BLP 19:
"Roronoa Zoro," Smoker snarled at the man in front of him. There were a hundred things he wanted to tell this man, ask him, yell at him, etcetera. However, when he thought about it for a second, only one thing mattered. "Where is Tashigi?"
Zoro's expression shifted for a second. He saw how angry the man was and was expecting some sort of outburst. However, he did not show much difference in his facial expression, only frowning a little deeper. "That woman has lost her heart." Before Smoker could shout something at him, Zoro continued loudly, "What do you want?"
"I want my Sergeant," Smoker yelled back. "Bastard," he growled, "you are working with Maleficent."
Zoro stared at the man for a few seconds, then stated, "She did mention she saw you, and that you seemed interested in the copy-woman." The green haired former pirate stared into Smoker's eyes. "I will take you to her, but first, there is something you want other than that woman."
When Smoker heard that Zoro would take him to her, his eyes doubled in size. Hearing the second part of Zoro's sentence made him hesitate however. "What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I am speaking of," the cloaked man stated. "I could see it in your eyes. Every time you look at Luffy now, you have the same look." Zoro narrowed his eyes at the Marine, "You want him dead."
Smoker glared at the person in front of him. "What is it to you?" he questioned darkly. "From the sound of things, you aren't too upset about that." Zoro did not respond. Smoker rose his voice, "You don't seem too eager to get back to him. Sounds like you're betraying him." The Marine grimaced that he dropped his cigar before, and he kind of wanted to light a new one up now which he would have if he was not running low on them already. He wanted a smoke because he actually flinched at the next look Zoro gave him.
"Me, betray him?" Zoro asked in a deep tone. The muscular man's green hair shadowed the top half of his face and he held his tongue while standing there with a snarl. He continued to speak calmly, "Smoker, I saw the fury in your eyes. You fight with hate, you want Luffy dead." Zoro looked at the man who was frowning back at him. "Let in the darkness. Someone like you will easily be able to control it, and it will make you much stronger. Do it, and defeat my captain, and I will take you to your Sergeant."
A dark portal appeared behind Zoro as he finished his sentence. "Wait," Smoker called to the man who stepped backwards into the darkness. Zoro put his hood up but did look out where Smoker took a step towards him. "Is Tashigi alive?" Smoker asked, his heart pounding as the words left his lips. She was the only one left. The entire world was gone, everyone he ever knew, and this was the only person he had any knowledge of whatsoever. "Is she gone?" he whispered.
Zoro seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. Then, in the same low voice he replied, "She does not have to be."
With that, Zoro disappeared. Little wisps of darkness floated up from where the portal vanished, but once those were gone, there was no trace of the portal ever being there in the first place. As cryptic as Zoro was with that last sentence, it gave Smoker hope. Tashigi. I will come for you. My men are gone. My Government is gone. My world is destroyed. He turned back around and looked out towards the arena in the distance. Everyone else is gone, but Straw Hat survived. A group of pirates are all that made it off our world. Why? WHY?! Why does Straw Hat deserve to live when my men don't? The Marine started walking back towards the arena and his eyes shadowed over. He doesn't.
Smoker walked away, not noticing the black footprints that remained every time he lifted back up his feet. Those footprints faded after he left them, but not before wisps of darkness floated off of them like trails of smoke. The Marine Captain's feet covered in the darkness, then it vanished all at once as the man reached a populated area once more. Mugiwara no Luffy, Smoker thought, spotting the pirate across the open area where he was talking with his crew and their friends. You will not step foot on another world.
Inside the waiting room for the tournament, eight fighters gathered along with one more man. The man had his blond fancy hair-style gelled up, and a nice pair of black shades over his eyes. He was wearing an expensive-looking suit and kept checking his watch to see when the next round would start.
