask you something."
"What is it?" Rousse said, lifting an eyebrow in skepticism.
"I thought you only cared about yourself and that Jennifer girl you've always bragged about. I thought you wanted to hurt the kid in the Straw Hat and his friends. Now, you're fighting for them, why?"
Rousse blinked as he felt the stomach wound starting to heal fully while the stinging pain of the ankle wound is being reduced to a numbness. He gave out a slight monologue so that he could stall for even more time and that he could get why he stayed too.
"Well, Takanachi, you know why I ended up that way. I grew up without love from you, my friends, and my father. My mother died before I could feel her true love. I've grown up very bitter and very alone. Even Jennifer, I believe, she never really appreciated me. I was always the lone wolf, the person no one wanted, and the one who would die alone where everyone else would live together with someone. I help Luffy and the others out because they finally appreciate me for who I am. I can be truly myself with Luffy, Nami, Zoro, and Usopp. I know that....they'll probably forget me after they leave the island, but at least it's given me the confidence I need to go back to my old way of life, if I can survive, that is."
Takanachi blinked as he looked into Rousse's eyes. He could tell that Rousse had changed from the man he once was to the total stranger standing before him. He thought to himself. "Rousse........what in the world have you done to yourself to make yourself so strong?!!"
Immediately, he laughed loudly and swung his sword around in a fake arrogance and said, "Well, it doesn't matter if you survive or not because I will be killing you with one strike of my dagger."
Takanachi suddenly detached his arm with the dagger and flew it forward at Rousse. Lifting his sword, he slid his leg back and got into a basic battle stance. The dagger flew forward and prepared to stab him, but Rousse stopped this by swinging upward, cutting the blade in half. Immediately, the hand opened up, dropping the dagger, and eventually grabbed Rousse's throat and gripping it rather tightly.
As Rousse struggled for breath, he attempted to pull it away, dropping his sword in the process. For nearly one whole minute, he attempted to pry away the hand, but hasn't had no luck. Realizing that he cannot pull it away before the next attack, he suddenly grabbed his sword and ran forward.
Takanachi realized what Rousse was going to do. Realizing this, he released his other arm and flew it toward his legs. When the entire arm wrapped around his legs, Rousse nearly tripped, but he didn't stop. He fell towards the ground, but he didn't stop. Instead, he rolled forward, making sure not to stab or cut himself with his sword, and landed on one knee. He immediately stood up and thrusted his sword through Takanachi's heart.
Although his arms were still holding onto him tightly, Takanachi just stopped as he bent his head down and looked at his brother's face
"Hate.....sadness.....a strong source of enmity.....but also.....a look without any sort of love or pity...." Takanachi thought in his head.
Rousse growled even more at Takanachi's stunned expression and yelled at him, "GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He stood up as much as he could, and pushed the sword all the way in, the hilt now being pressed against Takanachi's chest. Takanachi gasped for air at the sensation of the sword blade going through his body.
What was also totally unexected was Rousse quickly pulling his blade out instead of gently sliding it away. Takanachi gasped as his arms finally released his grip. He fell to his knees and looked at Rousse, who was now grimacing and glaring at him.
"WELL?! What do you have to say before I kill you even more, huh?!"
Takanachi blinked, then bent his head and whispered something that Rousse couldn't hear. Immediately, he yelled even closer, "What?! What did you say?!"
".........sorry......"
Rousse blinked and leapt back, his face now slightly red from this. He blinked again and yelled, "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
".........I'm sorry for hurting you, Rousse.....if I'd known any better, none of this would happen...."
Rousse didn't say anything. He was too stunned by what had Takanachi had done, and he had finally felt the guilt of his sin bearing down onto his soul. He didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit.
Takanachi lifted his head and Rousse was surprised even more. He was smiling, and it was a genuine smile of caring and love. It wasn't one of those maniacal smirks he had on his face and those looks of general hate he showed back then.
"Rousse.....I....."
Takanachi never finished his sentence. Immediately, he collapsed onto the ground as he went further towards the light and his eyes closed with a soft smile.
