Usopp nearly tripped over the last stair in his haste, but managed to avoid disaster as he hopped the rest of the way on his good leg towards the room he'd seen Kaya dash into. Upon entering, torn chunks of wood and carpet met his eye; the room had evidently been sliced up by Krow at some point. Before he could ponder why the room was in this state already, he saw a short ladder had been pulled down from the ceiling to give way up to what appeared to be an attic. The dust that had been thickly blanketing the ladder was still floating in the air.
"Kaya!" Usopp called, trying not to be too loud as he scurried up the ladder and popped his head into the musty air of the attic. Kaya had evidently been expecting Krow, as Usopp found himself facing the barrel of Kaya's gun just inches from his head.
"Oh, Usopp-san!" She said, startled as Usopp let out a cry of surprise and fear and fell off the ladder and out of sight. He was back up the ladder in a flash, however, and he tugged urgently at Kaya's arm as he looked at her seriously.
"You can't stay here, this is like waiting for him to come get you!"
"I--I was trying to give you time to run out the back door!" Kaya exclaimed, and Usopp nearly fell off the ladder again.
"Don't be a moron," Usopp said exasperatedly, "that psycho's after the both of us, not just you! He'll be up here any minute, Kaya--" But she didn't budge when he pulled at her arm again, and to his surprise she removed a hand from the gun to tug at his shirt upwards.
"If we stay here, we can predict his movements at least," Kaya said with a slight frown. "This is the only thing I can think of doing that is logical..."
The sniper did some quick thinking. Running back down would risk facing an extremely angry Krow, he supposed, but then again Krow might have hidden himself at this point... Usopp pulled himself up onto the attic floor and looked curiously at Kaya. "So we wait here for him?"
"He'll come here," Kaya said, her voice quiet but full of conviction, and she gestured to Usopp to move further back, towards the dusty window through which a weak light was filtering. They stood in front of the window, their figures casting shadows over the thick coat of dust on the moulding planks of wood, their eyes on the square of light from where Krow's head was expected to pop through any second. Usopp was jolted out of concentration when she pressed the gun, now warm from her hands, into his fingers.
"You want me to shoot?"
"Usopp-san, you should know more than anyone else that your aim far outstrips my own," Kaya said, suddenly smiling, "and ... that gun only has one bullet in it."
"Just like the gun you had last time," Usopp said, remembering, and Kaya bit her lip with a nod. "I realised... it only had one bullet when I checked downstairs... so I came up to the attic to reload, but I still haven't been able to find--"
She let out a sudden shriek as the entrance to the attic exploded in a cloud of dust and wood; Usopp yelled, his eyes frantically searching through the dust fruitlessly, and he stepped in front of Kaya instinctively.
Usopp caught the weak light flashing off Krow's blades right before his eyes, and barely managed to push Kaya out of the way before the blades slashed at him; Usopp thrust the side of the gun barrel in the way and felt his muscles strain at the impact. The gun received most of the shock, however, and the rest of the blades only cut his arms slightly.
Starting to waver at the building pressure, Usopp felt his wrist bone crack painfully before he threw his weight against the blade; it glanced off the gun, but Usopp lost his grip on the handle as the blade skid off. It fell uselessly onto the floor, its clatter muffled against the soft wood and dust. Not expecting that, Usopp looked up to have the glint of Krow's teeth catch his eye before Krow's actual snarling face loomed into sight.
Usopp barely dodged a swipe aimed for his throat, and instead the blades tore into the window behind Usopp. Kaya screamed as the wood panelling behind her erupted, a shower of glass tinkling onto the dust, but Usopp had pushed her out of range so she remained unharmed.
"Kaya, get out of here!!!" Usopp shouted, and now that he could see through the settling dust he spotted the gun lying just behind Krow's shoes. Without thinking twice, the engineer barrelled into Krow's stomach, trying to ignore the two blades that snicked his arms from the move.
Krow let out a growl of surprise before he fell heavily onto the floor, dust billowing from all sides. The wooden floor gave loud, ominous creaks. Usopp took the time Krow lay winded to reach desperately for the gun lying just aside of Krow's legs, but had severely underestimated Krow's pain threshold.
"Look out!!" Kaya screamed, and Usopp, whose outstretched fingers had been millimetres from the gun handle, turned his head alarmedly to have the flash of Krow's blades reflected within his eyes, Krow's short laugh mingling with Kaya's scream.