Meanwhile, Yamcha was telling a story about some training he did on his own during the last three years. The three Turtle Hermit school students had not been together for the longest time now, so they needed to catch up. Goku had spent the most time apart of the three of them, but Yamcha and Krillin had gotten some individual training on their own in as well. "…and I said, 'Hey buddy, you better fight me or hand over the jewel. Either way you're gonna lose.'" Goku and Krillin started laughing and Yamcha smirked.
Not far from the three in orange gi's, Sora and Luffy were hanging out with each other. "While you were off eating with Goku, we got a call from Jiminy," Sora told his older friend. Luffy looked back at the shorter teen who continued with a smile, "He says that Donald is working hard on the Gummi Ship and that it's almost finished. It should be ready by tomorrow."
"Hmm," Luffy hummed. "But Nami said there is only going to be one more match today. I hope it's mine," he said.
"Yeah, they're starting off the finals with one match today, then there are going to be more matches tomorrow and the day after too." The brown haired kid paused for a second and then asked, "Hey Luffy, who do you think is going to make it to the championship?"
Luffy grinned wide and pointed a thumb at himself, "I will for sure."
Sora chuckled a little and said, "Man I wish I had your confidence right now. Everyone in here is really strong." He turned and looked back at their three new friends, then looked a little to their left at the bald triclops who took down Usopp. Way behind Tien, leaning against a wall, was a black man in a brown trench coat who had an orange bandanna covering the bottom half of his face. He was wearing a brown hat with a rim all the way around it just like Luffy's, that he had pulled down far so that barely any of his skin was showing. His hands did not come out of his sleeves, and his brown coat went down below his feet so they couldn't see those either. "Hey, did you see any of that guy's fights?" Sora asked, now that he focused on the man.
The pirate captain hummed to himself, glancing over at the mystery figure for a few seconds. He replied, "Nope, I don't think so." Then he looked back where he was facing originally. Sora followed Luffy's gaze and looked over to the last person in the room. Captain Smoker was staring back in their direction with cold, dark eyes. Luffy made eye contact with the white haired Marine, and he kept himself calm.
He thought back to Loguetown when he tried to fight Smoker, only for his attacks to go right through the man. He thought to Alabasta, when he again resorted to running away from his opponent, leaving his brother Ace to fight him instead. I need to find a way to beat Smoker. He kept himself from sweating, though the Marine's expression was somewhat nerve-wracking.
Sora whispered to his older friend, "Hey Luffy, you sure it was a good idea to bring your enemy on this mission?"
Before Luffy had a chance to respond, someone started shouting from the opposite direction. "Hello! Participants in the back can you hear me? Please come forward," the announcer called everyone in the room to come over where he was standing.
Everyone walked over to the announcer and he made his way to a large piece of paper on the wall. On it was a bracket with eight empty positions, "Fighters will be paired off the same way as in the elimination round." He called out. "When your name is called, please come forward and draw a number from the box." The crowd gathered in a group in front of him, but Luffy noticed that Smoker walked to the opposite side of the group as him, making him frown again. "First up, Luffy."
The pirate snapped his head forward and walked over to the announcer. He reached into the box and mumbled to himself, "Just pick one. Pick one," he pulled out his slip and unfolded it, only to frown at the number he received. "Three."
"Well, that puts you here," the announcer took the piece of paper with Luffy's name and put it under the number three on the bracket. "Next up, Tien."
The three-eyed man frowned deeply as he walked forward. Chiaotzu was supposed to be here to set up the matches. His lower two eyes darted over to where Yamcha was glaring at him, You are mine. I will not accept it if anyone else gets to you first. His eyes looked to Goku now and he frowned even deeper. He thought about how the spiky haired boy told him about how he recognized the Dodon Ray when Ciaotzu used it in the preliminaries. He said that he defeated Tao, and after seeing a few of his matches, it seems like it may be the truth. Don't worry Master Shen, I will avenge your brother, and kill Son Goku.
Tien reached into the box and pulled out a number. "Two," he stated, handing it off to the announcer and then walking back to stand with the group.
