The Rubber Tiger

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of the Servant Who Will Rule the Seas! We got a slightly shorter but still action packed chapter this time around so I think you'll all enjoy it. And as announced before, I believe redfang19 is still looking for collaborators for a One Piece x Yu-Gi-Oh GX crossover so send him a message if you feel like writing such a story. And since I'm advertising don't forget to check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! Now then I've talked enough, or have I since the chapter is a little shorter, and with no review questions to answer this week, let's dive on in!

The Island of Foodvalten

The sea around Foodvalten could be described as relatively calm by anyone passing by from a distance. Though the sound of cannon fire and shouting made the scene anything but serene. "Franky!" Called Nami from the lower deck, "get us on land already, we have to help Luffy!"

"Pretty sure that ain't happenin' until we deal with that Hawkins guy," the Cyborg called back while frantically turning the captain's wheel one way then another.

"Can't we just blast him with the main cannon?!" Sanji yelled as he kicked a few more cannonballs away. He, along with Zoro and a few other crew members had been keeping up this exercise for the last few minutes thanks to the Grudge Dolph's surprisingly accurate gunners.

"We could if they didn't keep weavin' in and out of those rocks," replied Franky, "and there are people on this island too! If we miss our shot we could wipe out a whole town!"

"Figures they'd use a cheap trick like that," said Zoro while slicing through more attacks, "guess we'll do this the hard way." The Swordsman then leapt upwards and landed on the mast before sheathing all of his swords while leaving his hand on one, readying it for a longer ranged technique. "One sword style!" A powerful blast of wind seemed to erupt from his sheath and fly towards the enemy's ship as he drew his sword.

The Grudge Dolph, somehow anticipating such an attack, had already moved to hide behind a large stone pillar as the slash impacted against it and seemed to dissipate. But the feeling of safely getting away didn't last long for the voodoo-themed ship as the top half of the pillar suddenly slid off at the point of contact with the slash, crashing thunderously into the water below. Even more satisfying, for the Straw Hat Pirates that is, was the sight of the Grudge Dolph's sail falling to pieces, leaving only its backup. "You got 'em Zoro," announced Usopp from the Crow's Nest, "those guys are headed for the shallows now!"

"Not bad," said Sanji, "but haven't you cut whole ships in half before? Why are those guys still floating?"

"They got behind that damn rock before I could aim properly," Zoro called down, "what's your excuse you second rate chef?! I didn't see you coming up with anything!"

"Now's not the time you morons!" Nami said Irritably before turning back to Franky, "just drop some of us off on the beach then get the ship somewhere safe! We need to make sure they haven't got any other ships lurking around!"

"Way ahead of ya," announced Franky as he turned the ship parallel with the shore of Foodvalten. Sanji, Nami, Zoro, Chopper, Robin and Brook all leapt down from the ship which then quickly pulled away from the crude dock and back into more open water. Naturally Franky remained to steer the ship while Usopp insisted that it was more important that he help Franky by manning the guns instead of going up against, in his words, a bunch of voodoo magic weirdos.

"So does anyone actually know where Luffy's at right now?" Asked Brook as they moved up the beach, "won't lie, I lost track of him the moment all the shooting started."

"He's still in about the same place we saw him launch off too," replied Nico Robin, "though we should be more concerned with the other crew of pirates coming at us right now." And said crew was just as odd a sight as their ship with the majority of them wearing similar cloaks to their leader, Basil Hawkins, who was leading the charge while also drawing tarot cards from his deck. His position as captain was made obvious by the way he led from the front, and by how he was a bit more extravagantly dressed in his long-sleeved white shirt and purple pants.

"The outcome still seems favorable for the time being," said the Voodoo Pirate as he pocketed his cards and drew his straight sword, "so we fight with everything we have unless the fates say otherwise!" The Hawkins Pirates responded to that with a cheer as they leapt into the fray, quickly finding matches among the Straw Hat Pirates to square off against. Sanji found himself faced with an angry man that had a split ponytail, trading powerful physical blows with him in a bout that quickly moved from one side of the beach to another. Robin found herself faced with a blond man who kept his hood down as he zipped across the battlefield, moving too quickly for her to cast her Hana Hana fruit powers directly on him.