"!!!!!!"
Rousse blinked and didn't even say anything after that. He just stood there, shocked and ashamed. He lifted his sword and moved his finger across it, feeling the blood trickling down his index finger.
Looking at it, he began to tear up as he too went to his knees and began to cry softly, not wanting to say anything or do anything, but cry. He felt the fire coming forth as he continued to cry. He didn't care anymore whether the flames burned him to death or not. At that moment, he just wanted to die like Takanachi.
The flames around the ship soon moved closer to Rousse as parts of it began to explode....
~
"ROUUUSSEEEE!!!!!!!!" Nami and Luffy yelled out as the ship began to explode.
Nami couldn't bear to see the ship explode, but she could not pull her eyes away. What she did was stare at it in an unbearingly helpless position and feel her tears roll down her cheek. Luffy was just staring in silence, not wanting to know the possibility of Rousse being killed.
In a matter of minutes, the ship exploded fully into tiny wooden shrapnels that flew across the entire ocean, or so it seemed. Without even thinking, both Nami and Luffy leapt for eachother to cover, but ended up tackling and hugging eachother tightly. They were safe from the shrapnels, but when they opened their eyes and stared at eachother, neither one of them could find the words to end this awkward moment. Instead, they got up and looked at the burning hulk that was formerly Takanachi's ship as it sunk to the ground.
Nami was about to cry, but she couldn't. She couldn't bear the thought of having Luffy comfort her right now since it would bring out feelings again. However, she didn't want to hold it in, so she cried very hesitantly.
As she thought, Luffy simply put his arm around her and whispered, "I'm sorry, Nami...."
She was expecting this and didn't want this, but she enjoyed it all the same, and thanked God that she was being comforted.
However, before she could say something, Luffy pointed in the air and stood up, yelling, "LOOK!!!!"
When Nami lifted her head up, she rubbed her eyes in surprise, than gasped in joy. It was Rousse floating in the air, one hand onto the package Luffy gave him, and the other hand with his sword grasped tightly. They yelled at him to come here, but nothing happened. Rousse just hovered in the air, and eventually, he fell to the ocean and made a huge splash.
Realizing that Luffy cannot swim, Nami dived in the ocean and swam for Rousse while Luffy paddled as best as he can to get to him. What Nami did not see while she was swimming was two tiny dots in the sky, right above where Rousse was.
Luffy stopped for a moment and looked a little closer. He blinked as he saw it was Takanachi's hands floating in the air. It turned out that Rousse was being lifted by his hands, the last bits of free will leaving Takanachi's hands as it glew even brighter.
Before it exploded, it waved goodbye and flew up a little higher, so that no one would be affected by the blast to come. When the hands exploded, it was a real explosion that was so immense, it nearly collided with the ocean floor. However, it dissapated, and there was now nothing left of Takanachi.
Luffy kept his teeth clenched tightly as he didn't say a word. He wanted to curse Takanachi, but kept his mouth shut. He wanted to tell him in person that sacrificing his life to save his brother was stupid since it would have been possible to save himself and Rousse, but he realized amazingly quick for Luffy that Rousse killed Takanachi and he had a change of heart.
Either way, it didn't matter to Luffy this moment. He reached for Nami and pulled the two in. While Nami took a quick breath and attempted to resuscitate Rousse, Luffy looked at his face. Although he appeared to be showing no expression as he was knocked out, he thought that Rousse was crying due to a tear or some water rolling down his cheek.
In a matter of minutes, the dinghy made it to the beach, where Zoro was still trying to get the ship ready to go. However, that would be put off until the next morning or the next night.
~
Indeed, it had reached night-time for the next day. Rousse had been unconscious for a long time, and although prepartions to leave were ready, they weren't going to leave Rousse lying on the shore.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself in Luffy's room. It turned out that everyone was waiting for him to wake up. He sat up and yawned a little before he said, "Where am I?"
"You're in my room. It's about night-time, and it's already tomorrow for you, Rousse." Luffy said.