Sanji ducked as the person Krieg was swinging was thrown at him, and rolled himself aside. He found no time to rest, however, and the next thing Sanji knew he was swiftly ducking and dodging limp bodies Krieg threw without mercy. The cook couldn't stop his heart clenching in worry, despite the fact Luffy was down there with Nami. Even though Sanji had just witnessed how the physical change hadn't deterred Luffy's general strength and speed, all the same he knew it'd be harder without his old body to fend off a high level Demon.
Which leaves me to defeat Krieg as fast as I can so I can help Luffy quick, Sanji thought, his teeth gritting in determination as he deftly kicked away someone attempting to sneak up on him from behind. So caught up in his thoughts, he finally noticed the small group of people trudging towards Rendel's fallen form; too late in this realisation, however, he could do nothing to prevent them tossing her limp form to Krieg. He caught her small body roughly, his eyes blazing with triumph at Sanji.
Throwing her body down onto the concrete, Krieg slammed his foot down onto her wound, sneering at Sanji. When Sanji made an angry move towards him, Krieg twisted his boot deeper into Rendel's stomach; she let out a sharp yelp, and Sanji felt his heart sieze up as the Silver Angel began to cry from the pain, but bit her lip to keep from crying out loud. A small dribble of blood fell from her lip as she was biting down too hard.
Sanji couldn't stand to see a girl cry like that, especially when they were crying but trying hard not to, to try and hide their pain for the benefit of others... like Nami would. As those in the mob who could still move started towards Sanji, Krieg growled loudly when Sanji gave a start; the cook got the message clearly. Move and the girl dies. A rush of emotion swept through Sanji's mind, and for a moment, he could do nothing but clench his fists and glare frustratedly...
The sounds of haggard breathing, snorts of triumph and the wind whistling past the roof suddenly fell mute. Sanji frowned slightly, wondering for a split second whether the attacks he'd gotten earlier from Krieg were finally starting to take its toll, but then other noises began to sift into his mind.
"Sanji!!"
Sanji blinked. The blue and pearl sky was gone. Starched cloths on dining tables with guests settled at the chairs took its place, their gobsmacked eyes trained on Sanji... he looked down and saw a blue and white striped headband he immediately recognised; Gin.
Next to the tearful Gin kneeled a large man in a rich cloak with furs, looking no different in his appearance to the currently possessed Krieg other than the fact his headband was not identical to Gin's - it looked wrapped in bandages. Tears spilled out of Krieg's eyes as he unceremoniously dug into the food with his gloved hands, his thick lips soon coated with grease.
"Sorry...!!!"
Before Sanji had really noticed the ground below him bobbing up and down from the waves of the sea, Krieg had suddenly loomed forward, Sanji just catching the look of cruel satisfaction in his eyes before being thrust onto the floor flat on his back. His lower lip burst in pain as his jaws slammed together from the impact; blood filled his mouth as his slid his eyes onto Krieg painfully twisting a screaming Gin's shoulder.
"I feel as though I'm born again..."
No evil grin, no chuckle of delight; a simply cold, almost bored look in his eyes as Krieg scanned the Baratie in a swift glance. The nonchalance in his voice burned in Sanji's brain as Krieg spoke, "It's a good restaurant. I'm taking it."
A gust of wind suddenly rushed past Sanji's ears; the image was whipped away from his eyes to melt into the possessed Krieg standing before him, his teeth still bared in an awful grin.
Don't tell me Usopp's been going through this for a long time... Sanji shook his head, sighing, then narrowed his eyes as he gazed at Krieg. Now I completely remember this guy...
This wasn't a time to be contemplating about their past connection, but Sanji's determination was replenished. Yet what could he do? Sanji didn't have the heart to let the young Silver Angel get hurt just because he was unable to protect her properly...
But I can't lose hope, Sanji thought, I'll just have to think of a way out of this, like Luffy... though I'll try not to think of anything as drastic as destroying a boat... or building, in my case-- A mighty roar suddenly jolted Sanji out of his train of thoughts.
"KRIIIIIIIEG!!!!!"
Sanji whipped around to see a blur of white and blue just barely glance his nose. Gin was running from the entrance to the roof towards Krieg, his eyes wide and his mouth open in a holler that successfully distracted Don Krieg long enough to allow Gin to knock him down and off of Rendel.