But that didn't mean she was beaten as numerous arms sprouted up from the ground, nearly tripping up the Hawkin's Pirate and keeping him at bay as he was forced to move continuously in order to not get caught. Brook wound up dueling the member wearing a tiki mask quickly coming to a standstill against him as their weapons clashed, leaving Chopper to take on a member of the cat mink tribe as Nami was forced to take on a man wearing what appeared to be a small crown on his head and an equally irritable expression to his other companion. This meant it was Zoro who got the honor of taking on the captain himself, Basil Hawkins. "So are you supposed to be a swordsman or a card shark," taunted the green-haired pirate as his twin blades collided with Hawkins Warabide Sword.

"I am one who reads the direction of fate through cards," replied the Blond Pirate calmly as he rapidly deflected another few blows, "as for my blade, it is merely an extension of my own power, observe." He demonstrated this as they broke their weapons lock and swung his sword again despite the distance between him and his opponent. The reason became clear quite quickly as the blade turned into a tendril of straw and struck at the swordsman like a snake. Zoro attempted to cut it in half but the straw stopped just short of his sword before rushing again.

It was only thanks to the Straw Hat Pirate's quick reflexes that he was able to evade the blade going for his face before twisting out of the way of a follow-up attack. "Guess I can't complain about this fight not being interesting," admitted Zoro while readying his blades in another stance. Their clash, along with the others would quickly turn the whole beach into a practical warzone but even it would pale in comparison to the battle being waged between the Straw Hat Captain and the Titanic Captain on another section of the island.

"Wow I really must've hit a nerve with this one," taunted Burgess as he blocked another punch from Luffy with his forearm, the clashing sound of two armament hakis impacting ringing throughout the area, "did you happen to know the princess before all of this?"

"I know enough about her," Luffy shot back as he threw another few fast punches. He'd already moved into using Second Gear, wanting to end the fight relatively quickly if he could. But Burgess had obviously caught onto his impatience and his own surprising speed and use of armament Haki had allowed him to keep up with the Straw Hat Captain so far. "I know she doesn't deserve to be terrorized by the likes of you!"

"And you call yourself a pirate," retorted Burgess as he came back with a punch which Luffy blocked by crossing both arms, though it still sent him skidding back several feet, "if you'd wanted the Princess so bad before you should've just taken her!" He leapt up then as energy in his elbow caused his arm to vibrate, "that's what a real pirate would do, HADO ELBOW!" The giant of a man brought his attack towards the Straw Hat Captain who used every last bit of his speed to dodge out of the way.

But even with the attack missing, the resulting shockwave blasted the ground apart in a full circle around the pirate, sending Luffy flying in the air. But the Rubber Pirate thought quickly and extended his arm out while still airborne to a part of the ground which managed to remain stable, digging his hand into the soil. He also enlarged the size of his other hand while covering it in haki, anticipating the follow up attack as Burgess came flying out of the debris cloud he'd created. "Gum Gum: Elephant Gun!"

"Galleon Lariat!" Exclaimed Burgess as he covered his right arm in armament Haki and leapt up towards his opponent. As Luffy brought his oversized fist around, the two attacks collided with each other, causing more shockwaves which shook the air and land around them. "Not bad, now try this!" The Wrestler leapt back up as soon as he touched the ground with Haki now covering his left leg. "Hado Knee!"

He timed his attack just as Luffy was landing back on the ground. Even with time to raise his arms up, he wasn't able to generate enough armament Haki to stop the blow and was sent flying from the powerful attack to his face. But being the ever-resilient person he was, Luffy shot his arm out and seized a large tree nearby which he used to swing himself back around while also readying his other fist. He quickly twisted the limb while also covering it with Haki before striking. "Try this, Gum Gum Jet Rifle!"

The blow struck quickly and being a smaller fist was harder for the Wrestler to spot as it impacted against his stomach. But the downside of a smaller fist also meant a smaller impact as the Titanic Captain dug his feet in and was only sent sliding a small distance. "Not bad, maybe you've picked up a thing or two since we last squared off, wiiihahahahaha!"

"You mean like this," said Luffy as he sent both of his hands really far behind him while still covered in Haki, "Gum Gum Twin Jet Pistol!"

"Hah, Twin Hado Elbow!" Countered Burgess as he slammed his Haki covered elbows down to intercept Luffy's fists, pinning them to the ground. Unfortunately, this meant the Straw Hat Captain was forcibly reeled in thanks to his rubbery physiology and though he tried to correct himself in order to deliver another strike, the Wrestler anticipated this and moved forward, grabbing the smaller fighter in a powerful hold. "Oh look, that Second Gear trick you seemed to be relying on has worn off too, not that it can help you now." He was referring to the fact that Luffy's body was no longer steaming like it'd usually be in his Second Gear state, a result of it having to be shut off before doing any sort of damage to the rubber man's body.