"That's good," the blond man replied, putting his name up on the board as well. "Krillin… Goku…" he continued calling out contestants names and they each went up to pull out numbers as well.
Krillin got number 6, and his best friend pulled out 7. The shorter of the two boys sighed in relief. "Fwew, for a second there I thought we were going to be fighting in the first round," Krillin told Goku.
"Make it to the second round, okay?" Goku asked, and bumped elbows with his training partner.
"Hehe, of course," Krillin replied confidently.
"And number 5 puts you here, against Krillin," the announcer said behind the two boys. Goku and Krillin turned, to see Sora staring right back at them.
Sora chuckled a little and looked at Krillin, "Looks like you won't be making it to fight Goku."
"Huh?" Krillin asked, his initial surprised look going away and being replaced by a cocky smirk. "I'll have you know I'm much stronger than you."
"Good luck Krillin, you too Sora," Goku said to the two of them.
"Ehh?" the bald fighter asked his friend. "You can't root for both of us!"
"Well I'll root for you Krillin," Goku said, then turned to Sora. "But if Sora wins too I think that would be a fun fight."
"Well he isn't going to win, so sorry," Krillin retorted, and smirked back over at Sora. He held up his thumb, then pointed it down.
Sora felt a bead of sweat dripping down the side of his face and remembered Krilln's first match against Anton the Great. The giant wrestler got defeated easily by the midget and Sora could barely follow Krillin's movements in the other fights. Sora wasn't the only one with a bead of sweat rolling down his face though, as Krillin recalled that final match against Nam. Sora used fire and lightning magic, not to mention his Valor form. I wonder if he has any other tricks up his sleeves. Krillin and Sora thought while grinning at the other sweating boy.
"Smoker," the announcer called out, and the Marine officer walked up to the front of the room. He was still wearing his white toga from the Olympus Coliseum, and he had a lit cigar in his mouth as he walked up to the board. The Marine looked at the board where Luffy's name was, then looked down inside the box. He looked at the announcer, and glared into the blond man's sunglasses for a few seconds, enough to make the man back off.
Smoker looked back down inside the box as he put his hand in it, and he unfolded a few pieces of paper with his fingers. After his hand was in there for about five seconds, he pulled out an already unfolded slip of paper and stated, "Four," without even looking at it. He held his hand out and his hand dislodged from his arm, a trail of smoke following it over to the announcer who panicked, but still took the slip from Smoker's hand.
Most of the fighters saw what Smoker just did and glared at the man for cheating in the random draw. He only looked at one of them though, and kept glaring into the pirate's eyes as the announcer read out, "W-Well then, that puts you up against Luffy in the first round."
"You think he did that on purpose?" Krillin asked and Goku nodded from his left side.
"That guy is starting to get on my nerves," Yamcha muttered, "like someone else I know." His attention turned to Tien who was already grinning smugly.
This is perfect, the triclops thought to himself. There are only two spots left, one of them will be fighting me. And he is one of those two, his attention turned to Yamcha as the tall turtle hermit's apprentice's name was called. His cocky grin only widened as Yamcha was given number 1, putting the two of them up against each other in the very first round. "Alright, that puts you against Tien in match number one," the announcer stated, while the two muscular fighters were already looking at each other with cocky grins.
"It's a shame you're not going to make it past the first match," Yamcha chided at his opponent as he walked past him.
"Tell yourself whatever it takes to get you into the ring. But then you're mine," he said, and his grin looked unnerving to Sora who was watching them. However, Yamcha did not flinch and just kept grinning back at this guy he hated.
"And since there is only one spot left," the announcer continued. "That means Gurgle, you will be number eight." He put Gurgle's name down and the rest of the fighters looked over at the figure in the trench coat with strange looks.
"What a silly name," Krillin said.
"How did they know he was number 8?" Goku asked confusedly. "He never picked his number."
Yamcha and Krillin each looked in at their clueless young friend. "Well Goku, there was only one spot left, and one name left, so even without picking the number they already knew what it would be." Krillin tried explaining.
