To Walk the Path of Freedom
"Kiji! Do you see anything on that ridge!?" Watson yelled up to Kiji who stood a couple feet above him on a ridge that partially overlooked the immediate area. The fish-man shook his head as he turned back to face the crew's doctor. "I spotted nothing of use, this island is too flat to see past the tree line. Come, we must keep moving to find the Captain." The first-mate explained to Watson who had just given a nod of understanding
The pair continued to walk through the dense jungle with an unconscious Ushi dragging behind them, tied up in vines that the two were able to find hanging from the trees. As they walked, Watson spoke up with words of dissatisfaction. "We've been walking for what feels like days! Why can't we find anything on this island like a base or something!? Obviously people are here considering you're dragging one of them around." Just as he finished, Kiji raised his arm to the boy and signalled him to get down and be quiet while he himself got behind a tree with a few bushes surrounding it.
"What's going on Kiji?" Whispered the Doctor who crawled over to meet the kneeling Kiji. Instead of speaking, the fish-man just pointed over to a bush a few meters to the right of them. Seconds past and both watched as the bush began to rustle and shake before three men dressed in green walked out of the bush, armed with rifles and combat gear, they kept their weapons raised as they patrolled the area around them. "Any sign of the two we're looking for?" Asked a new voice to which Kiji and Watson snapped their heads to look at the newcomer and saw another soldier, climbing out of a metal shaft in the ground followed by 16 other soldiers.
One by one they poured out of this hole in the ground prior to it closing behind them, concealing it. "Negative sir! The location of Ushi is unknown to us as well!" One of the previous three soldiers answered while Kiji and Watson continued to look on and watch. The fish-man then leaned in and whispered to the Doctor. "Prepare yourself, on my signal we fight." He spoke as Watson widened his eyes out of shock prior to unsheathing his machete with his shaking hands.
They duo waited in the bushes as the group of soldiers walked past them on either side, patrolling the area as they did so. Kiji waited until the final soldier passed the bushes he and Watson were hiding in before he yelled out. "Now!" He exclaimed, jumping out of the bush, punching two soldiers to the ground before they could react. "AHHHHH!" Screamed Watson, letting out a battle cry as he ran out of the bushes and plunged his blade into one of the patrollers.
"Drop your weapons and put your hands up!" One of the troopers in front of Kiji demanded, his gun shaking due to his fear. Then fish-man brought his arms together an responded with a yell. "I refuse! Fallout!" His words echoed as his attack connected with several of the soldiers, knocking them off their feet and back into bushes, trees and vines alike. While Kiji took care of most of the soldiers, Watson struggled to take on only one by himself. He only managed to take down the trooper, due to the distraction created by Kiji, by landing a lucky hack on the soldier's leg which knocked him to a knee before swinging his machete down and slicing the trooper in the back. "Dammit!" Watson cursed as Kiji handled the remainder of the troopers with ease. "Why am I so weak?! This would be so much easier if I had a Devil-Fruit!" A frustrated Watson exclaimed as Kiji walked back over to the Doctor
"Do not be so quickly to assume a Devil-Fruit holds the answers to fighting prowess. Both myself and the Dirty Marksman have no such abilities and both of us are formidable opponents regardless." Explained Kiji with a small smirk of pride. Watson was quick to argue. "Yeah but I'm not a crazy strong fish-man or a cyborg! And besides, didn't Lucy beat Russ and didn't Naruto beat you? Meaning you both lost to Devil-Fruit users!" The Doctor raised his counterpoint to which Kiji grumbled
The fish-man turned his body to where the soldiers had originated and spoke back to the doctor. "Come, the Captain is not to be found in this jungle. Let us search below to see if it holds the answers to our search." Kiji walked to the spot on the ground where they had got to the surface. "One Hundred Brick Fist!" The fish-man expressed, breaking the metallic door separating the jungle from the underground portion of the island. The two then began their decent into the tunnel, leaving Ushi behind with what was left of the soldiers.
With the rest of the crew. . .