"You think that's the only trick I've got up my sleeve," said Luffy as he struggled violently against the Titanic Captain's grip.

"Even if it isn't, let's see if you've got a trick for surviving this!" Burgess challenged, using his powerful legs to leap an incredible distance in the air, high enough that he could see several other parts of the island. Not that taking in the sights would do much good, for the moment he reached the apex of his jump, the Wrestler began spinning in midair, faster and faster as the built-up momentum carried them ever more quickly back to the ground. "I never got a chance to use this on you in the coliseum so you get to feel it now, Champion Driver!"

The move ended with Burgess piledriving the Straw Hat Captain into the ground, the resulting impact hitting possibly harder than their lethal clash earlier as another large crater was formed in the ground. Yet even among all the noise, Luffy was positive he could still hear the voice of Komane, desperately calling his name. And the strike didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the island either as the battle on the beach almost paused for a second as both crews looked onward. "So it seems the fates have shifted yet again," observed Hawkins as he warded off Zoro's latest attack with his straw sword while drawing a tarot card, "the odds are looking a little more grim now for you and your crew."

"Yeah like I'm gonna take the word of a guy who bets everything on card games seriously," said Zoro as he raced forward, "try this for grim!" He slashes through the blond man with a downward slash of all three swords then, "Ultra Tiger Hunt!" Basil Hawkins staggers a bit, almost collapsing to his knees at first before turning to face the green-haired swordsman.

"Impressive," said Hawkins, his face just as impassive as ever, "I hadn't anticipated you'd be able to attack in such a way with those three blades." Zoro's eyes widened upon noting that his opponent was unharmed despite definitely taking a hit and the only result of his attack seemed to be the random appearance of a voodoo doll at the man's feet. "Though again I must state that your fortunes are looking grim." And he wasn't just referring to Zoro's lack of progress against him.

Looking around, the Swordsman noted that Sanji was still fighting his opponent to a standstill, his kicks hardly landing at all against his powerfully built opponent who continued to block or dodge around them. Brook was already on the run, freaked out by the seeming ghostly powers of his tiki mask wearing enemy which undoubtedly reminded him of his time at Thriller Bark. Robin's focus was starting to slip as her efforts to catch her opponent continued to fail, leaving potential openings that the Hooded Pirate was starting to exploit. Lastly, Chopper and Nami were both on the run from their opponents now with the Navigator having hopped on the Reindeer Doctor's larger running form in order to keep from being caught. "And I imagine your captain isn't faring much better, given his opponent is part of a Yonko's crew."

"Hmph," was Zoro's response to that as he pulled his signature green bandana off of his arm, "you think Luffy's finished just because that guy's part of a Yonko's crew? Don't make me laugh." Hawkins raised an eyebrow of surprise at this statement, not expecting such a confident reaction. "Our captain has beaten warlords of the sea, so unless that wrestling guy is anything like a warlord then he's got no chance."

The Swordsman tied the bandana on his head then, a confident smile marking his features. "And don't go underestimating this crew either. We've fought our way through way worse situations than this!" The truth of this statement would not only come as a revelation to Basil Hawkins but to Jesus Burgess as well.

For when the dust cleared and the Wrestler stopped laughing, he noticed something quite off. Luffy's body had changed, enlarging a fair bit with his arms and legs now being covered in a more redish Haki. "Fourth Gear," said Luffy, his feet suddenly telescoping into his body before shooting back out and nailing Burgess in the face, sending him falling on the ground several feet away. What he saw now was that the Straw Hat Captain was much buffer, like he'd been inflated or become ape-like, "Bounce Man."

"What, a fourth gear," said Burgess in disbelief, "when in the world did you learn to do something like that?"

"A while ago," said Luffy, bouncing up and down as he withdrew his right fist into his arm, compressing it like a spring, "I can't believe you didn't notice me inflating my arm while you were spinning around." The Titanic Captain realized he had seen something right before the impact, like a suddenly large arm. He'd dismissed it because he didn't think there'd be anyway for his opponent to stop his Champion Driver. "Now let's get back to it!"