Goku tilted his head to the side, not understanding the concept at all. "Alright, so the matches will go in this order," the man wearing sunglasses called out. "Match one will have Tien fighting Yamcha. The second match will be Luffy versus Smoker. The third match will be Sora versus Krillin. And the fourth and final match, Goku vs Gurgle."
"Grrr," a voice grumbled. "Gruh grruunn, gurrgg," the figure in the trench cloak walked up to the announcer again and looked down at him. He was over a foot taller than the shorter man and kept making gargled sounds at him. The man faced the bracket and lifted up his right sleeve, pointing directly at the name on number 5's position.
"Uh no, you won't be facing Sora," the announcer stated as he looked at the name the man's sleeve was pointing at. The figure's gurgling noises started getting louder and the announcer stepped back, "But, if you win your first match against Goku, and Sora wins his, you two will be facing each other in the second match."
"GURG- gurgle? Grr grunn burr gurglll," the figure turned around and started walking away again. They could not see his feet so it looked like the bottom of his coat just slid across the floor to make him move.
"What a creep," Krillin said, his body shivering.
Sora followed the figure with his eyes as he walked away. Why did he want to fight me? Who is that guy?
"Tomorrow huh?" Bulma asked her new orange-haired friend after Nami explained what Jiminy Cricket told them over the phone. "With two of your friends in the finals, I really hope you guys don't decide to pull out."
"And miss out on all that reward money?" Nami asked sarcastically. "As if."
"But Nami," Goofy started from behind the woman. "We're on a mission remember?"
The teenage girl turned with a sweet smile and waved her hand at him a few times. "It's fine, it's fine. The tournament won't last more than a few more days."
"Gawrsh, I don't know," the knight said while scratching his head. "Donald will be awfully sore."
Robin had an idea and spoke quietly just to the dog, "We have yet to find this world's Keyhole. I am sure Donald-san will allow us to stay in order to find it."
"Oh, that's right," Goofy agreed. He glanced at Bulma who did not hear Robin and then whispered back to the older woman, "But we haven't seen many Heartless around here anyway."
This time, the archaeologist did not have anything to say and was surprised the dog picked up on that. It does not seem like it is necessary to stay on this world any longer than we already have. I doubt the boys will want to leave though.
"Hello everyone!" a voice called out and everyone near the large arena stage for the WMAT finals looked at the arena. A man was stepping out in a professional suit and a pair of sunglasses. "My name is Rick and I will be the announcer and judge for these upcoming matches of the World Martial Arts Tournament." Cheers rang out around the arena and the group of friends traveling with Luffy and Sora, along with their new friends from the Turtle Hermit school, all cheered as well.
They had great spots ring-side for their entire group. Oolong and Puar had transformed into large monsters for a minute in order to get them spots, since Launch was back to her sweet, blue-haired self instead of the gunslinging maniac who got them good spots last time. The pig and flying cat were cheering out their friends' names, while Bulma and Launch did the same. Nami, Robin, Usopp, and Goofy all cheered along, calling out Sora and Luffy's names.
Rick held a microphone up to his mouth and pumped another fist in the air. "This tournament has already started out with some amazing matches in the preliminary rounds, which I'm sure a few of you were able to see considering one of the walls was completely broken down!" He was hyping up the crowd really well and continued with calling out the matches. "Now, time to commence our first fight of the finals. For our first match, Tien Shinhan of the Crane School of Martial Arts will be going up against Yamcha from the Turtle School. Master Shen and Master Roshi are both renowned martial arts masters, so I am sure this is going to be an incredible fight!"
Cheering erupted around the crowd, and a gong rang out signaling the fighters to come to the stage. Tien stood up from a chair in the dark waiting room. His fists clenched at his sides, he walked out of the room and out to the area where the rest of the fighters were gathered. Yamcha was standing with his four friends, and they all wished him luck as he glared over at Tien. "Thanks, but I won't need it," Yamcha told them, then walked over towards Tien and walked through the hole in the wall out to the stage together.