The Demon snarled before grabbing Gin and throwing him right against the wall beside the open door; as Gin's body hit the wall, a thick web of cracks shot through the concrete before Gin fell to the ground, unconcious. Letting out a sharp growl, Krieg turned to stamp his boot into Rendel once more-- but Gin had given Sanji all the time he'd needed.
Dashing forward, Sanji had her crumpled form in his arms within seconds. He rolled back with her, just in time to dodge Krieg's heavy footfall, and stood up quickly but failed to dodge the unicycle Krieg chose to pick up and throw at him. The Demon in Krieg let out a satisfied growl as Sanji staggered; he barely managed to swerve out of the way from a body of a fallen person thrown in his direction.
Quickening his step, Sanji swiftly reached the door and set Rendel down quickly onto the stairs before he shut the door and had to immediately duck to avoid being crushed against the door with another human body. The body hit the door with a sickening crunch, and Sanji felt a jolt of anger.
Because he remembered how Krieg had treated even the most loyal person to him, just because he didn't get to have his every way... Glancing over at the twitching figure of Gin, Sanji felt his blood boil...
Rushing forward, Sanji quickly dodged another person and quickly kicked away any other possessed humans trying to intercept his path to Krieg. Reaching Krieg, Sanji swiftly moved out of the way of a double-fisted swing aimed at his head, and spinning on his heel Sanji put all his strength into crushing his shoe into Krieg's gut.
The impact of Sanji's kick threw Krieg into the railing and dented it; foam began to rapidly dribble down Krieg's chin as his eyes blazed in anger. Sanji cursed inwardly. He'd intended to kick Krieg off the roof, but apparently he had not yet completely recovered from the bruises from Alvida. Sanji ran forward and jumped, aiming a spin-kick at Krieg's neck; unfortunately, Krieg caught Sanji's leg and threw him angrily onto the ground with enough force to crack the concrete.
Winded and stunned, Sanji suffered a harsh kick to the side of his abdomen that sent him rolling over; picking himself up, Sanji unsuccessfully tried to dodge a punch that ended up ramming not into his ribs but into the shoulder Alvida had dislocated previously. Unable to keep in a howl of pain, Sanji tried to keep himself out of Krieg's hitting range, gripping his shoulder tightly as convulsions wracked it.
Distracted by the pain, he flinched as he skid under Krieg's fist, and met his other fist with his face. Thrown back, Sanji found himself sprawled on the floor and cringing as the Demon crushed both his arms under Krieg's boots.
"Stop it," Sanji croaked out as the Demon bared its teeth in a malicious grin, panting heavily from its efforts to take Sanji down, and it flexed its fingers. Sanji's pained mind fell to chaos as its hand plunged into Sanji's chest once again. This time, Sanji was so caught up in his pain he found it harder to keep his soul in; feeling the grinding pain as the Demon began to pull his soul away, Sanji let out a strangled cry.
Suddenly, the floor below exploded; Sanji's soul snapped back into him like elastic as his body flew into the air. Feeling dazed but strangely refreshed, Sanji fell on his feet, and found himself now facing the Demon a fair distance away. The Demon was looking deeply affronted and angry at a space behind Sanji; he chanced a glance over his shoulder to see Rendel standing shakily by the door, her knees buckling but her lips continuously moving. A soft white light suddenly glowed from Sanji's shoulder, and felt the pain fade; with a rush of gratitude Sanji realised, she must be praying for me.
Not wanting to let her prayer's timing go to waste, Sanji smartly flipped himself onto his hands and landed a swift kick up Krieg's chin; as Krieg staggered back uneasily, Sanji took the chance to bring his leg back and swing the toe of his shoe into Krieg's face. As the Demon was thrown clean off his feet, Sanji easily flipped himself upright, and took no time in performing a proper spin-kick onto Krieg's airborne body.
The momentum of the kick brought Sanji near Krieg's side, and nimbly landing on his hands once more Sanji threw a heel into Krieg's temple. The back of Krieg's head hit the floor so hard Sanji felt the tremor rippling through his hands; the Demon let out a screech of pain that was abruptly cut off as Sanji brought his other heel down onto the exact same spot. As Krieg's head hit the ground again, the floor around his head resembled a small crater; and finally the body lost conciousness, and the Demon left it.