"Experimental eh? Looks like we're in for a good ol' fight!" Russ smiled, taking out his second pistol and pointing it at the X-01. Lucy readied herself as well, her arms transforming into wings to defend herself. She then looked over to spot Rose trembling in fear. "Rose!" She yelled, catching the woman's attention. The Devil-Fruit user then asked, "How are we suppose to take this thing down?"
The green-haired woman continue to tremble before forming words and responding. "I-It was designed b-by Vegapunk! I-It's not suppose to have any weaknesses!" She relayed to Lucy along with the rest of the crew that was present. Russ was quick to respond. "Vegapunk!?" He questioned but did not wait for an answer prior to speaking again. "Now that I know it's one of that egghead's toys I'm definitely turnin' this thing into scrap!"
Rose went cold as she realized there was no way to get out of this fight. "B-But if you fight it you'll surely make a mess all throughout the hallway!" She spoke with worry while Lucy looked back at her with a puzzled look. "We could die, why worry about making a mess? You should worry about just trying to stay alive Rose!" She yelled back over to the girl. "R-Right!" She responded to the crew's navigator
"Oh I count on makin' a mess lady! The more of this place I mess up killin' this thing the better!" The Marksman laughed while his cyborganic eye glared down X-01. "Make no mistake, you'll be dead before you make any damage on Helion Base, let alone any damage on X-01." A new voice sounded from down the hallway which gave way for Naruto, Lucy, Russ and Rose to look in its direction; with the ladder freezing up when laying her eyes on the source of the voice.
Standing there was a man about 9 feet tall dressed in a black, high collared lab coat. He had beige gauntlets that could be seen spilling out from under the dark fabric. The man also had dark, spiky, purple hair atop his head and was dressed with a cold, calculating gaze. "N-No. . ." Was all Rose could muster as she eyed the man
"I'm sorry Rose were you expecting to just betray myself and Captain Argus and get away without consequence?" The man asked her rhetorically before his gaze shifted off of the girl and onto the Void Pirates. A small grin formed behind the high collar of the man's lab coat as he opened his mouth. "Russ, Lucy and Portgas D. Naruto, I didn't think you'd force my hand to make me confront you myself. To that I applaud you all."
As the man spoke his words, Naruto had shifted his body so that he was in a fighting stance in front of the newcomer. "Who th' hell are you!? And how the hell do you know my name!?" Russ demanded to know, pointing his second pistol at the man. Before he could respond, Rose interrupted. "T-That's the man in charge of this island! T-The right hand man of Argus! The Death Brawler, Bardif!"
Lucy gritted her teeth. "I guess things are only going to get worse if we have to take them on at the same time! What's the plan?!" She asked to the group and Naruto was the one to speak up. "Lucy, you and Russ take the green haired lady and get out of here! I'm going to take them on! I can't allow for any of you to be hurt!" He finished while staring down Bardif. "Truly a noble action Portgas, but you can't hope to grasp all of my strength. If you stay, you will die!" Bardif warned but Naruto was unfazed by the threat
"Ain't no way am I runnin'! I've been itchin' for a real fight ever since we got 'ere!" Russ responded and stood his ground with Lucy doing the same and standing her ground as well. She spoke to her Captain. "Naruto, we're your friends and we'll always back you up even if you're staring death in the eye! Some scrap metal and idiot in a lab coat aren't enough to scare us away!" Looking at the Void Pirates, Rose was shocked to her core. 'What!?' She thought in her mind. 'Don't they understand how strong Bardif and the X-01 are!? If they fight they will surely be killed!?' Rose's thoughts echoed in he mind as she turned to look at Naruto. 'W-What? There's no way! H-He's smiling!? Why? He's staring death in the face and smiling? Wait! He's not afraid of the X-01 or even Bardif! Who even is this guy?! I-It doesn't matter, he's fighting for his crew's freedom from this island just like I should fight for mine!' Rose's thoughts blazed in her head as she stood her ground against the X-01 and Bardif as well
Bardif looked over to Rose who yelled out to him, "Bardif! I've had enough! As of this moment I am no longer a slave of Argus's! I'm going to live my life the way I want it, free of you!" She exclaimed, but Bardif was quick to respond. "You'll never earn your freedom. You are just a tool, property of Captain Argus, and I will ensure you never leave this place!" Spat the leader of Helion Base
"You're wrong! She will leave this place and she will be free! The Void Pirates will make sure of that!" Naruto countered the tall man wit words of his own. Naruto then continued, "Lucy, Russ, I trust you both to take care of the robot and our friend! I'm going to kick this guy's ass!" The two crew-mates nodded before they watched Naruto run towards Bardif and clash his staff to the ladder's gauntlet. As the two clashed, Bardif called out, "X-01, engage four identified targets! Lethal force authorized!"
