"Marco and Shanks know about it," Zoro said quietly at lunch. "They're on edge. I've seen more heroes at the gates this morning." Luffy and Sanji nodded, both of them having noticed. Luffy could tell Law was listening in, but they weren't saying anything damning. And he wasn't bothered by it. It wasn't anything personal. Plus, he couldn't see what Luffy was signing.
Kid seemed to hate Law now, as well. Law finally walked over and sat down with a sigh. What's wrong? "Is something big going on?"
Yeah, but my dad said we can't talk about it. Law didn't push anymore, but did ask if he should be worried. Yes. The taller teen looked surprised at this. It's bad. Zoro said he shouldn't be worrying others, but said it quietly. I trust Law to not say anything to anybody else. "I guess…" Then Zoro said, "Well, it won't affect us. You don't have to worry that much. Just be ready for some startling news."
"Right…" Law said. Luffy wondered if he thought Luffy would lie or downplay it. But it was absolutely serious. And he liked Law. He was a different kind of friend. Not happy or anything, but they did know how one another felt, to some degree, which was nice. Luffy had never had anybody like that before.
After lunch, they all got into their gym clothes and went back to the bus waiting for them for the second day of USJ training. Luffy wondered what they'd be doing, a feeling mirrored in the others. Law sat next to Luffy on the bus that day, but eventually fell asleep, his head bumping the window as it rested against it. Zoro was also sleeping in front of him.
Luffy looked around, to see Shanks not facing his way, and teleported home and got a double espresso Starbucks drink. He popped back with Shanks not noticing, and woke Law up. He had circles under his eyes. Luffy handed him the strong drink, and Law thanked him with an almost perfectly hidden smile, and downed the entire thing in one gulp.
He seemed more awake when they got off of the bus. Luffy wasn't surprised to see there were two other Whitebeard's there, standing with Marco. Pedro also had somebody else with him, a woman with bunny ears. The class mumbled questions about the added security. Law didn't seem surprised, and Zoro and Sanji had dark looks on. This was serious enough to have added protection at school.
"What's with the added heroes?" Franky asked.
"To help us out with the practice. This will be training to escape villains in troublesome environments." Wow. Luffy was impressed with their plan while also keeping the real reason a secret. Luffy balled his fists in worry, that something actually would go wrong. Zoro nudged Luffy and said, "Nothing will happen. We're surrounded by heroes."
He nodded, though he still was uneasy. There were groups made, and Luffy, Law and his two best friends were one of them, and each group was assigned a hero that would turn out to be the villain. The students had to escape them, and would lose if they were touched by them. Whoever got paired with Marco was screwed. Luckily, it wasn't them. They were assigned Shanks, who looked dangerous. He was grinning in a different way than usual. He would not go easy on them.
Luffy thought it was strange he kept getting paired with Law. But then again, the three weren't paired for a reason, tickets were drawn. So, it was only a coincidence that Law was with them again. He seemed fine with this.
The four of them and Shanks went to the water setting. Shanks' power was pretty worrisome. He could freeze anybody where they stood, them being unable to move as long as he wanted them to. He used to be a pro hero, up there with the higher ups before he decided he wanted to retire young and work with helping shape kids into good heroes.
Luffy liked that. He felt he shared a desire with him. To help kids before something bad changed them. Luffy was just more focused on the little ones. They got onto the ship, and Shanks was at the shore. They were supposed to not get seen by him or they'd be out of action. So they were sneaking.
The four quietly dropped into the water, deep, and Zoro let out a large slash in Shanks' direction, the man ducking. Luffy appeared behind him and kicked his side hard before he was able to turn around. Shanks laughed happily at this, and jumped into the water, too.
The four were freaking out and swimming away and around the ship to not be in his line of sight before they looked down and saw something below them. It was some reflective surface. The four got back on the ship with Law's power, and looked below to see a bunch of people appear below. Shanks froze some of them and got onto the ship.
"Villain attack!" the loudspeaker shouted, echoing in the huge space. Screams of fear were made, echoing around as well. Luffy looked in the other direction, seeing dozens of differently shaped mirrors, which were portals as well. Before he could think anymore, or the other three could see what it was, something from below, one of the villains, shot some sort of shock into the ship, throwing them all high in the air in different directions.
Luffy screamed in shock, and was promptly forced into a flashback, flying limply somewhere else.
-x-
Luffy's expression was blank, but tears fell from his eyes. Zoro and Sanji were out of sight. "Luffy!" Law's voice called, but of course it didn't reach Luffy. A room was made around him and he was grabbed by Law, and started thrashing around, seeing somebody grabbing him, manhandling him into the rope soon tied to the ceiling.
"Room!" Law called, and they were hiding behind the fire arena. Luffy was sobbing, lost in his nightmare. But he was silent, and his thrashing stopped as he rocked back and forth. "You're not there, you're not there, Luffy. They won't ever hurt you again, you're okay." Of course, they weren't okay, but calming Luffy down was what needed to be done now.