Looking down at Krieg's sore face, Sanji was startled to see blood start pouring out from Krieg's knees in unnatural amounts. A movement behind Sanji surprised him; he spun around to see Gin shakily getting to his feet, bits of broken concrete falling from his clothes.
Their eyes met. Silent gratitude and contentment passed quickly between them, and without another word Sanji strode past Gin and a confused looking Rendel before bolting down the stairs.
"Sanji?!" Rendel called out questioningly, and his reply echoed from two floors down,
"Nami-san's in trouble!!"
Shaking her head, the Silver Angel watched Gin walk staggeringly towards Krieg. Bending down, Gin straightened once he had Krieg securely over his shoulder. Krieg's knees soaked Gin's shirt in blood, and he bit his lip and looked down guiltily.
Apparently unable to see Rendel, Gin walked unevenly past her and began to descend the stairs much more slowly than Sanji had previously done so. Rendel let out a tired sigh before whispering a small prayer; Gin suddenly felt his energy renew with vigour. Without questioning the change, Gin hurried down the steps without noticing Krieg's knees' bleeding had ceased temporarily.
Rendel let out a louder and longer sigh before sinking down onto the ground; she surveyed the rooftop. The people on the ground were groaning in pain from broken bones and bruises; Rendel could see how not a single one of them had a Demon in them now. Apparently the Demons in them had fled once the strongest Demon of them, Krieg, had gone too. Relieved, Rendel sighed, and pressed her fingers to the wound at her stomach.
"Now I can finally heal myself, right God?" She whispered, and smiled as a white light glowed from her wound without her even praying for it.
Smoker was enormously surprised to feel the weight finally lift itself off his back. Immediately rolling aside, sending the skateboard clattering across the ground, Smoker backed away quickly from the young man. Smoker glared at him, suspicious of why the skaterboy had suddenly decided to move when during the past hour he had been sleeping soundly.
The skaterboy stretched his arms out, yawning widely and loudly and infuriating Smoker further. Now the numbness was ebbing away, Smoker could feel the bruises his ribs had pressed into his chest.
"Mmm. That was a good nap," The young man said nonchalantly, and he flipped his upturned skateboard over with his foot. Smoker was still staring suspiciously, when the skaterboy shrugged.
"You don't have to stare at me like that, man. I was just doing what I felt I had to do. It was like..." Here his brows creased as he searched for the words to phrase it for just a moment. Then the skaterboy smiled relaxedly. "...like God was telling me what to do. Something like that. I don't know why I had to do it, but there you go."
"You've assaulted a police officer and hindered him from stopping what could have been a maniac," Smoker growled, but the skaterboy shrugged once more as he got onto his skateboard.
"Like I said, I didn't mean to do it. Sorry," He said breezily, and with that, the young man put all his weight onto the foot still on the ground and shot past Smoker on his skateboard.
"Wh-what-- WAIT!!" Smoker tried to give chase to him, but his muscles had been cramped for so long he ended up crashing down. "WAIT, DAMMIT! WAAAAAIT!!"
His useless shouts amused the skaterboy as he skateboarded easily away into the crowd of pedestrians nearby. The tattoos on his arm caused several people to stare, especially at the fact the 'S' had been so boldly crossed out. Not that he really minded; he didn't think bold mistakes were so bad. At least he didn't pretend to be perfect.
Though maybe nearly misspelling his own name was a bit over the line. He tried not to think about that fact. Smoker's yells met his ears once more, and he quickly skated through the crowd to the pavement opposite. "Hope that's enough for you, Big Guy," He muttered before grinning.
The blades sank deeply into the wood as Usopp rolled over. Panicking, he backed away quickly from Krow, who let out a growl of impatience as he tried to pull the blades out of the floor. The bandages slid cleanly off the blades with a jerk, and Krow smirked as he slid his cracked glasses further up the bridge of his nose with his palm, despite the fact there were no longer any blades to pierce him.
Meanwhile Usopp had himself shielding Kaya from Krow, trying to figure what to do desperately.
"Acting the knight, liar?" Krow rasped, and he flung himself forward; Kaya felt Usopp grasping her around the waist before she was thrown a tad bit unceremoniously over Krow's head.