"Processing Command! Engaging Targets! Lethal Force Active!" The robot beeped as Lucy and Russ turned all their attention to it
With Naruto. . .
"I won't allow you to take my new friend as a slave any longer! Get ready to get your ass handed to you Bardif the Bastard!" Naruto exclaimed after jumping back from the original clash with the island commander. Bardif also fell into a fighting stance once again. "I will not allow you to leave this island alive Portgas D. Naruto! Seastone Barrage!" He yelled out, shoot seastone bullets from his gauntlets at the red-haired man as the ladder jumped back, avoiding the first couple of rounds. "Almighty Push!" Naruto exclaimed, forcing the rest of the bullets to be deflected in various directions away from his body
"Blink!" The Devil-fruit user followed up with, teleporting behind Bardif and swinging his staff down on his head. The labcoat dressed man remained motionless before he uttered some words. "Seastone Spear!" He spoke as he turned his body as a spear made of seastone sprouted out of a compartment of his gauntlet which grazed the young man's arm causing a small scratch before he jumped back. Bardif then spun the spear before resting it at his side. "You cannot rely on your Devil-Fruit against me Portgas! If you do you will die!" Bardif exclaimed as he readied his next attack. "Clubbing Fist!" Expressed the leader of the base as he jumped towards Naruto and swung his hand at Naruto, leading with the bottom of his fist.
The first Naruto was able to dodge, but the second managed to collide with the young man's side which sent him into the metal wall, knocking his staff from his hands and across the floor. Before Naruto could gather himself, Bardif jumped forward to attack once again. "Clubbing Fist!" He yelled, bringing down his free hand from above. Naruto was able to jump out of he way just in time as Bardif crushed the part of the wall where Naruto originally was with his attack. "Spatial Expansion!" Naruto countered, launching the invisible force at Bardif's side to which he ladder turned and crossed his gauntlets in front of his body. The seastone on them absorbed most of the attack with only a fraction slipping by and hitting Bardif, but the man was able to easily endure. "You are nothing without your Devil-Fruit Portgas! Take this!" The man exclaimed, throwing the seastone spear towards the red-haired young man who still laid on the ground from his previous dodge. 'Shit I can't move in time!' His thoughts blared as he tried to get out of the way but was impaled by the spear through the leg. "AHHHH!" Came Naruto's scream of pain and loss of strength, caused by the spear sticking out of the lower part of his calf
Bardif walked over slowly and grabbed ahold of the opposite end of the spear so that Naruto could not move. "It must bug you, having such a weakness like seastone where so many others do not. Too bad you don't have enough time to dwell on it. Now it is time for you to meet your end!" Proclaimed the base leader, pulling the spear out of Naruto and raising it to the sky. He then voiced with a shallow voice. "Goodbye. Portgas D. Naruto." And just like that Bardif brought down his spear, aimed at Naruto's heart
As the rookie Pirate watched the spear come down on him, he felt a weird sensation in his body. 'W-What, what is this feeling? Things s-seem to be m-moving slower? I-It feels l-like it's guiding me? phase. . .Phase. . .PHASE!' His thoughts blazed to life before Naruto used his abilities to faze the floor beneath him and he and Bardif fell into the tunnel below
With Russ, Lucy and Rose. . .
