A.N. Well, it's been a pretty good run for me so far, I just want to thank all my fans (both of you) for all the feedback, and especially Charlett who volunteered to become my Beta-reader.

Ch 16

The Final Blow

The music had stopped, and just when Luffy was conscious enough to enjoy it. Wait… there was something important missing… if only he could think straight… HAT! Where did hat go? Casting about frantically, Luffy couldn't find it anywhere. With all his pain forgotten he bounced to his feet and cracked the door, looking in.

"HAT!" came the bone-jarring screech, shattering Saros' concentration. How was he supposed to be able to choke the life out of this fool with interruptions like this? …Wait just a minute…

As heavy as Saros was, thanks to the stolen powers he was using, he still found himself flying towards a wall, propelled by Luffy's insane strength, and found himself wondering once again just how a boy could be so damnably strong.

"Oi, Kaicen, you ok?" Luffy asked, taking his hat off of the older man, and fanning him with it. When there was no response he turned towards Saros, an incensed gleam in his eye. "What did you do to him?"

"I strangled him." Saros said as he rose, much like a cockroach. It didn't matter to him how many times he was thrown around, or smashed, he would always rise to victory. "Did you enjoy his death concert, captain? It's the beginning of the end for your way of life."

"Lu... Luffy..." Kaicen croaked, almost too low to hear. "...Crystal... break..."

"Break the crystal?" Luffy asked in puzzlement, looking up at the now glowing gem. "Why?" But his question went unanswered. Kaicen lay at his feet, eyes closed, and chest still. "Oh…"

"Not bad." Mowry commented with pleasure as Zoro parried yet another blow of his mighty axes. "Not one man in a thousand could block my swing the way you do."

They each fought like demons, neither asking nor giving quarter, but then Mowry faltered for an instant. In a flash, and a splash of crimson it was over, and Zoro stood above his fallen foe. He had won, as he had sworn to that day on the Barate. His fight was over so quickly that he was sure he had beaten that dammed ero-cook.

"Oi, Marimo-chan!" Sanji mocked as he strolled over, lighting a cigarette. "what kept you? I've been done with my fight for ages!"

"Actually Cook-san, we all finished our battles at almost exactly the same time." Robin said, correcting Sanji as she joined the two men.

In the distance Usopp secretly smiled to himself, and stowed his slingshot into his all-purpose bag that was now three lead stars lighter than it should be. His crewmates didn't need to know anything about his involvement in their battles. It would be his little secret.

Careful not to loose their footing, Chopper Nami, and Usopp descended from their more protected location, stepping over the bodies of the marines that the girl and the Reindeer had defeated. Those that Usopp had hewn down lay much farther away.

"So, where to now?" He asked Robin."

"Enough games Mugiwara." Saros said. He was confident. He ached in places he didn't even know he had, and he was bleeding, but he knew that he couldn't loose in one on one combat.

"…"

"Any last words?" he asked his opponent mockingly.

Luffy merely stood there, looking down at Kaicen. Softly he asked, "Why?"

"Why?" Jeered Saros, amused. "Because I could." Snickering, he reached to grab a pair of essences. Before he could choose the perfect combination of powers Luffy's arm shot out and ripped the bag away from him, but he did manage to grasp one.

"That's enough!" Luffy bellowed, smashing the bag into the wall. The sound of so many difficult years of collecting devil fruit powers shattering into countless flecks of powder had Saros seeing red. With a bestial roar he charged the young captain, swallowing his last essence.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy called, launching his fist at his enemy. Saros deftly caught the hand at the wrist, and sank a great deal of spikes into the rubbery flesh.

"Bad move!" Saros grinned. Thanks to the power of the Toge Toge no Mi there was no way he would loose to this child. Just to make the victory even more certain in his favor, he once again robbed Luffy of his rubber powers.

Quickly shrinking back to his original shape Luffy rocketed towards Saros, preparing another monstrous punch. The sickening wrench of inversion was unimportant. The fact that Saros grew so many needle sharp spikes that he looked like a human pincushion was unimportant. All that was important was that Luffy was going to stop Saros. With wide eyes, Saros noticed the human projectile coming at him wasn't cringing in anticipation as he should have been. "…Oh my…"

A moment of intense violence and a bright bloom of searing pain later Saros was flying backward at a high rate of speed and Luffy had his rubbery arms clenched in a death grip. Hauling back on Saros' arms, Luffy sent him soaring back the other direction.

Luffy was an expert when it came to flinging a rubber man around; he already had a decade's worth of practice at it. Saros however, was not, and thusly had little choice, or even knowledge of where he was going to land.

Kaicen had said to break the crystal, but without his Gomu powers Luffy couldn't reach it. But hey, didn't he have a handy projectile in his grasp? Smiling like a fiend, Luffy spun in a circle faster and faster until he was whirling like some sort of devil-possessed top. Taking aim, he let Saros fly.

"Gomu Gomu no Wrecking Ball!"

Launched with all the force of a missile, Saros plowed through the resonating crystal Like Luffy through meat. As he connected the glowing crystal shattered into countless shards and rained down upon the ground in a glittering shower. Striking the far wall, Saros fell to the floor as if he were made of stone.

Bereft of the harmonic focusing crystal the chamber began to come undone. The multitude of pipes began to rattle and shake loose from their settings, steam issuing forth from the cracks in the tubing. Tired as he was, Luffy knew that he couldn't stay here, and he knew that he just couldn't leave Kaicen's body to be crushed. "What a waste…" He mourned, as his gaze rested upon Kaicen's still form. "You would have been a great nakama." Gathering the other man up easily, Luffy headed for the door. With one last glance at Saros lying motionless on the floor, Luffy smiled. Good, stay down! Shutting the door behind him, Luffy made his way down the shaking tunnel, Kaicen flung over his shoulder.

"Luffy!" Usopp exclaimed with joy as the Mugiwaras Looked down through the trapdoor at their captain. "What happened down there?" After the fight with the marines the entire island had began to shake violently, and then just as suddenly as it had started it stopped. "Oi, Who's that?"

"This was the boy from the Ossan's story." Luffy said sadly as lay the body on the ground.

"This was the ghost of Solstin." Robin added, her face unreadable. "This was Kaicen Aliotto."

The mood was understandably melancholy as the pirates began to make their way to the Merry Go. One by one they left from the Aliotto dwelling after they had placed Kaicen within. Finally only Chopper and Robin remained.

"Oi, Robin?" The little reindeer asked curiously.

"Yes, Doctor-san?"

"Did you love him?"

A long moment passed before she spoke. "…No doctor-san. I did not love him, though I suppose it would have been easy to."

"Oh. I see…"

With one last wistful look at Kaicen's body Robin left the house, never to return.

All alone Chopper walked over to the corpse, and simply stared at it for a long moment. "I didn't even know you… but, thank you for what you did." With a feeling of sadness he placed a hoof on Kaicen's chest. "It's not fair!" he protested. "You did all that, and now…" Chopper had never liked death, ever since he had lost his first friend, Doctor Hiruluk. Perhaps that was why he had become a doctor. With tears streaming from his eyes he spent a moment of silence resting his head upon this stranger's chest, and received one of the greatest shocks of his young life.

A.N. Holy crap! did I just kill my little Mary sue? No, I couldn't have, could I? I'm so confused... Just one more chapter people. Read and review, if you would.