She fell onto the floor, skidding on her side, but ignoring the pain she strained to look through the dust her landing had flown up.
Krow's blades had sunk into the wooden floor once again, but his other hand had thrown a well-aimed punch that sent Usopp reeling to the floor. As Usopp forced himself up, he saw Krow's blades in the dusty floor and quickly reacted. He threw all his weight into ramming his elbow into Krow's chest; as Krow let out a choked noise, Usopp slammed his weight against Krow's bladed hand.
The blades did not sink any further, but the bones in Krow's hand let out a nasty crunch. Roaring in pain, Krow swung his fist out and connected with Usopp's shoulder, and as Usopp staggered Krow mustered as much strength as he could into pulling his blades out of the floor. With a wide swipe, the blades cut through the floor and out of it; the floor gave its loudest creak yet.
Before either Usopp or Krow had regained their balance, the wooden floor trembled, creaked once more, then completely caved in. Kaya's mouth opened in shock as the two suddenly disappeared through the floor, thick clouds of dust swallowing them up, their yells of surprise quickly smothered as they hit the floor below.
Usopp bounced off a bed before hitting the floor; as he gingerly lifted his head, bits of wood splinters and dust powdering the air, he squinted through and realised this was probably Kaya's room. The door had been smashed through, but half of Kaya's desk and a torn up bookcase effectively blocked the entrance. It looked like Krow's doing from earlier on... Usopp picked himself off the floor, trying to get his stunned senses back to normal, when he heard a sharp tinkle of glass just beside him.
Turning sharply, Usopp was met with Krow's face hovering high above him, his expression vicious and his handful of blades pulled back to swipe at Usopp. Yelping, Usopp rolled himself quickly under the bed; he heard the blades muffledly tear through the thick carpet as he rolled himself through to the other end of the bed. Bits of carpet now added to the mist of dust and wood bits, Usopp was slow to react to Krow grabbing his shirt and dragging him up to meet Krow's snarling face.
"Enough," He hissed, and Usopp's world was thrown wildly out of perspective as he was shoved through the window. The window had already been broken, and the shards tore mercilessly through his arms before he banged, hard, onto the railings. Pain exploding from his back and pulsing through his body, Usopp could see nothing for a few seconds but constant stars blinking in his way.
Before he could even think of recovery, Krow reached through the window in an attempt to slice Usopp with his blades; as Usopp tried to move out of the way, he stumbled and failed to stand properly - before he could do anything stumbled uneasily onto the steps leading down, tripped on himself and fell painfully down the stairs.
Kaya only regained her senses a while after Usopp and Krow had fallen through the floor, and had decided she could not go down when Krow would expect her to do so. Pushing hard on the broken window frame, the whole thing fell out and onto the grass far below; biting her lip and steadying herself, Kaya gripped the window ledge and climbed out.
She had done this before, when she was very young when her parents had still been alive... She had never done it since. Hoping the pipe would still support her weight, she grabbed the water pipe near her, slid her feet away from the ledge and pulled herself onto the edge of the roof. A wind blew, causing Kaya to almost lose her grip on the sunbaked tiles, but she gave herself a mental shake.
Just don't let Klahadol find me, She thought, and she stood up slowly, making her way across the roof, knowing the pipe on the other end reached the ground-- a blade suddenly shot through the roof beside her, and Kaya stumbled, a small cry escaping from her lips--
Falling hard onto the roof, her slender fingers groping for a grip on the tiles, she looked up in horror as Krow stood up in front of her, his slick hair now all mussed, his usually calm face completely contorted in an unrecognisable and ugly expression as he raised his hand of blades.
Words of anger, hatred and scorn clamoured to be heard in Krow's mind, but at that moment, the fact the long-nosed fool was gone was numbingly satisfying. Instead, a small smirk lifted Krow's lips.
"You're mine." He said simply.
She wasn't dead already, was she? Tashigi's soft noises of discomfort had stopped suddenly, and Zoro was starting to get worried; however, he couldn't stop running. He couldn't explain himself, but he just somehow knew he was close to the Demon...
He finally caught sight of the back of the Demon disappearing into a crowd of people, and shoving past them himself he yelled, "STOP!!" The Demon did not appear to react however, and ducked into an alleyway.