"I can't even count how many rounds I've put into this 'ere thing! They don't even leave a damn scratch!" Expressed the Marksman, running away from a flurry of bullets being shot at him, courtesy of the X-01. As Russ cursed the unarmed Rose spoke up, "Its outer-layer is made up of titanium! Bullets won't have any effect on it!" She explained prior to X-01 looking in her direction and locking on. "Target Identified!" The robot beeped out before a missile rose out of its shoulder and fired at the girl. All Rose could do was instinctively put her hands in front of her face to defend herself against the missile as it flew ever closer. "What!?" She questioned out loud as talon's gripped her left arm
She looked up to her left while the talon's pulled her away from the blast the missile made. "L-Lucy!?" Questioned Rose while she looked at her new found friend in her bird form. "Quick Rose, get on my back! You're a sitting duck down there!" Spoke the bird to which Rose obeyed. "Dammit feathers you left me down here with the robot!" The crew's Marksman cursed at Lucy while the ladder flew in circles around X-01. Lucy grew a tic-mark before she yelled back. "Shut it Russ and do your damn job and help me kill this thing! Feather Missile!"
Lucy's razor-sharp feathers flung out at high speeds towards the sentry but only inflicted light scratches on it. "Dammit birdbrain! You're only scratchin' the paint!" Russ voiced his frustration at the lack of damage inflicted by both him and Lucy. The Devil-Fruit user grew angry. "Well why don't you do something to help then that doesn't involve shooting foam bullets at the damn thing!" She cursed back at him. "Beam of Destruction!" Yelled Russ as a beam of light shot out of his arm and collided with the robot's chest
The room fell silent for a moment as smoke filled the air around X-01. "Did, did we get it?" Russ asked out loud but his answer came in the form of a robotic voice. "Energy Weapon Detected! Deploying Countermeasures!" X-01 buzzed, shooting a handful of missiles at Russ. "Crap!" Was all he could muster prior to being blown back into the metal wall by the explosions. "Russ!" Lucy screamed out, watching as the man twitched on the ground. "Dammit we need to take care of this thing fast before it kills us!" She continued to say to which Rose responded to her words. "Try targeting joints, the fibre that makes up its joints aren't titanium, they could prove to be X-01's weakness!" He explained as Lucy dove down in the mildly spacious hallway. "Talon Scrape!" She yelled while attacking X-01's left elbow
Lucy's attack was enough to cut into the joint and reveal so circuitry. "Did you see that! You managed to reveal a potential weakness!" Rose excitedly expressed on Lucy's back. "Ariel Target Identified! Deploying Flak!" X-01 announced as its arm rotated, revealing a new weapon.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
Three shots echoed throughout the metallic halls as flak ripped through the air, a few pieces hitting Lucy's wing which caused her to crash into the ground with Rose on her back. As they collided with the floor, Lucy transformed back into her human form and rolled across the floor with Rose doing the same in terms of rolling. "Crap, that thing has an answer for everything!" Cursed Lucy, her arm bleeding from the flak the robot shot at her. "It was specifically designed to take on any threat presented to the base, Vegapunk really out did himself when designing it!" Explained Rose as she helped Lucy to her feet. "Perfect killin' machine 'er not, I'm still gonna take 'er down!" Came a voice from beside the ladies and they both flicked their heads to the side to see Russ, standing there, covered in ash from the explosions and missing an arm
"Y-Your arm! I-It's-" Rose began but was cut off by the cyborg. "Don't worry!" He began. "It'll take more to bring me down! Dragon's Breath!" He yelled, grabbing hold of his rifle off of his back and shooting a fireball at the sentry. The robot was quickly engulfed by the attack before it once again started to buzz. "Extreme Heat Detected! Deploying Countermeasures!" Soon after it spoke, fire extinguishing fluid poured out of the robot in all directions, making the fire die out. "Structural Damage Detected Due To Heat! Best Action. . . Eject Left Arm!" It explained as its left arm from the elbow down fell off from its body
"It worked! We just need to keep hitting the joints with all we've got!" Rose excitedly said as she stared down the robot once again. "Easy for you to say! You're not the one missin' a damn arm!" Russ snapped back at Rose who flinched at the man. Lucy just shook her head before speaking to Rose. "Don't mind him, he's just cranky cause the robot keeps throwing him around the room." She told her fellow lady which earned a tic-mark on Russ. "Shut it feathers!" He quipped back
Instead of yelling back, Lucy's eyes flickered to life with an idea. "Russ, give Rose your rifle, it's not like you're doing anything with it with just one arm! Both of you will attack from either flank and distract it! We'll each see if we can hit the joints at different angles to take it down!" She strategized and Rose responded with a look of determination and a nod while the Marksman just grumbled before he tossed Rose his rifle with its ammo sash. "Hopefully ya know how to use that! And don't ya even think about hittin' me!"