Rubbing the back of his head, Rousse said, "Wow.......how the hell did I get here? Last I remember, I had....defeated Takanachi, and I went unconscious due to all the smoke covering the battlefield......"
He turned his head to Nami and said, "What happened?"
"Well..." Nami thought for a quick second about what happened. She didn't want to say that Takanachi saved him. She knew that it would make him angry since he hated him so much. Instead, she said, "The ship exploded, and you were literally thrown out of the deck. If it weren't for me and Luffy, you would have drowned."
Rousse blinked, and nodded his head while smiling at Luffy and Nami. Nami smiled softly at him while Luffy grinned with a thumbs-up.
~
After one or two more checks of getting ready, Luffy and the rest of the StrawHat Pirates were ready to leave.
They all stood outside the ship as Rousse was ready to wave goodbye. Before they did, they all said goodbye.
Zoro nodded his head and waved goodbye as he turned back to the ship and left. Usopp tried to grin like Luffy and say goodbye, but he only succeeded in making himself look silly, so he quietly went back to the ship. Nami hugged Rousse tightly, happy to know a guy like him.
"Of course, he's still not quite Luffy.....wait, what am I thinking?!" She thought to herself as she walked nervously back onto the ship.
Luffy was next. The two shook hands rather vigorously and smirked at eachother.
"SO long, Rousse. I hope that you get that evil father of yours and give him what he deserves!" Luffy said with a grin.
"And you go.....uh.....Luffy..." Rousse sweatdropped, but quickly said, "What is your dream, or rather, why are you a pirate?"
He grinned even wider and said, "I am going to be the Pirate King, just like Gold Roger! No, I am going to be better than Gold Riger! I will be the King of Pirates!!!"
Rousse sweatdropped even more, but grinned as Luffy did and gave the same thumbs-up. "Well, good for you! I pray that you become the King of Pirates!"
With another handshake, Luffy turned and hopped towards the ship.
Soon, they were out to sea, only a few feet away from the island shore. While Nami and Zoro were raising the flags to make sure they were going as fast as they can, Usopp was checking the cannons and the rest of the arsenal they had on the ship, and Luffy was ready to get going.
"Awright!!!! Let's GO!!!!!!!!!!! TO THE GRAND LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The ship left and when it was finally gone from Rousse's sights, it was quiet again.
He walked to the empty dinghy that was left there and pulled out a match and a leftover piece of wood that was there on the island. Lighting it, Rousse tossed it to the forest, and eventually, the whole island was caught on fire.
Rousse departed on the dinghy and rowed to an unknown direction. He sat back and watched the island burn away into cinder as he got away from it. While he was rowing back, he said to himself.
"Jennifer.....wait for me, I shall be back......."
~
The next day, in the hideout that Rousse's father used to conduct his twisted experiments, he walked over to an empty container which was as big as a coffin, yet it was made out of metal and it was cold to the touch. It stood upright with the name on top covered by ice.
With another assistant, he reached for a crowbar or anything hard, and pryed the container open with his head. When it opened, a very cold mist blasted out onto the group as it covered the entire room. When it dissapated, there stood the bare body of a young woman about 17 or 18 years of age. She stepped forward, stopping for a moment as her veins and arteries were held by many tubes and needles. She simply pulled them off without any pain and stepped forward. Her body was overly fine, but there was some parts of her where there were some scratch marks as well as the very tiny pinpricks in her veins and arteries, causing her to bleed a little.
She said to Rousse's father, "Hello...........Are you my creator?"
"Yes...I am." He said with a devious grin.
"If that is so, what is my purpose?"
"Your purpose, once I have fully prepped you, is to find and kill Rousse LeOnne as well as the one they call Monkey D. Luffy."
"I see. I will carry out that function. Master."
Rousse's fater grinned widely as he let the girl go off into a private dressing room. While the Assistant went to help, Rousse's father closed the giant container, and when he left, all of the ice and frost fell off the name plate.
On the name place, it said in bold and embossed letters:
"Jennifer"
~
Meanwhile, the Island of the Gum Gums was now a desert island. All of the trees had been burnt to cinders, or fell down onto the ground due to the tree and bark weaking to an extreme level. Indeed, it was truly a place of death now.