Law took his hat off and put it in Luffy's hands, which gripped it tightly automatically. He screamed and thrashed in the hold before he was hit in the side with a spiked club. Screaming in pain as his various other cuts bled, dripping onto the floor, sliding down his clothes and legs. He swung back and forth like a pinata as he was abused. But that was only the beginn-
"You're not there, you're not with them anymore. They won't hurt you. You're okay, you're with Law, not with the bad people," a voice echoed in his head, drowning out his screams and begging, high pitched voice of a child.
He was abruptly back at USJ, but there were screams and explosions around. But he wasn't hanging from a rafter. Law was there, looking concerned, and Luffy was clutching his hat to his chest. His face turned red in shame, lower lip wobbling, sniffling uncontrollably. Law put his hat on Luffy's head.
"I won't tell anybody. We have to get out of here, okay?" Luffy nodded, and was shocked when Law hugged him, rubbing his back. "You're not there, you can fight back here." He nodded again, but hadn't returned the hug. Law took his hand and helped him up. They saw just how many villains there were.
Many of them were quite recognizable. Arlong's group were in the water area, but Luffy didn't see Zoro or Sanji there. They would be fine. Luffy knew that. But he was also scared. Confident, but scared at the same time. He couldn't help it, they were so important to him.
"I saw Zoro and Sanji helping the others by the landslide. They landed okay." They peeked around the corner, and saw battling, along with all sorts of screaming and laughter from the villains. The mirrors were gone, no more were coming. They could see the pro heroes fighting against the villains and trying to get the children out.
Should we help the others? Law looked unsure. We should help them if we can. I'm good at fighting.
"Okay," Law said quietly. He looked back and the two of them ran around the debris that blocked them from being seen. They came across the first group, but Luffy didn't recognize any of them. They weren't bigwigs, it seemed. But they were still attacking some of the girls. Robin had taken care of many of them, but her hands were full, literally, since there were so many.
Luffy ran forward, Law protesting, and jumped wrapping his legs around the neck of one of the villains, yanking him back and slamming him headfirst into the rock, jumping to the next one, targeting the bigger ones, letting Robin and now Law take care of the others. He jumped from person to person, and didn't let a single villain hit or cut him.
He was way too fast for them, too small, too good at dodging. Soon the area was full of unconscious villains. He was panting a bit, and his classmates around looked at him in shock. That's right, nobody had seen him actually fight. Only his flipping. Seeing someone who looks like him take down seven of the biggest villains must have been a shock.
"C'mon, let's get out of here," Law said quietly. They all ran towards the wall of the compound, and Law used his room to get the girls to safety, but the two of them went to the next group. They found Zoro and Sanji there, too, surrounded by beaten and slashed villains. Zoro had an unconscious Hiyori slung over his shoulder while Sanji carried Nami in his arms. Both were injured and unconscious.
Vivi was seen pretty much sanding down villains with her sand power, cutting them like sandpaper would do to human skin. Luffy waved his arms, and she threw the sand into the villains' eyes and ran with them. Law did the same with them, but left Zoro and Sanji inside.
"Are you okay?" Zoro asked Luffy, looking worried. He probably noticed Luffy still wearing Law's hat. Luffy nodded, signed that he was okay and wouldn't let any villains touch him. "Okay. I think we can leave the guys to themselves. Same with Hancock, she's the strongest of the girls besides Robin."
Luffy nodded, but said Robin had gone out. "Less people inside, then," Sanji said. They saw the guys fighting easily, Kid and Killer going all out while Kid grinned widely. He was clearly enjoying himself, so they didn't feel the need to help them out. They could see the Whitebeards, Shanks, Pedro and Carrot fighting as well. But they were unable to target all of them, leaving many villains to attack the students.
Was that their plan? They were going more after the kids than the adults. Luffy swallowed deeply, nervously. Law patted his head reassuringly. It was nothing but putting his hand on his head, but Luffy took a deep breath and nodded. They had to make a run for it to the wall for Law to get them all out with the others who had escaped.
The ground was littered with injured, dead or unconscious villains. The whole Arlong group that appeared in the water were out cold. Besides Arlong, who was fighting against Shanks even though the teacher and former hero was beating him senseless. But Arlong continued, even though he was missing an arm, his long nose was broken, and his ankle was twisted.
Luffy barely saw the final hit, Arlong falling back into the water, unconscious as well, and leaving blood in the water. They finally got to the wall, Luffy's distraction gone, and he teleported himself out while Law got himself and the other two.
They all panted, and then found the girls running from the building. The four followed. They would just be distractions to the pro heroes already having a hard time. "Somebody needs to be called for help," Sanji said. They all looked at the bus, knowing it had a radio on it. The four ran there. Luffy couldn't do the call since he was mute.
When they got there, and got into the bus, Law taking the receiver, somebody got behind them in the bus, opening a door in the air that was not like the mirrors. Where were they coming from?! There were so many! And none of them seemed to be the biggest groups. No Big Moms or Kaido's men.
Arlong was strong, and here was a member of CP9, but it was lucky the scariest ones were gone. They were somewhere else or thought they weren't needed to deal with a bunch of kids. "I can't let you do that."