The crowd erupted again at the sight of the two fighters. The stage on three sides was covered in spectators, with the announcer standing directly in front of Bulma and Nami's friends. "So that's Yamcha's opponent? Sure looks strong," Nami stated as she stared at the bald, muscular man who walked out without a shirt on, showing off his pecs, biceps, and every other part of him that was covered in muscles. Unlike Yamcha's orange gi, Tien had on green wristbands, blue pants, and an orange belt. He's the guy who was with the Crane Hermit. I knew he was big, but under that green cloak he's huge!
"Don't worry, I'm sure Yamcha can take that freak on," Oolong bragged.
"Yeah, Yamcha's the best," Puar agreed about her best friend and long time companion.
"Go for it Yamcha!" Bulma shouted to her boyfriend.
Nami noticed someone in the group wasn't cheering and she looked at Usopp who was staring straight at Tien. "What is it Usopp?" she asked her long-nosed friend.
The tan-skinned guy with large muscles wearing a white toga looked at Nami with a serious expression. "Tien was the one who beat me in the preliminaries." The others all stopped and looked at Usopp for a minute. "I tried my hardest, but I could barely touch him. And what's worse," Usopp shifted his attention back to the stage, "I think he was holding back. A lot."
"No way," Nami whispered, staring at the man who the first time she saw him after their world vanished, he was fighting off a massive three-headed dog with his bare hands. He can fight Cerberus with his fists, but thinks this guy is too much?! Nami looked back at the stage and was starting to get very worried.
"But, look at Yamcha," Puar started again, now that everyone seemed nervous. "He's so confident!"
Yamcha faced off against Tien and he got right into a fighting stance. "I'll start off real slow Tien, you just try to keep up with me." He held his right hand out with his fingers curled and his other arm pulled in at his side, elbow tucked in with his fist pointed out.
Tien got into a similar stance with his left hand curled up in front of his face and his right curled in at his side into a fist. "Hmm hmhmhm," Tien laughed without opening his mouth, the sound just coming from his throat. We'll see about that. Ch Ch Cr-ck cr-ck. Tien cracked the curled fingers in front of his face a few times and just smirked over at a serious-looking Yamcha.
Behind the wall on the back of the stage, Luffy, Sora, Goku, and Krillin were all leaning over the top to look down at the two fighters. A drumroll started by some of the monks and got louder and louder while the drum beat sped up. Luffy's mouth curled into a huge smile as this was getting really exciting to watch. Over in the group of their friends, everyone was cheering loudly and an old man walked up into their group.
Oolong turned around a little, "There you are Roshi," he said, making a few of the others look back. "You almost missed Yamcha's fight."
Master Roshi nodded as he stared ahead at the stage. "There was just something I needed to do first," he stated. The old man thought about how he had taken off his Jackie Chun wig for good, finally retiring. It felt like saying goodbye to an old friend, but there was no time to be sad. He looked ahead and stated, "Now it is time to see how much my students have improved."
A monk slammed a stick into the gong and instantly Yamcha was gone. Nami's eyes widened as the fighter left the ground so fast it was impossible to see. She saw his knee collide with Tien's forearm as the bald young man blocked, but then Tien swiped with his other arm too fast for her to see either. Yamcha somehow pulled himself back in midair to avoid the punch, then had to duck and weave quickly as Tien struck countless times with both arms. The Crane Hermit's student stuck out two fingers and jabbed over and over at his black haired opponent, but Yamcha was avoiding every hit. Yamcha started blocking, and he found his moment and punched a fist forward, changing the momentum so that he started getting attacks of his own in, though Tien was dodging and blocking his as well.