However, when the winds blow through the island's burnt stumps and fallen trees, leaves, and branches, if someone were still there, they could believe to themselves that these words were said.
"Jennifer.....wait for me, I shall be back......"
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And that is the end of Island of the Gum Gums! Phew! =P
Well, this fic was expected to be done in one-two months, and what happened? It took nearly a full year. XD Damn my laziness.
NEway, it got kinda hard to write with lots of schoolwork coming down, and a lack of interest in writing. I have been given a stronger interest in drawing, and I like to think I'm a itty bit good at it. XD NEway, it was fun writing this fic, and by the way this ended, you can bet yourselves that there will be a sequel! =D Just need to reach and research for more One Piece info. =P All I know so far that it involves Jennifer, Rousse, and the StrawHat Pirates finally have Sanji on the team, I think. o.o;;;;
Well, that's it. Hope you had fun! ^____^ Bai Bai!
Steven Kunz the Fan Author
stevenkunz@earthlink.net --- Whatever suggestions or stuff you want for the next fic or any more stuff you want on the reviews, but can't say on ff.net. XD NEway......BAI! XD *runs off into nowhereness again. ^^*
Written by Steven Kunz the Fan Author
Disclaimer: I do not own nor invent One Piece. This excellent manga was written and drawn by Eiichiro Oda.
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Luffy and Nami sat there, staring at both the stars and the blazing ship, as Zoro and Usopp hurridly paddled their way to the surface.
In a few minutes, Zoro blinked as he turned around and pointed his thumb at the island. "There's our ship."
Everyone turned around as they looked at the ship at it with a sense of security and awe. Even though it has only been a couple of hours since they left, they have never felt more glad to be what they called 'home'.
Zoro stood up and dove for shore with Usopp along after taking a deep breath and a quick prayer in hopes that he won't be bitten by any bad fish, leaving Luffy and Nami alone to see if Rousse would escape or not.
The two just simly sat there and stared at the ship and at the stars once again. Nami now felt as if she could be with Luffy now. However, the thought of her mother dying by the hands of different pirates still caused her to be against becoming a pirate, much less being in a relationship with a pirate. She gathered all her courage to tell Luffy that it simply won't work out, but she was simply too scared and too nervous at what could happen to their friendship.
"It's not going to work out, is it?" Luffy finally said after looking at Nami with a concerned look.
Nami blinked and looked at him. She was obviously stunned that he could guess what she was thinking, but in a way, she wasn't surprised. She shook her head and whispered, "No."
Expecting an angry response from Luffy, she bent her head and thought to herself, "What have I done....?"
Instead, she felt his hands on her shoulders as she looked up and was ready to accept what was coming to her. To her surprise, she sweatdropped when he saw that very same wide grin on his face.
"That doesn't change a thing between us, you know! Just because we broke up doesn't mean we still can't be friends, am I right?" He said with that very same enthusiastic tone of voice.
He knew what sort of reaction Nami would make in the short time the two were together. She smiled softly at him, and then said back at him in that same enthusiastic tone, "Yeah! Nothin isn't gonna stop us from going to the Grand Line! Am I right?!"
The two smirked at eachother and shook hands. In both of their minds, they felt as if their friendship had been reborn. However, the two of them still felt a little something for eachother, so they were unsure if they would be back together at a future date, whether they would remain friends forever, or something else would occur.
Suddenly, there was a huge explosion that rocked the burning ship. It wasn't the tiny explosions that came from Takanachi whenever his limbs were severed, but it was one from the ship itself. It exploded two more times as many splinters and boards of wood were flung in all directions.
"ROUSSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The two yelled out as they were now very scared of what could have happened on that ship.
~
A few moments ago on that very same ship...........
~
With the north and south sides of the ship burning to cinders, Takanachi and Rousse were in the heat of battle, both wanting to escape before either one of them would be caught in the fire.
"GRAH!!!" Rousse said as he leapt forward, and with one hand, swung his sword across Takanachi and aimed for his neck.