Putting forth an extra spurt of speed, Zoro sprinted into the alleyway after it, and watched as the Demon threw the part of Tashigi's jacket it had been clutching down onto the floor and tried to climb over the barbed metal fence opposite. Zoro could see that beyond the fence was a used car garage; Zoro cursed as he realised he couldn't assault the Demon with his arms occupied behind his back with holding Tashigi.
He set her down against the wall, trying not to be brusque in his urgency, and as the Demon landed nimbly over the fence Zoro took a running start and vaulted cleanly over the fence with one hand.
Letting out a surprised gargle at the sight of Zoro hot on his heels, the Demon weaved through the cars, sending people scrambling as it shoved them onto the floor in its haste.
Zoro ran in hot pursuit, his brow furrowing as he remembered the Archangel's words: With mortal hands like yours, I'm afraid you can't hold a soul for longer than three seconds.
"Three seconds, huh?" He mumbled, frowning, and as he jumped over a car the Demon had just somersaulted over it occurred to him that didn't matter. As long as I don't knock it unconcious, I'll make it carry it for me. But how...? Zoro didn't really have as much confidence in controlling his strength when it came to random beat-the-crap-out... if only he had kept Tashigi's bokkens...
Caught up in his thoughts, he almost collided with a man who was clearly a cleaner of the area; the words 'Waporu's Used Cars' were stamped across his shirt. Zoro realised the man was holding several useful tools, so instead of just running past he quickly said, "Thanks," before snatching a broomstick from the man.
The Demon let out a frightened squeal as Zoro came charging up to it, and let out a shriek as Zoro brought the broomstick end smashing down onto its head. Unsteady, it was about to fall to the floor when Zoro dashed forward, the broomstick clattering behind him. His hand shot out and grabbed the Demon's hand; with one arm securely tucked around the Demon's throat, Zoro grabbed the hand the Demon had curled around something invisible.
Zoro felt his face flush when the carpark suddenly resonated with cheers from the watching crowd. Do they think I'm some sort of hero or something?! Yeesh...! However, it helped that they noticed because they let him through easily. The Demon struggled, but Zoro had him under his control; when they reached the fence, Zoro jumped onto the top of a car with the Demon before jumping over the fence.
They landed a little uneasily, but Zoro's grip was firm so the Demon didn't even have a chance. Zoro hurried towards Tashigi, still thinking about how she had stopped making her pained moans and hoping it wasn't too late, and he quickly kneeled beside her crumpled form.
Ignoring the Demon's pained screeches, Zoro forced the Demon to bend with him. Before he could take the soul from the Demon's hand, however, Tashigi opened her eyes. His jaw dropped open.
"Tashigi?" He prompted, looking at her in surprise, but she gave him a terribly familiar, sad smile as she shook her head.
"Think before you speak, loser." She said.
The roar of wind in Nami's ears ceased abruptly as Luffy intercepted her fall, his small arms grabbing hold of her. His firm grip quickly assured Nami she wasn't going to be killed from hitting the ground, and she was completely recovered by the time they landed. The wings on Luffy's back vanished in a whisk of golden feathers, and Luffy pulled himself out of his red jumper; Nami saw the back of the jumper torn right through from the wings.
"I guess I shouldn't have put it back on when I grew small again," Luffy said thoughtfully as Nami watched him toss it into the nearest bin; a wistful look came into Luffy's eyes, and Nami followed his gaze. They were standing near the harbour, meaning they were close to GrandLine University... the salty smell in the air was enough to brim Nami's mind with memories.
Luffy, I was trying to take a break... Kale's voice came tiredly into Luffy's mind, and the captain of the Going Merry shook himself out of his reveries to say out loud apologetically,
"I'm sorry, I just jumped. I wasn't really thinking..."
...What's new... Kale muttered.
Before Nami had properly finished wondering what Luffy was apologising for, Cabodi came tearing out from the building lobby. His bulging eyes met Luffy and Nami standing by the railings over the sea, and he began to run towards them.
Grabbing Luffy's arm, Nami began to run away.
"Nami!! Oy, Nami! You can let go! I can take him on!!" Luffy cried indignantly, and Nami let out a snort.
"Not in that puny body!" She snapped, and Luffy frowned.
"Kale can make me grow up again! Can't you Kale?"
Er, not now. Right now... I think I only have enough energy to bring your rubber ability back... but definitely not your age. That requires a lot more--
"That's enough!!" Luffy yelled excitedly, "Just do it!!"