Rose nervously chuckled, "D-Don't worry I'll try my best not to!" She responded, taking the rifle before her and Russ ran opposite ways around X-01 and began to shoot at it once again. The Void Pirate's Marksman hit every one of his targets, cracking and damaging the material covering X-01's joints. Of course the same could not be said about Rose, who had managed to miss all her shots, only one of them even making contact with the robot. "Dammit Rosie! You couldn't hit a wall!" Yelled the Marksman, shooting the robot in its head to get its attention off of Rose. "S-Shit up!" She defended herself prior to spotting a spot in the wall that was broken and had some exposed wire and parts in it. "Feather Missile!" Lucy exclaimed, shooting more razor sharp feathers at X-01, most of her projectiles lodging themselves into the robot's joint circuits. The rest just collided with the titanium exoskeleton of X-01 and ricocheted off into the wall. "Rose what are you doing!? Keep firing at the robot!" Lucy ordered the woman but she only smiled and looked back. "S-Sorry Lucy! I got an idea that I think can take it down! Just give me a second!" She explained, running over to the exposed part in the wall
"I guess we got a change in plans Russ!" Lucy relayed to her fellow crew mate who just had a missile fly over his head and explode a good distance behind him. He grinned, "Good! You had a stupid plan anyway!" He teased to which Lucy gritted her teeth. "You make it really hard to hold back from killing you!" Yelled back Lucy. As the two Void Pirates continued to distract X-01 while the ladder shot back, Rose pulled out her compact welding torch out of one of her pockets and begun to pull metal parts from the wall with circuits and connect them together to form a cylinder that screwed itself onto the end of Russ's rifle. She then grabbed another cable out of the wall with her welding glove. The cable in question sparked with electricity and Rose touched it to the end of the barrel where her device was which caused a brief spark between it and the cable. Rose dropped the cable immediately after seeing the inside of the device spark to life and took aim at X-01. "Here goes nothing!" She said before pulling the trigger on the weapon which launched the projectile towards X-01, breaking the barrel on the rifle in the process.
The makeshift device flew through the air and hit X-01 on its side. What happened next shocked Russ and Lucy, electricity flowed through X-01 and a few places on its body blew open and leaked out a thick black smoke. "WHAT! NOT MY RIFLE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH IT COST TO GET THE DAMN THING!" Russ scolded Rose who just screamed back at him "Quick you idiot! Shoot it! I shot an EMP at it! It'll be a second before it reboots!" Rose yelled, holding her forearm that held the barrel of the rifle in. Without communicating back to Rose, both Void Pirates attacked. "Beam of Destruction!/Feather Missile!" They both yelled, hitting X-01 as hard as they could. After the attacks hit all over the sentry's body, fires exploded all throughout its body before it fell over onto the ground with a thud.
With Kiji and Watson. . .
"Kiji, did you hear that! It sounded like an explosion! It came from down the hall!" Watson explained, picking up on the faint sound in the distance. The fish-man looked in the direction Watson was pointing. "Perhaps it's more sentries or soldiers. Either way we should dispose of them! Lead the way young Doctor!" Demanded the First-Mate of the Void Pirates and Watson obliged by running in the direction of the noises with Kiji behind him.