Takanachi leaned back as far as he could and prepared to raise his two daggers. Rousse leapt over him as far as he could and bounced off him when he couldn't reach over him. This left Takanachi on the ground, but he was able to stab Rousse in his left ankle before he went down.
While Takanachi was getting up, Rousse tried to adjust his landing so that he wouldn't land on his left ankle. He needed a little more time to heal so that he would be at least somewhat manuverable. Quickly, he thrusted his right leg as he hoped he could pull his left leg back in time.
It did work. Rousse landed on the tip of his right foot, but was quickly going to lose balance. As soon as he landed, he bounced off the ground and slashed right through Takanachi as he leapt pass him. Rousse couldn't land on the ground safely enough, so he ended up skidding on the deck and landed against the outer wall of the captain's quarters, where he was interrogated. He got up quickly and looked at the damage he could have caused, making sure to lean on his sword a little.
Takanachi stood there and without making a sound, he felt his two arms fall off as they soon began to take a life of their own again. He turned to Rousse and grinned at him with an insane look in his eyes. He yelled out at Rousse, "NOW!! THIS TIME, I'LL MAKE SURE YOU'LL PAY!!!!"
Rousse knew the two arms would be going to go after him, so he decided he would make Takanachi's death quick and easy. He dashed forward with his sword ready, ignoring the pain on his left ankle.
The first arm went low with it's hand opened while the other one went high with it's hand open as well. Rousse leapt over the low arm while he simply shoved the high arm out of his way. He dashed toward Takanachi as he stood there, waiting for something. He yelled out to Takanachi, "No, you'll pay!!"
He would have dashed through Takanachi and would have attempted to hit one of his vitals, but instead, he tripped forward and screamed in pain. When he leapt over the low end of the arm, the lower end of that wrapped itself tightly around Rousse's left ankle, making sure it would hurt.
While the low arm squeezed tightly, the high arm went around Rousse's neck and began to squeeze him there. Rousse tried to scream whenever the squeezings became mroe intense, but was also trying to breathe as well. He was being suffocated by being choked and unable to breath due to his attempted screams in pain.
Soon, Rousse grew tired of this and bit Takanachi's arm. Takanachi wasn't able to feel any pain when his arms were severed, but he could still feel his arm be bitten. Immediately, he pulled his two arms away and went back to his normal self, nursing the bite Rousse had done. He growled, unsheathed the only dagger he had left, and yelled out, "DAMN YOU!!!"
Rousee chuckled as he began to brush off his wounds and attempted to walk. However, it was very hard with the stab wound in his left ankle. In order to stall for time, he said to Takanachi, "Well well well, Brother. Seems like you aren't at your best."
He growled even more, giving Rousse more oppurtunities to stall. However, it was Takanachi who asked the questions this time.
"Rousse, before I kill you, I've got to ask you something."
"What is it?" Rousse said, lifting an eyebrow in skepticism.
"I thought you only cared about yourself and that Jennifer girl you've always bragged about. I thought you wanted to hurt the kid in the Straw Hat and his friends. Now, you're fighting for them, why?"
Rousse blinked as he felt the stomach wound starting to heal fully while the stinging pain of the ankle wound is being reduced to a numbness. He gave out a slight monologue so that he could stall for even more time and that he could get why he stayed too.
"Well, Takanachi, you know why I ended up that way. I grew up without love from you, my friends, and my father. My mother died before I could feel her true love. I've grown up very bitter and very alone. Even Jennifer, I believe, she never really appreciated me. I was always the lone wolf, the person no one wanted, and the one who would die alone where everyone else would live together with someone. I help Luffy and the others out because they finally appreciate me for who I am. I can be truly myself with Luffy, Nami, Zoro, and Usopp. I know that....they'll probably forget me after they leave the island, but at least it's given me the confidence I need to go back to my old way of life, if I can survive, that is."
Takanachi blinked as he looked into Rousse's eyes. He could tell that Rousse had changed from the man he once was to the total stranger standing before him. He thought to himself. "Rousse........what in the world have you done to yourself to make yourself so strong?!!"