"Fine, since you insist," said Burgess as he formed Haki on his elbows again, "here I come!" He rushed forth with the intention of delivering another Hado Elbow, certain that Luffy's mobility was slower in such a large form. He was in for a surprise when the Rubber Pirate suddenly flew, or rather 'bounced off the air' around him, as he leapt above Burgess's attack and struck with his own. "Gum Gum King Kong Gun!"

The large fist shot out like a cannon then as Burgess intercepted it with his elbow, only to be driven to the ground by the terrific force of the blow, causing a large crater to form where he'd impacted. Feeling the pain in his elbow, Burgess knew it wouldn't be a good idea to take another attack like that head on and dodged out of the way of the second Kong Gun which tore up even more of the ground where he'd just been. But Luffy was far from done as he launched another attack, "Gum Gum Python!" The Wrestler evaded the Bounce Man's fist as it stretched towards him, but once again to his surprise the fist actually changed direction by seeming to bounce off the air before coming back around and hitting him in the side of the face.

"Ah, you rubber freak," cursed Burgess, "just what in the world kind of weird shit did you do to your body?!"

"I made it strong enough to take on guys like you," replied Luffy in his fighting stance as he bounced in place, "and beat down guys way beyond you!" He then retracted both of his fists and started moving them rapidly back and forth, making it appear as if he had six arms, all ready to fire like cannons at the same time. "Now Gum Gum Kong Organ Gun!" Burgess braced himself by summoning every last bit of Haki he could to cover his body.

"You think you can take me?!" He exclaimed, "then try this, Hado Palm Barrage!" A flurry of Haki Palm Strikes met Haki enhanced rubber fists then as the resulting impacts shook the area around them. Shockwaves permeated the air as cracks formed in the already fragile landscape. Once again, the power of this clash was felt even from a distance.

And once again, Basil Hawkins felt he should doublecheck which way the hands of fate were swinging as he survived another powerful blow from Zoro. As before his body didn't suffer any damage and dropped more voodoo dolls who'd taken the blow instead, but the hits were starting to stack up. The more voodoo dolls in his body that were lost the closer he was to getting injured himself, and even if Burgess had provided several ignorant crewmates of his own to be connected with said voodoo dolls, there was a limit to the number of dolls Hawkins himself could fit in his body. Though that wasn't what had the Fortune Teller most concerned.

As he looked around, the battles that had seemed almost assured at first were turning in their opponent's favor. The chef, Sanji, had upped his game by lighting both of his feet on fire and was furiously kicking away with renewed vigor against his opponent, now battering away his previously solid defense. Chopper and Nami's seeming attempt to flee had actually been a method for biding time, allowing the Navigator the necessary moments needed to create a storm cloud with her Clima-Tact that wound up striking not only Faust and Nami's opponent but even Brook's opponent in the Tiki mask. This left all three of them vulnerable to counterattacks which the Straw Hats were taking full advantage of.

And Nico Robin had lulled her own opponent into a false sense of security by using only smaller hands to try catching her hooded adversary. What he hadn't seen with all of his dodging and running around, however, was the formation of a much larger hand from a nearby cliffside which swatted the man well into the forest when he tried a jumping attack against the Archeologist. "Hey, eyes on our fight straw man!" Warned Zoro as he and Hawkins clashed blades again, "we're not done quite yet."

"Of course not," said Hawkins as he broke the weapons lock and attacked with his blade's straw form again to keep his opponent at bay, "I should at least see if I can last until the end of my benefactor's fight." An end which might not be far away, though from Komane's perspective it was difficult to tell what exactly was happening. 'Luffy,' she thought while having to shield her eyes against the mass of amount of air pressure and dust produced by the current exchange, 'are you really fighting so hard just for me? You're really not some savage pirate like everyone thinks you are.'

Though he did look especially fierce as the smoke cleared to reveal that he and Burgess were both still standing, albeit breathing heavily now. "I guess you can maintain that form longer than I thought," breathed Burgess, "I was thinkin' that you'd be out of steam by now."

"I've got more than enough for you," said Luffy with narrowed eyes, "now let Komane go already!"

"Oh right, you're still going on about her," said Burgess as he flexed his muscles, "you must really think she's worth the effort to pull out these kinds of stops against me, but ya know what I can work with it." His whole body began vibrating then, much like his earlier Hado Elbow.