They duo turned a few corners throughout the underground base before arriving in a more spacious hallway that had a bigger robot laying on its side with smoke pouring out of it, covered in fire. "What happened here?" Watson questioned out loud as he and Kiji arrived. "What happened was we kicked that damn robot's metal ass!" Russ explained as he sat against the wall while Rose welded his arm back to his body. Kiji folded his arms over his body. "Of course it was you causing this commotion Marksman, have you or the Navigator sotted the Captain?" The First-Mate asked Russ and Lucy who walked back from just around the corner, scouting to see if any more sentries were coming to attack them
"Yeah, he's fighting the leader of this place. He was here when we fought the bucket of bolts over there but he disappeared in the chaos with Bardif. "Lucy told the Vice-Captain and Watson went cold. "W-What!? B-Bardif is here!? He's ruthless! We need to help Naruto! Bardif will kill him! A-And wait, w-who are you?" Watson spoke, as he turned to face Rose who just finished with Russ's arm. She turned and smiled. "My name is Rose! Your friends helped me brake my shackles and escape Argus and his crew!" She told him and Watson was about to follow up and ask more question but was cut off by Kiji. "If the Captain is fighting the leader of this base like you said we cannot afford to stand around and talk. Woman, are you familiar with this base?" The fish-man asked Rose who responded, a little intimidated by Kiji. "Y-Yes!" She began. "The control room is close by! I-I can take you there!" Rose finished speaking to which Kiji nodded
The fish-man explained his thoughts with the rest of the crew. "It would be best to take over the base while the Captain is distracting the leader, wherever they may be. Lead the way woman." He ordered Rose but was cut off by Lucy. "It's not woman Kiji! Her name is Rose and she's the newest member of the crew!" Explained the Navigator but it was only met by a huff, courtesy of Kiji. "Only the Captain can decide who comes on this crew and I will not recognize her as one of us until he says so, now let's move!" Explained the fish-man, following Rose with the rest of the crew as they ran towards the control room
With Naruto and Bardif. . .
"A pity I won't be able to slay you in front of your friends, but no matter." Bardif expressed to his opponent, getting to a knee prior to lifting his body back into a standing position after the fall he and Naruto went through. A chuckle came from the Captain of the Void Pirates. "I'm not done yet! So don't get ahead of yourself!" He yelled back, struggling to get up because of the hole in his leg but Naruto was able to fight through the pain and get back into a standing fighting stance. "I do not know wether to applaud your resilience or laugh at your stupidity! Seastone Barrage!" Declared Bardif, shooting his seastone bullets at Naruto who stood still and waited
Though his body stood still his mind did not. 'I-I can sense them, e-everything in the room! Everything s-seems more clear!' His mind blazed before Naruto prepared his defence. "Pull!" He announced as chucks of metal flew off of the wall all over the place, blocking the bullets and hitting Bardif. The leader of the base slashed and batted the metal out of the air as it approached him from multiple directions, creating an opening for Naruto. "Density Shift!" Exclaimed Naruto, who jumped towards Bardif after getting close enough to him, courtesy of the flying metal pieces. The man spun around to face Naruto but was too late to bring up his gauntlets. Naruto's fist that had increased density hit Bardif right in the side of his face, and knocked him back into the wall with a thud.
Bardif slowly got back to his feet and wiped the corner of his mouth to get the blood off of it. "So it would seem you're not going down quietly." Expressed Bardif, readying himself once again for his next attack. The taller of the two men ran a few steps prior to throwing his seastone spear at his enemy which he was able to narrowly dodge. "Clubbing Fist!" Bardif proclaimed, bringing down both of his fists on Naruto whose arm was hit by one of the gauntlets. 'Damn!' Spoke the rookie Pirate in his head before he got out of the way of the rest of the strike. "Spatial Expansion!" Yelled Naruto as he raised his arm towards Bardif's side
The attack was too close to dodge and Bardif's labcoat was ripped to shreds and his bare chest was exposed which had a few of internal injuries from the previous attack. 'He's slowing down, a little bit more and I'll be able to end this!' The younger of the two thought to himself as he wore his trademark grin. Bardif coughed up some blood but banished his pain to the back of his mind, instead electing to charge Naruto once again. Seeing as though the young man was only a short distance away, Bardif was able to quickly retaliate with his own attack. "Seastone Blade!" Declared the injured man as a blade extended from the opposite gauntlet that the spear came from.