"Fuck off," Zoro snarled. He turned on the radio but then the villain, the CP9 member, kicked his leg and sent out a slash that looked like Zoro's. Luffy acted first, wanting to throw himself in front of it, but his hand barely touched it and disappeared, only to reappear behind the villain, slicing across his lower back and throwing blood everywhere, all over the nearby seats and windows.
They were all silent besides Zoro shaking off the shock and calling for help. Nobody answered. "Hello?! We need help, villains are at USJ!" he shouted. Luffy watched the villain as he had a panicked look on his face. He seemed to be unable to get up. The slash may have hit him in just the right place to paralyze his legs.
Law grabbed Luffy's arm and pulled him closer when the CP9 guy created a door underneath him and disappeared, leaving the blood splatters everywhere.
Then the radio gave out a reply. "We'll come as soon as possible! It might take a while!"
"WHAT?! Why?!" Sanji roared into the microphone.
"Other schools have been attacked and we're spread too thin! Hide or run as best as you can!" The four looked at each other in shock, but then got out of the bus and ran as fast as they could into the surrounding woods before stopping. Luffy was the only one not out of breath.
Law asked, "Does this have anything to do with what you were all worried about?" Sanji nodded and Zoro explained the situation.
Why would they attack schools, though? We're not exactly big threats. And I thought they were going after Whitebeard, Luffy signed, jumping and sitting on a branch, looking the way they'd come from. "Maybe that was all a distraction. But if they did attack multiple schools at once, then that was a good plan. As the hero said, they're spread thin. How many hero schools are there in Japan?" Sanji asked.
"Six, including UA. Do you think they went after the second and third years, too? What were they doing today? Were they on campus?" Law asked. Luffy handed him his hat back, and he put it on and relaxed visibly with it. It must mean a lot to him. Sanji and Zoro said they didn't know. "We should have taken the radio with us."
"It was attached to the bus. I could have sliced it out, but I didn't think of it at the time," Zoro said. He looked at Luffy with a pained expression. "I'm sorry you had to protect me. You could have been seriously hurt." I wasn't. "Still…" At least it seems like I improved.
Law quietly said, "Me too. I've never used my power so many times." Sanji and Zoro said they hadn't seemed to improve in the moment. Then there was panting heard, and someone came stumbling into their area. It was Ichiji, and he was bloody and his clothes were ripped. He collapsed onto the grass.
The four didn't check if he was alright. Eventually Niji came, him hurt as well. Compared to them, the four friends were unscathed. Luffy was the least hurt, used to dodging more than fighting. Niji went to his brother and tried to wake him up. "Heroes won't be getting here soon," Sanji said. Niji asked what he meant. "The villain alliance attacked other hero schools as well. They're spread thin."
Niji hissed a swear word, and said nothing more to them. The four eventually left the area and went to the treeline, hiding behind them and looking towards USJ. It was on fire, multiple parts of the walls blasted apart. Luffy pressed his lips together and Sanji gasped at the state of it. "What's going to happen next?" he asked quietly.
The other two didn't answer, and Luffy signed nothing. When the noises stopped once the whole building collapsed, they were all looking worried, terrified. But, they saw figures come out. Luffy let out a sigh of relief and wiped his eyes when he saw it was the heroes and teachers. Then a large van drove up as fast as possible and SWAT team people ran out, some pro heroes coming out as well. Including Oden. One of the top heroes. But it made sense since he was Hiyori's father. Roger didn't come, but Luffy wasn't upset about that. He was safe, unhurt. Marco went searching for the kids, the villains all being detained. Those still alive, since it didn't take long before more busses came. Prison busses.
The four walked out of the treeline, and the class slowly gathered. Most of them were at least dirty, if they weren't injured. "We're going back to the school immediately," Marco said. He sounded tired, more than usual. "Everyone is accounted for. Good." Nami asked the question the four had wondered.
"What happened to the other hero courses? Was it only us?" she asked, writing her hands. Marco seemed to think about what to say next before he settled on the truth.
"Every hero course class was attacked by members of the Villain Alliance. There were no leaders present, only the smaller villains or groups. We don't know why. The schools will be in contact and making plans on how to make going to school safe."
Yonji scoffed. "We're supposed to go back to school after this mess? We had multiple people, yet this happened!" Zoro snapped at him not to pin the blame on them. There was no way they could have instantly handled so many villains. Yonji glared at him, but the rest of the class seemed to agree with Zoro.
Kiku and Ichiji had been taken to an ambulance. "If the school board thinks that going to school like normal is unsafe, then the school year will be halted. But that's the last thing we want to do." He sighed. "Let's go back. We'll have Whitey Bay heal those of you with minor injuries. Kiku and Ichiji should be fine with her care."
They nodded and slowly walked to a waiting bus that didn't have blood splatters on the inside. Luffy tugged on Law's wrist. I'm sorry I was a burden. Thank you for helping me.
"You're welcome. I didn't see you as a burden. You were a friend who needed help, just in a way different than the others," he said quietly. Luffy nodded, smiling inside. Law was a good guy. Maybe they could be good friends.