"Those two are amazing," Sora whispered as he watched the fight going on. I thought the guys on my island were strong. Tidus, Wakka, even Selphie. Who knew the people from other worlds could be so amazing? Riku… I bet the next time we meet I'll be a lot stronger too. Just you wait. Sora's fists clenched and he continued to smile as he looked down at the match.
Nico Robin found something very interesting as she watched Yamcha jump fifty feet up in the air. Although this fight was quite incredible, she was observing other things closely as well. The first thing she noticed was that Smoker was behind the wall, staring at Luffy's back instead of the current match going on. She had to create another eye with her Devil Fruit power in order to see back there, and she was also staring at another competitor who looked suspicious to her. The most interesting thing she noticed however, was Sora. As she looked across the arena to the boy leaning over the wall with the other amazing fighters, his head was turning a little bit and his eyes were darting around.
I myself can not see the majority of the attacks these two men are making, but Sora seems to be following their movements. Peculiar, I noticed he was much stronger in Agrabah, and I thought something must have happened between the world's collapse and then. However, since then, he has become even stronger. Robin was trying to think of reasons this could have happened, but she became distracted after Yamcha got a great combo in on Tien. The black haired man punched Tien ten times in the chest followed up by a powerful kick that pushed into Tien's stomach and actually made the three-eyed man take a few steps back.
"Ugh," Tien grunted loudly. He growled and yelled at Yamcha, "RAA!" He punched a fist forward but Yamcha moved to the side and grabbed it with both hands. The fist was never meant to collide however, and a knee slammed into Yamcha's unsuspecting face while the young man was holding Tien's arm. Yamcha flew back and hit the ground, then gasped as Tien flew down with a fist to slam into his face. He started barrel-rolling away while Tien kept punching the floor where he just was, then kicked his legs up and lifted high off the ground to avoid one of Tien's roundhouse kicks.
"And an amazing display by Yamcha. Showing he can really roll with the punches," Rick shouted into the microphone, making people cheer again as Yamcha landed back on his feet in a fighting stance. As he finished shouting, Tien spun all the way around and kicked straight out, slamming into Yamcha's chest and making the man flip backwards three times before regaining his composure, though he was down on one knee with his hand planted on the ground for balance. Tien jumped over to where Yamcha was, and Yamcha jumped up high in the air to avoid his punch. Tien's hand opened up from the punch and he planted his palm on the ground, then pushed himself up so hard with that had that he was sent flying up after Yamcha.
The two of them collided in midair and started punching and kicking even faster than before. They became a blur with a flurry of punches and kicks that Sora was no longer able to keep up with. The spiky haired boy did see Yamcha put his hands together and manage a double fisted swing that knocked Tien out of the air. It looked like the triclops was going to crash down hard, but instead he landed on his feet and pressed a fist into the ground to steady himself. "Wow," Sora whispered, "that looked like it really hurt, but he's not even phased."
Yamcha landed on the ground across from his opponent and it looked like he needed to pull out all the stops. "That's it, times up!" He shouted at his opponent. "Wolf Fang, Blowing Wind Technique!"
"HA! Sounds like fun!" Tien yelled back. The two of them got back into stances. Yamcha's looked different than before, his hands up near the left side of his head, both curled in at Tien. Tien had one arm curved up above his head almost like the curve of a crane's neck, and his other arm held out in front of him also with curled fingers not fully pulled into his fist.
Yamcha slammed his fists forward, then brought them to his side. He took a step towards Tien, then another, swinging his arms back out in front of him again with his fists pointed out. His steps started to pick up, and he sprinted across the arena while Tien sprinted towards him. His feet moved in a blur and he reached Tien still on Tien's half of the arena. The two of them punched and kicked, yelling at each other the entire time. "Raa! HAA!" None of their blocks lasted over a second anymore, and they just kept hitting the other person faster and faster.