"You want to work with something, try this," said the Straw Hat Captain as he put his mouth on his arm again. Another blast of steam erupted from his body as it changed shape, actually getting somewhat smaller this time. But it was still quite muscular and even more fierce looking as his hair seemed to grow into a type of mane, his Haki patterns changed to that of tigers and even his eyes became catlike. His hands and feet also became more claw-like as he stopped bouncing on the ground and instead assumed a crouched stance. "My new form: Tiger Man!"

"Wiiihahahahahaha!" Laughed Burgess despite the situation, "throw all the forms you like at me, it won't make a difference. Now here I come, Galleon Charge!" The Haki covered Wrestler raced forward with his shoulder lowered, intending to slam into his opponent with everything he had.

"Cheetah Run!" Declared Luffy as he put his hands on the ground before pulling himself back and launching forward like an arrow. It was so fast that Burgess hardly saw it, but he felt the impact against his side as he looked down to see what appeared to be claw marks.

"What in the world," said the Wrestler in disbelief, "you penetrated my Haki!"

"And that's just the start," said the Straw Hat Captain as he continued with his next attack by zooming forward, this time coming in right beneath his opponent's guard, "Panther Shadow Strike!" He struck the Titanic Captain with a palm strike to the chin faster than he could react, the resulting force enough to send him into the air several feet. Luffy compressed his legs then as he aimed his next strike, "Jaguar Jump!" He was a blur as he flew into the air, knocking the Blackbeard Pirate on the other side as he went past before reorienting himself in the air and somersaulting at high speed. "Leopard Strike!"

Even with time to block it wouldn't have made a difference as the Rubber Man's heel made contact with Burgess's head, sending him back down to make the latest in several craters in the ground. Luffy landed then, still in a fighting stance as his adversary struggled to stand. The Haki around his body was diminishing slowly but surely now, a sign that his reserves were close to being depleted. "Ah, alright, alright," coughed Burgess, "you win, I give, I give."

"You're going to let Komane go then," asked the Straw Hat Pirate as he slowly approached.

"Yeah, I said I give, didn't I," coughed the Wrestler, "but you've knocked me around pretty good. You'll have to come and get the keys to her cuffs yourself."

"Fine," said Luffy, still maintaining his Tiger Man form as he approached. As he did, though, Burgess had to suppress a grin. 'That's right,' he thought as he discreetly withdrew his knife, 'I might not be able to beat you directly and capture you, but I can still walk home with a couple of prizes.' Though his move didn't go unnoticed by Komane who managed to glimpse the blade in his grasp.

Her eyes widened as she summoned up every last bit of strength she had left and yelled. "LUFFY! HE'S GOT A KNIFE!"

"TOO LATE!" Cheered the Blackbeard Pirate as he lunged forward and swung with the knife, only to hit air. "W-What?"

"That didn't work on my brother and it's not gonna work on me," came the voice of Luffy who seemed to suddenly appear and disappear, "let's finish this for real then, Tiger King Hunt!" Burgess was then struck by one blow after another and try as he might, the Straw Hat Captain was now moving so fast that he was impossible to track. 'What is this, it's like he's invisible, the only traces I have of him are suddenly appearing imprints all over the place!' The issue he failed to grasp was that Luffy's new form relied on compression, much like bounce man, but used less air and more muscle.

This allowed him the ability to bounce off of things by compressing his limbs and then sending them back outward, like springs. Adding on to that was a trick he picked up from Sanji, Moonwalk, meaning there was no surface he couldn't bounce off of. And the longer he kept it going the more momentum he built up until it reached a point for a powerful final blow, which he was about to perform. "Tell Blackbeard and every pirate who ever thinks of harming Komane or the people of Lulusia again," said Luffy as he readied his final attack, "that she and her kingdom are under the protection of the King of the pirates!"

Luffy slammed both claw-like hands into his opponent's midsection then, completely obliterating his armament Haki as disbelief spread across his features. It would be the last thing he saw of the island before the follow up force of the impact sent him flying skyward a ridiculous distance. Before he knew it, Foodvalten was far away and only the ocean rose up to meet him now. And as Komane watched her captor disappear into the distance, she was filled with nothing but awe for the man she loved.

And thus, Burgess is going, going, and GOOOOOONNNNE! Sorry couldn't resist the moment was just too perfect. But hopefully, despite this chapter's shortness, you all enjoyed it and as always feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. And, of course, don't forget to check out my book, Plains Riders on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. Be sure to stop in next time as the Straw Hat Captain is reunited with the Princess of Lulusia Kingdom. 'til then.