Immediately, he laughed loudly and swung his sword around in a fake arrogance and said, "Well, it doesn't matter if you survive or not because I will be killing you with one strike of my dagger."
Takanachi suddenly detached his arm with the dagger and flew it forward at Rousse. Lifting his sword, he slid his leg back and got into a basic battle stance. The dagger flew forward and prepared to stab him, but Rousse stopped this by swinging upward, cutting the blade in half. Immediately, the hand opened up, dropping the dagger, and eventually grabbed Rousse's throat and gripping it rather tightly.
As Rousse struggled for breath, he attempted to pull it away, dropping his sword in the process. For nearly one whole minute, he attempted to pry away the hand, but hasn't had no luck. Realizing that he cannot pull it away before the next attack, he suddenly grabbed his sword and ran forward.
Takanachi realized what Rousse was going to do. Realizing this, he released his other arm and flew it toward his legs. When the entire arm wrapped around his legs, Rousse nearly tripped, but he didn't stop. He fell towards the ground, but he didn't stop. Instead, he rolled forward, making sure not to stab or cut himself with his sword, and landed on one knee. He immediately stood up and thrusted his sword through Takanachi's heart.
Although his arms were still holding onto him tightly, Takanachi just stopped as he bent his head down and looked at his brother's face
"Hate.....sadness.....a strong source of enmity.....but also.....a look without any sort of love or pity...." Takanachi thought in his head.
Rousse growled even more at Takanachi's stunned expression and yelled at him, "GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He stood up as much as he could, and pushed the sword all the way in, the hilt now being pressed against Takanachi's chest. Takanachi gasped for air at the sensation of the sword blade going through his body.
What was also totally unexected was Rousse quickly pulling his blade out instead of gently sliding it away. Takanachi gasped as his arms finally released his grip. He fell to his knees and looked at Rousse, who was now grimacing and glaring at him.
"WELL?! What do you have to say before I kill you even more, huh?!"
Takanachi blinked, then bent his head and whispered something that Rousse couldn't hear. Immediately, he yelled even closer, "What?! What did you say?!"
".........sorry......"
Rousse blinked and leapt back, his face now slightly red from this. He blinked again and yelled, "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
".........I'm sorry for hurting you, Rousse.....if I'd known any better, none of this would happen...."
Rousse didn't say anything. He was too stunned by what had Takanachi had done, and he had finally felt the guilt of his sin bearing down onto his soul. He didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit.
Takanachi lifted his head and Rousse was surprised even more. He was smiling, and it was a genuine smile of caring and love. It wasn't one of those maniacal smirks he had on his face and those looks of general hate he showed back then.
"Rousse.....I....."
Takanachi never finished his sentence. Immediately, he collapsed onto the ground as he went further towards the light and his eyes closed with a soft smile.
"!!!!!!"
Rousse blinked and didn't even say anything after that. He just stood there, shocked and ashamed. He lifted his sword and moved his finger across it, feeling the blood trickling down his index finger.
Looking at it, he began to tear up as he too went to his knees and began to cry softly, not wanting to say anything or do anything, but cry. He felt the fire coming forth as he continued to cry. He didn't care anymore whether the flames burned him to death or not. At that moment, he just wanted to die like Takanachi.
The flames around the ship soon moved closer to Rousse as parts of it began to explode....
~
"ROUUUSSEEEE!!!!!!!!" Nami and Luffy yelled out as the ship began to explode.
Nami couldn't bear to see the ship explode, but she could not pull her eyes away. What she did was stare at it in an unbearingly helpless position and feel her tears roll down her cheek. Luffy was just staring in silence, not wanting to know the possibility of Rousse being killed.
In a matter of minutes, the ship exploded fully into tiny wooden shrapnels that flew across the entire ocean, or so it seemed. Without even thinking, both Nami and Luffy leapt for eachother to cover, but ended up tackling and hugging eachother tightly. They were safe from the shrapnels, but when they opened their eyes and stared at eachother, neither one of them could find the words to end this awkward moment. Instead, they got up and looked at the burning hulk that was formerly Takanachi's ship as it sunk to the ground.