"Spatial Pressure!" Countered Naruto and both men were struggling in a deadlock, Bardif attempting to itch forward to stab Naruto with his blade of seastone while Naruto concentrated on holding Bardif as still as he could. "I-I'll admit Portgas I-I underestimated y-you!" The base leader spoke while he struggled to move his blade closer to pierce his opponent. "E-Ever since y-you got on this i-island I thought of y-you as nothing but a p-pushover! Not e-even strong enough to t-take on one o-of the low r-ranking officers in Captain A-Argus's like Ryouku or U-Ushi! A-And yet here y-you are! Making me h-have to use my t-true strength! F-For that you h-have my respect. But y-you will not leave this island a-alive! I will s-stop you here and n-now! ARRRRRRRRRGGG!" Bardif explained before he used as much strength he could muster to push through Naruto's defence
'Dammit! I-I can't let him push through!' The red-head's thoughts exploded. He too yelled as he put as much strength into holding Bardif in place. "ARRRRRRRGGGG!" Despite Naruto's effort, the seastone sword continued to make its way ever closer to his chest. "Almighty Push!" Expressed Naruto with all of his might, letting Bardif go from his hold for a split second to use his next attack. The taller of the two men tried his best in the time he had to strike Naruto with the sword but was unable to reach. "Seastone Sword Launch!" Bardif proclaimed as he was blasted away by the invisible force through the metal wall behind him. Due to the tip of the man's sword being past Naruto's hands it was able to break away from the gauntlet and shoot forward before lodging itself in Naruto's side. 'D-Damn! H-His s-sword wa-as inside m-my arms l-length! I-I wasn't able t-to influence i-i-it with m-my attack!' Thought Naruto, falling to his knees and spitting up blood onto the metal floor
"I-I need t-to p-pull it o-o-out! I-I won't b-be able t-to defend m-myself i-if I c-can't!" He concluded, slowly moving both of his arms to grab the end of the blade and use as much strength as he could to ever so slightly pull the blade out of his chest and drop it on the floor. He then touched the wound with his hand and saw for himself how bloody it was. Naruto had no time to rest however because when he looked at the hole in the wall he saw a bloodied Bardif leaning against the hole, missing one of his gauntlets, prior stumbling in his direction. "S-So this i-is your l-limit Portgas D. Naruto?" Questioned the weak Bardif, stumbling his way over to the kneeling form of Naruto. The ladder only grinned as he watched Bardif get closer. "N-No, n-not even close!" He explained while trying to get back on his feet to finish the fight. "Even i-if by s-some chance you beat m-me, A-Argus will never l-let you live! H-He was a former W-Warlord! A-And at least three times a-as strong as m-me! Y-You will b-be slaughtered!" Spat Bardif, finally gaining some sort of balance
Before long, both men stared each other down, both bleeding heavily as they did so. Bardif was the first to move, lifting his only remaining gauntlet up and proclaiming. "Seastone Barrage!" A couple of seastone bullets shot out of the side of the gauntlet and flung themselves towards the younger Pirate, who flung his own body out of the way to the floor. The impact to the floor was enough to aggravate Naruto's wounds and make him bleed a bit more but he could not focus on that just yet. He turned his head off of his wounds and back towards Bardif and raised his bloodied arm. "Spatial Expansion!" He exclaimed before his arm fell limp. Unfortunately, Bardif was not quickly enough to dodge the attack and it passed right through him, shredding muscle and cracking bone. The leader of Helion Base slowly fell backwards onto his back and took long heavy breathes as his vision dimmed prior to passing out from exhaustion.
In the control room. . .
"N-No. . . Bardif has lost! The Void Pirates have done away with our greatest defence!" One of the scientists yelled out in disbelief as a few other grabbed some papers and begun to head towards the doors to get away. "The base is lost!" Another spoke. One of the people in the room was able to get out of the room quicker than the others by being located closer to the door. The man approached it and it slid open, allowing him to escape before closing behind him. Everyone left in the room was about to do the same until the same man who left, seconds earlier, was thrown through the doorway into some equipment. Walking into the room was Lucy and Russ both with weapons drawn and in hybrid form respectably. Next, followed Watson, Rose and Kiji through the door and looked around over the group of fearful, shocked faces of the various people working for Argus inside.