Luffy blinked a few times as he couldn't tell whether Yamcha just got in three hits, or if Tien blocked a few of them and hit the man back himself. Yamcha slammed a fist forward incredibly hard, but Tien lifted a hand up and caught the fist. He started lowering the fist down while Yamcha sweat badly, and the man in the orange gi almost did not see Tien's other fist flying forward. He moved out of the way of the fist, though it still sliced off a few of his hairs. As he dodged, he started doing backflips over and over so fast that it was impossible for many people to see.
When he landed at Tien's side, he snapped a hand forward and clamped it down on Tien's wrist as hard as a wolf's jaw. Tien leaned back but couldn't pull his arm free as Yamcha grabbed up on his arm with his other hand, then a little higher, then higher, and higher until he was at Tien's shoulder. He finished with one more claw swipe up towards the bald man's face that Tien almost did not lean away from in time. As his hand went past, Tien yelled in anger and slammed his fist forward with two fingers pointed out of it. Everything froze for a second, and two gashes of equal length formed on the left side of Yamcha's face and the right side of Tien's.
Their hesitation only lasted a second, before Yamcha lifted up, looking like he was bringing up his right knee. Luffy thought the bald man would block it, but his eyes widened as Yamcha moved his left arm forward. It turned out the knee was a fake, and then his mouth lowered a little as that punch was actually a fake too and Yamcha punched with his right arm. Tien saw the fakes and the real attack though and he blocked before swinging back his own combos. The two of them battled fiercely. It was unlike any fight Luffy had ever seen. Their power was not the most amazing thing about them, but their skill. Each one of their attacks was made with the intention of making their opponent make a move to capitalize on.
His eyes focused on Yamcha for a few moments, then he looked back to Tien. The two of them are amazing fighters. His mouth started curling back up and he ignored the bead of sweat rolling down his face. "I can't wait to fight one of them next round," he stated excitedly. After he said it though, he sweat a little more and he turned his head. Staring straight at him was Smoker, and he frowned deeply. "Why aren't you watching the fight, Smoker?"
Sora turned to Luffy and started to feel a little nervous. That's the first time Luffy's called Smoker, 'Smoker,' instead of 'Smokey' for a while. He looked back at the Marine whose eyes were unwavering, glaring straight into Luffy's face. Luffy was noticing something about Smoker different from the last times they had met. Back then, Smoker was trying to capture him. The look in his eyes back then was of a good man hunting pirates, dishing out justice, protecting civilians, serving the Government. At the moment, he barely recognized Smoker.
Smoker snarled, grinding his teeth together as he glared at the pirate. He grunted, not giving the younger man a response. Luffy shrugged and looked back at the stage, going to enjoy the fight going on instead of focusing on Smoker the entire time. The Conquering King. How is it a fool like you could have it? Smoker's eyes darkened as his fists clenched harder. Monkey D. Luffy. There is no prison to bring you to. The Government I stand for is down to one person, me. I am all that remain! It is up to ME! His hands started shaking more, and then in front of him, five Shadows appeared.
Most people were focusing on the match between Tien and Yamcha which was so intense that the two of them became invisible for a few seconds, only for them to suddenly start spinning out away from each other and each slide across the ground. Luffy and Sora became distracted along with the other two on the wall with them though.
"Wh-What are those things?" Krillin exclaimed as he looked over his shoulder and saw five black creatures on four legs standing in front of Smoker. They had little black antennae and beady white eyes.
Smoker clenched his fists and started to lift them, but the creatures in front of him did not attack. As he started to think about what that could mean, he watched one of the creatures explode into dust and Sora landed right on top of it with a Keyblade already drawn. The boy held his Kingdom Key in his hands and looked up at a surprised Smoker, "You gonna help out or just stand there?" He asked, pulling his Keyblade up to his right and blocking a swing from a Heartless. As Sora parried the creature and they both fell backwards a little, he shot back at three times his normal speed and rushed past the Shadow with his Keyblade crossing out. He spun around after slashing it and hit it two more times, before slamming down on top of its head and sending it flying backwards to explode in a circle of darkness.