Nami was about to cry, but she couldn't. She couldn't bear the thought of having Luffy comfort her right now since it would bring out feelings again. However, she didn't want to hold it in, so she cried very hesitantly.
As she thought, Luffy simply put his arm around her and whispered, "I'm sorry, Nami...."
She was expecting this and didn't want this, but she enjoyed it all the same, and thanked God that she was being comforted.
However, before she could say something, Luffy pointed in the air and stood up, yelling, "LOOK!!!!"
When Nami lifted her head up, she rubbed her eyes in surprise, than gasped in joy. It was Rousse floating in the air, one hand onto the package Luffy gave him, and the other hand with his sword grasped tightly. They yelled at him to come here, but nothing happened. Rousse just hovered in the air, and eventually, he fell to the ocean and made a huge splash.
Realizing that Luffy cannot swim, Nami dived in the ocean and swam for Rousse while Luffy paddled as best as he can to get to him. What Nami did not see while she was swimming was two tiny dots in the sky, right above where Rousse was.
Luffy stopped for a moment and looked a little closer. He blinked as he saw it was Takanachi's hands floating in the air. It turned out that Rousse was being lifted by his hands, the last bits of free will leaving Takanachi's hands as it glew even brighter.
Before it exploded, it waved goodbye and flew up a little higher, so that no one would be affected by the blast to come. When the hands exploded, it was a real explosion that was so immense, it nearly collided with the ocean floor. However, it dissapated, and there was now nothing left of Takanachi.
Luffy kept his teeth clenched tightly as he didn't say a word. He wanted to curse Takanachi, but kept his mouth shut. He wanted to tell him in person that sacrificing his life to save his brother was stupid since it would have been possible to save himself and Rousse, but he realized amazingly quick for Luffy that Rousse killed Takanachi and he had a change of heart.
Either way, it didn't matter to Luffy this moment. He reached for Nami and pulled the two in. While Nami took a quick breath and attempted to resuscitate Rousse, Luffy looked at his face. Although he appeared to be showing no expression as he was knocked out, he thought that Rousse was crying due to a tear or some water rolling down his cheek.
In a matter of minutes, the dinghy made it to the beach, where Zoro was still trying to get the ship ready to go. However, that would be put off until the next morning or the next night.
~
Indeed, it had reached night-time for the next day. Rousse had been unconscious for a long time, and although prepartions to leave were ready, they weren't going to leave Rousse lying on the shore.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself in Luffy's room. It turned out that everyone was waiting for him to wake up. He sat up and yawned a little before he said, "Where am I?"
"You're in my room. It's about night-time, and it's already tomorrow for you, Rousse." Luffy said.
Rubbing the back of his head, Rousse said, "Wow.......how the hell did I get here? Last I remember, I had....defeated Takanachi, and I went unconscious due to all the smoke covering the battlefield......"
He turned his head to Nami and said, "What happened?"
"Well..." Nami thought for a quick second about what happened. She didn't want to say that Takanachi saved him. She knew that it would make him angry since he hated him so much. Instead, she said, "The ship exploded, and you were literally thrown out of the deck. If it weren't for me and Luffy, you would have drowned."
Rousse blinked, and nodded his head while smiling at Luffy and Nami. Nami smiled softly at him while Luffy grinned with a thumbs-up.
~
After one or two more checks of getting ready, Luffy and the rest of the StrawHat Pirates were ready to leave.
They all stood outside the ship as Rousse was ready to wave goodbye. Before they did, they all said goodbye.
Zoro nodded his head and waved goodbye as he turned back to the ship and left. Usopp tried to grin like Luffy and say goodbye, but he only succeeded in making himself look silly, so he quietly went back to the ship. Nami hugged Rousse tightly, happy to know a guy like him.
"Of course, he's still not quite Luffy.....wait, what am I thinking?!" She thought to herself as she walked nervously back onto the ship.
Luffy was next. The two shook hands rather vigorously and smirked at eachother.
