Chapter 12
If Sen were still humanoid, Illian would have been able to overpower her and keep her from hurting herself. But as a hybrid, Sen's lack of discipline combined with the horrible goal of committing suicide made her like a wild animal, and resulted in Illian getting batted across the room into a pillar. She had used the back of her claws to hit him so as not to cut him in 6, but the tips came across his chest and left 5 gashes.
Earlier, he had tried to slow Sen down by freezing her solid, but she easily broke out of the ice cage and put her claws to her own throat. His final option was to try and stun her, but like all Arashan, she was resistant to the elements that they controlled. Just in time to see the fireworks were Zoro and Luffy. Illian's pet cloud came out and created a large bolt that zapped her in the back of her neck and knocked her down.
"Let me die in peace, Illian!" Her hand flew to the back of her neck and quickly the burn mark from the bolt was gone.
"She's trying to kill herself!" Zoro put his hand to his forehead. "She really is crazy…"
Luffy put one foot forward and snorted. "SEN! While your monster form is damn cool, you still hurt my first mate! And I cannot forgive that!"
"You idiot! I already told you she didn't-"
"Sen-samaaa! I come bearing…a peace… offer…ing…." Sanji was stopped in his tracks and stared at the tall, dark, and alluring creature that remotely looked like the commanding goddess he had met that morning. "Yaaaasha…"
"She's a kouryuu. She ate the Ryuu Ryuu Fruit and it amplified her powers as a Siren." Zoro remembered the look of the Sennenryuu of Warship Island and how Sen's eyes and mane were dragon like, and her voice was shrill.
Illian groaned. "Damned pirates… stop gawking and stop her…"
"SHUT UP, ILLIAN! AND I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO TAKE YOUR NAKAMA AND BEAT IT! WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE!" She forced them back towards the stairs with a few lightning bolts and formed a single point over her heart with her claws. 'No more…'
"NO!" Luffy reached out to her with both hands, but as he touched her, it forced the blades across her scales.
"Imouto…" Illian put his head down in defeat and fainted.
Sen's head dropped back and she sighed deeply. The storm raged on, and after a minute, she giggled to herself and slumped over in Luffy's arms. She slapped her forehead with her claws, and again, they harmlessly bounced off her scales with a grating scraping sound.
"…My hide's too thick. Captain Luffy, be kind and strangle me or something. Snap my neck. Hang me. Anything."
"No." Luffy didn't let go of her arms and instead tightened his grip to keep her arms folded across her chest.
"Captain, I'm not feeling well right now, and I go on these rampages where I kill anyone within range. Do everyone a favor, including me, and just end it all. I don't want to be a monster anymore. I don't want to hurt my people anymore. I don't want to be tortured by Vandis anymore…" She reached her claws up to Luffy's arms and left several rows of painful, paper thin cuts up and down his arm.
"Someone call me?" Vandis stood at the edge of the balcony behind Sen. His bottom half was misted over and crawling up the side of the building.
"…Vandis…?" She had never seen Vandis' true form before, and to learn that he was as much a monster as she… "You damned hypocrite…"
"Shut the hell up, Sen."He spat."You did this to me. I ended up like this after your first attack. Except mine wasn't an accident. You have truly discovered the way to infinite power, though my Kumo Kumo Fruit is stronger than your dragon powers. I see you took care of your brother. Which is just as well, since I took care of his family. Once you're gone, I'll take the House of Lallan and soon, the rest of the city, for myself."
"You what?" Sen's hangover interfered with her thoughts.
"Not only are you worthless, a murderer, a demon, and gullible, you're a complete loony and a waste of our power. I will destroy your family, reign over your house, take over this place, and then destroy it. Illian's family was the major stepping stone. Strangely, the unstable weakness you had was also in your nieces. It makes sense that you were so close to them. Your weak brother would've been proud since he seems to see so much potential for you and them."
"My family… the island… You're the one disrupting the balance!"