"What? Did Kale say you can be seventeen?" Nami said, looking distractedly over her shoulder to see, with a chill down her spine, that Cabodi was gaining on them rather rapidly.
"Not exactly, but that's okay!! Let-- go!!" He tried to wrench himself out of Nami's grip, but only succeeded in stretching his wrist. Nami let go in shock, having not witnessed anything like that for eighteen years.
"You're stretching again!"
"I just did on the roof, didn't you see?" He looked at her surprised face with a bit of a pout, and she narrowed her eyes.
"I was a little distracted as I was being held over the edge of the building roof--"
Nami was interrupted as Luffy and her leapt out of the way of a bench Cabodi had thrown. They stared as the Demon, seething at the fact it'd missed, simply picked up the next bench and chucked that at them too. The polished wood was crushed into pieces as it slammed onto the stone floor; Nami felt the Demon's eyes on her and stepped back away from it. She let out a gasp as her back hit the railings, and looked at the Demon uneasily.
"Luffy...!" Nami called, craning her neck to look behind the Demon, and she felt a nerve twitch as Luffy was shown to be running towards the nearest lamp-post, enthusiastically ignoring her. "Damn it!"
Nami dodged a swerve aimed at her head, and tried to duck under Cabodi's outstretched arms; however, the Demon seemed to have anticipated her movements and threw a kick at her stomach. Gasping, Nami gripped the railing for support, but the Demon did not wait for her to recover. It hit her squarely on the chest, sending her off her feet and balance; she was thrown over the railling, and with a cry of distress she fell into the ocean water with a loud splash.
"Eh?" Luffy looked up from his position; his hands were on the lamp-post but his arms were stretched far enough to accumulate the tension he needed. Seeing no Nami made him feel a bit bad, but since she could swim he supposed, better her than him... "Sorry Nami!!" He cried, and looking at Cabodi he lifted his feet off the ground.
He shot like a rocket towards Cabodi, head-butting him in the stomach and throwing him onto his back. However, the key to that move had mainly been his weight, and since Luffy was no longer a muscular seventeen year old but a lightweight twelve year old, the Demon hardly felt the impact Luffy had expected.
It recovered immediately, grabbing Luffy's throat and bringing his eyes to level its own. Luffy cringed as he choked, his hands grasping at Cabodi's arms, and the Demon smirked as it looked straight into Luffy's eyes and saw the Angel inside.
It knows it can't win a Gold Angel that easily, Kale's confused voice sounded in Luffy's head, So why is it grinning?!
The answer to that was almost immediate as Luffy felt Cabodi's grip tighten. The Demon jerked its head towards the sea, gave a jerk with Luffy's body with its arm, chewing its tongue with a maniacal glint in its eyes. Luffy felt a strongly familiar sensation grip him. Before he could really think about it, the Demon had already thrown Luffy with all its might towards the ocean over the railing, letting out a high pitched shriek of laughter.
A/N: Man, it's been a while. So much of a while I had to reread everything I wrote. As I did that I saw how much of it was just so awful. Really. Sorry to put you through that... I mean, it was just so melodramatic, even for me (and I wrote it!!)
I also noticed how weird the format gets. I was always thinking of reformatting everything, but I think I'll finish the actual story first before I do that. Yes... I thought about my website for 'Reborn'. I had the webpage art done and everything... just... I decided not to put that up until I complete the actual fanfic first. It's been two years... and I haven't finished this!
I can't believe myself... The exams really did make me stop, but I could have picked up anytime... I think what was happening is that this fanfic was becoming somewhat of a burden to me. I didn't want that to happen, but I sometimes felt as though I didn't want to write...
These days I'm drawing more than I'm writing, too. But you know... I realised I've gotten so much support for this fanfic, from so many people... and once I reread it, I remembered what inspired me to write this fic in the first place. So inspiration and motivation back in place, I'll try my best to complete this fanfic, even if no one's going to read it. No question about that. I'll try to complete the next chapter by the end of the next week. Wish me luck...! I'll probably write out the rest faster, since they won't have nearly as much action... and the fic is going to finally start drawing to a close...! XD!! Squee.
As a side note, doesn't allow so much in the formatting I'm getting a tad bit irritated when performing scene breaks. Grrrr.