"SO long, Rousse. I hope that you get that evil father of yours and give him what he deserves!" Luffy said with a grin.
"And you go.....uh.....Luffy..." Rousse sweatdropped, but quickly said, "What is your dream, or rather, why are you a pirate?"
He grinned even wider and said, "I am going to be the Pirate King, just like Gold Roger! No, I am going to be better than Gold Riger! I will be the King of Pirates!!!"
Rousse sweatdropped even more, but grinned as Luffy did and gave the same thumbs-up. "Well, good for you! I pray that you become the King of Pirates!"
With another handshake, Luffy turned and hopped towards the ship.
Soon, they were out to sea, only a few feet away from the island shore. While Nami and Zoro were raising the flags to make sure they were going as fast as they can, Usopp was checking the cannons and the rest of the arsenal they had on the ship, and Luffy was ready to get going.
"Awright!!!! Let's GO!!!!!!!!!!! TO THE GRAND LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The ship left and when it was finally gone from Rousse's sights, it was quiet again.
He walked to the empty dinghy that was left there and pulled out a match and a leftover piece of wood that was there on the island. Lighting it, Rousse tossed it to the forest, and eventually, the whole island was caught on fire.
Rousse departed on the dinghy and rowed to an unknown direction. He sat back and watched the island burn away into cinder as he got away from it. While he was rowing back, he said to himself.
"Jennifer.....wait for me, I shall be back......."
~
The next day, in the hideout that Rousse's father used to conduct his twisted experiments, he walked over to an empty container which was as big as a coffin, yet it was made out of metal and it was cold to the touch. It stood upright with the name on top covered by ice.
With another assistant, he reached for a crowbar or anything hard, and pryed the container open with his head. When it opened, a very cold mist blasted out onto the group as it covered the entire room. When it dissapated, there stood the bare body of a young woman about 17 or 18 years of age. She stepped forward, stopping for a moment as her veins and arteries were held by many tubes and needles. She simply pulled them off without any pain and stepped forward. Her body was overly fine, but there was some parts of her where there were some scratch marks as well as the very tiny pinpricks in her veins and arteries, causing her to bleed a little.
She said to Rousse's father, "Hello...........Are you my creator?"
"Yes...I am." He said with a devious grin.
"If that is so, what is my purpose?"
"Your purpose, once I have fully prepped you, is to find and kill Rousse LeOnne as well as the one they call Monkey D. Luffy."
"I see. I will carry out that function. Master."
Rousse's fater grinned widely as he let the girl go off into a private dressing room. While the Assistant went to help, Rousse's father closed the giant container, and when he left, all of the ice and frost fell off the name plate.
On the name place, it said in bold and embossed letters:
"Jennifer"
~
Meanwhile, the Island of the Gum Gums was now a desert island. All of the trees had been burnt to cinders, or fell down onto the ground due to the tree and bark weaking to an extreme level. Indeed, it was truly a place of death now.
However, when the winds blow through the island's burnt stumps and fallen trees, leaves, and branches, if someone were still there, they could believe to themselves that these words were said.
"Jennifer.....wait for me, I shall be back......"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
And that is the end of Island of the Gum Gums! Phew! =P
Well, this fic was expected to be done in one-two months, and what happened? It took nearly a full year. XD Damn my laziness.
NEway, it got kinda hard to write with lots of schoolwork coming down, and a lack of interest in writing. I have been given a stronger interest in drawing, and I like to think I'm a itty bit good at it. XD NEway, it was fun writing this fic, and by the way this ended, you can bet yourselves that there will be a sequel! =D Just need to reach and research for more One Piece info. =P All I know so far that it involves Jennifer, Rousse, and the StrawHat Pirates finally have Sanji on the team, I think. o.o;;;;
Well, that's it. Hope you had fun! ^____^ Bai Bai!
Steven Kunz the Fan Author
stevenkunz@earthlink.net --- Whatever suggestions or stuff you want for the next fic or any more stuff you want on the reviews, but can't say on ff.net. XD NEway......BAI! XD *runs off into nowhereness again. ^^*