'And I thought I was having a crappy week.' "Hey Luffy, turn her loose. We have the wrong monster." Sanji threw the necklace away and down the stairs.
"Don't you DARE defy me, lowlife trash. Or you'll wish you'd killed her when you had the chance." Vandis' robes changed into fog and circled around Sen.
"Anyone have a shitload of fire to burn this guy off?" Zoro put his hand on Ghost the Third, but Sen stopped him.
"The second you bring out that METAL sword, in a THUNDERSTORM, it's gonna be the World's Crispiest Swordsman, so don't even think about it! You can't hurt him anyway."
Vandis growled at Zoro and Sanji. "I hope you weren't getting too close to her. All you had to do was give her the necklace and she would have been mine!"
"Wait, what?" Sen looked back and forth between Sanji, Zoro, and Vandis.
"Muuuu Ehhhrrrr Zoukouu Paaahhhrrr…." Vandis' oily voice came out in an odd hypnotic chant followed by a soft hum.
"No no no…. NO NOOO, VANDIS, YOU CHEAP F-aaaaAAAKK!" Luffy's grip tightened to the point of crushing her ribs. "Fight it, you idiots…."
The guys' eyes all had a glossed over look and sadistic grins that matched the one on Vandis' face. Sanji sprinted over and delivered an épaule kick to her healing shoulder. Vandis did not see his mistake in making Sanji hurt her, as Sen's screeching was loud enough to affect everything within range, including Vandis, the storm, and the rest of the crew three floors below. Chopper leaped up in the air and ran around clutching his sensitive ears and crying, and Nami's senses went into overload and gave her a crippling headache. The storm outside went from a clutch of disorganized rain and lightning into a swirling pattern centered directly over the lighthouse. It reflected Sen's pain and started to attack the lighthouse, chipping marble, smashing windows, and crawling through anything that could conduct it.
"WHOOOO!" Usopp picked up Chopper and pulled Nami out of the room and down the stairs as the tower lamps shorted out and exploded around them, and the fire pit at the center of the room blasted flames clear up to the ceiling, setting the room on fire. As they reached the bottom floor, Usopp ran straight into chunk of the building just as it fell. They were forced to go back upstairs.
Back on the top floor, the lightning couldn't travel along the marble structure, but Vandis was injured because of the ferocity and frequency of the lightning strikes. The distraction was enough to stun Vandis and release his hold on Luffy's crew. Sen wanted to tell them to run for it, but nothing came out but a strange hissing noise.
"What the hell just happened!" Sanji noticed he was across the room and beside Sen, who was making pained faces and thrashing around in Luffy's grip.
"Ssssaahh..." Sen had a tight grip on Luffy's arms and was doing everything short of cutting his arms off to get away.
"LUFFY! DROP HER!" Sanji pulled at Luffy's tangled arms.
"Huh!" He finally got into focus and saw Sen being crushed. "WHAT HAPPENED!"
'You incompetent twits!' Sen brought her tail up and jammed the tail spade into Luffy's hand.
"YEAAOWWWW!" Luffy unraveled his hands and shook it.
'FINALLY!' She scampered away and ran towards Vandis.
"Screw the lightning, there's got to be a way to get rid of that Vandis guy." Zoro bolted across the room and reached for his throat. His hand passed through Vandis in a puff of thick fog.
"The hell you're getting out of this one easily! None of you or your lowly friends can stop the gods! Muuuu Ehhhrrrr Zoukouu Paaahhhrrr!"
'I have to find some way to shut him up…' Sen's freedom and experience towards Luffy's and Sanji's attacks pushed her to move faster. First to get out of the way was Luffy, because if he trapped her again, she was done for. Then she realized that a few moments ago she'd been trying to kill herself, and now she was about to take on three super fighters and a her worst nightmare at once instead of just letting them tear her apart. 'I'm not gonna die like this. Not with him torturing me and abusing innocent people. Not like some pathetic animal in a trap. Not like a monster. I want him dead. For what he did to my family. To our House. To our people…'