One of the scientists gritted their teeth. "It's the little brat along with the engineering wench! And they brought along a filthy fish-man! They must be using the barbarian to eat us!" They falsely proclaimed which made some people in the room sink further into their fear. "I'd be quiet if I were you. My trigger finger might slip." Threatened Russ and the scientist raised their hands to the sky and began to walk backwards. "Look there's Naruto!" Watson grabbed everyone's attention by pointing to a monitor labelled B3, displaying the room in a destroyed state and it had the unconscious form of Bardif laying on the floor with Naruto slouched against a wall. Rose's eyes widened. "B3? That's basement level 3! I can get us there in less than a minute!" Explained the girl as she turned her body back to lead the crew to find Naruto and Watson was quick to turn and run back into the hall with her. "He's bleed badly! We can't afford to wait!" He reasoned while he followed Rose
"Navigator, Marksman, let's go get the Captain!" Kiji ordered the remainder of the crew as he and Lucy turned back to follow. Russ stayed for a second longer, taking out a bomb, arming it, and throwing it back into the room with the scientists. "You gotta minute before it blows up the whole room." He spoke before following the rest of his crew to his Captain. And just as he turned and ran away everyone panicked and ran outside of the room to escape. The bomb blew up, destroying the room entirely by having the roof cave in overtop of it, though everyone who was previously in the room was able to escape.
With Naruto. . .
'Damn that hurt! And my leg and chest are going num dammit! This should never have happened! I should've been able to beat him without getting turned into swiss cheese in the process! Maybe I do rely too much on my Devil-Fruit. If I want to beat Argus and free Watson's island I need to be stronger! To protect my crew, my family! I need to get stronger!' The greatly injured man vowed to himself, looking at the small fires that burned from the damage both he and Bradif caused in their duel.
As each second went by, more and more blood flowed out of Naruto's wounds and onto the floor. His vision started to blur as he turned his head towards the faintest of sound coming from just outside of the door on the far wall, the furthest away from his current location. He saw it lift open to the bright white lights that were installed over head in the metal hallways and in came a few figures he could not make out as his crew until they came closer. "It's bad! Worse than I thought!" Watson explained, sliding next to Naruto before starting to work on his wounds. Lucy was the first to speak. "C-Can you stabilize him?" She asked, finding it a little hard to speak while she feared the worse. The Doctor stayed silent for a second, focusing on clogging as many wounds as possible with bandages and gauze, and then responded with a smile, "Yeah, he'll be okay! I think I've stopped the bleeding!"
Lucy teared up and then pointed sharply at the wounded man. "Listen you idiot! Never do that again! If you go off and get turned into a bloody mess again I'll somehow find a way to kill you myself!" She scolded to the young man who slowly formed a smile on his face and chuckled. He responded, "No promises. . .Lucy!" He spoke slowly, still fatigued from his wounds and battle. His gaze then shifted off of Lucy to Rose who stood behind her. "Oi. . .w-what's you n-name again?" The Captain of the Void Pirates asked weakly. She stammered for a second. "O-Oh u-uh you mean me? M-My name is Rose. . .uh sir!" Rose conveyed awkwardly
"Rose huh, y-you said you w-wanted t-to get away f-from Argus? A-And that you w-wanted freedom r-right" He asked her and she gave a nod of approval. He smiled and extended a hand. "H-How'd you feel about j-joining the Void Pirates and b-being a dreamer w-with us?" Naruto asked and without hesitation Rose stuck her hand out and shook his. "Of course! I would love! Uh Captain! Sorry I-I'm not quite u-used to the part yet!" She admitted with a smile which everyone else returned, except for the fish-man, though he did accept her as one of the Void Pirates, trusting Naruto's judgement.
Hey there everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! As I said in the last chapter this one will be a wrap on Tin Tan Island and the story will be moving on to the next part which will be the Island of Drum. I'm really excited to write the next part and hope to have it out to you as soon as I possibly can! I do not have a date yet when it will be out as I don't know what will happen with my school schedule. Please review the story if you can, I really do adore reading them and it does help me improve my work to make it more enjoyable! And one more thing, many people have PM'd about pairings and what I can confirm right now is that both Hina and Hiyori will be included. I only plan to really have 2 more if anything so please do message me on who you think that should be!
Qwert out!