Luffy was going to drop down to help Sora out, but he watched as Sora took down the third Shadow without one of them getting a single hit on him yet. "Huh, I thought the Heartless were getting stronger," he muttered to himself. Maybe Sora's just getting stronger faster. He thought, but watched as Sora took down another Shadow using only one combo and he became confused. No, they were definitely stronger in Agrabah. What's up with that?
Smoker noticed how weak these Heartless were as well, and he glanced down at his fists. "What the Hell?" he muttered, putting two and two together. He snapped his head to the left and saw a swirl of darkness. It looked exactly the same as when Zoro vanished earlier that day and his portal swirled up into the air before disappearing. Was he watching me? Did he create these, or, did I do it myself? His fists clenched again, but he heard a voice in front of him and looked back up.
"Hey, are you alright?" Sora asked the older man. "I don't know why they attacked you," he continued, "normally they would come after me or Luffy because we have the Keyblades."
"Whatever," Smoker muttered to the kid.
Sora watched as the man started walking off and he mumbled under his breath, "You could at least say thanks."
"Hey Sora," Luffy called down to his friend. "Come look at this, Yamcha's got him on the ropes."
Sora ran over and jumped up to the wall, letting his Keyblade disappear again. Krillin was going to ask what just happened, but the midget was too excited by Yamcha's amazing last Wolf Fang Fist combo that had Tien on his knees, grabbing his stomach in pain. Yamcha stood next to him, looking down with a cocky grin. Tien was grunting and groaning on his knees, and Yamcha frowned angrily, saying, "What was that? Sorry, I don't understand you. I don't speak pain."
It sounded like a great line, and the crowd would have went nuts, if Tien didn't lift up his head and start cackling. "Hahahaha! What you lack in skill, you more than make up for in amusement." Tien got up to his feet and put his hands at his sides, "Though I do think your one-liners are a bit over the top, don't you?"
"You want over the top? I'll give you over the top," Yamcha yelled at him, then jumped up high so that they could barely see him anymore. They looked straight into the sun where Yamcha disappeared in front of, then started coming back down with his foot extended out. It was the same combo he just did which worked out great, so he was trying it again. As Yamcha was falling though, Tien held his right arm in at his side, clapped his stomach a few times, then grabbed his right bicep and started yelling. His body covered in sweat and his skin tinted red.
Luffy leaned in over the wall as the man's skin turned the same color his did when he goes Second Gear. Yamcha came down and slammed a dozen kicks into Tien's chest, then finished with a crazy-powerful one right into the side of Tien's head. Tien didn't even flinch. Yamcha flipped backwards and landed, panting, while Tien just smirked at him and stood back up fully. A bunch of people, including Yamcha, gasped. Tien looked completely unharmed and said, "Is that it? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the massage. But I thought you could fight."
"Im-Impossible," Yamcha stuttered, leaning his head back in shock.
"No," Tien replied, narrowing his eyes at his opponent. "Nothing is impossible." He charged forward and Yamcha started meeting him blow for blow again, but Yamcha was nervous now, and Tien's attacks were moving faster than ever. An elbow came out of nowhere and slammed into Yamcha's right cheek, indenting his entire face in. He followed up with six punches back and forth in Yamcha's face, followed by an arm to the body that flipped Yamcha over it. The man in the orange gi managed to land on his feet, only to get slammed in the stomach by Tien's leg.
Yamcha rolled away and stopped on his knees, holding his hands into his stomach and clenching it in agonizing pain. "Nn ugh, nn," Yamcha groaned and gasped out as he sat there.
"For someone who doesn't speak pain," Tien started from only a few feet away. "You sound very fluent."
Yamcha slowly lifted up his head and with a hateful look rasped out, "You have three eyes, now use them and read my lips."
Tien would have laughed normally, but at this point he was getting tired of the fight. I wanted to crush you, embarrass you. But now, his eyes darted over to the wall where Goku was watching them. Goku killed Tao, and I will destroy him in the finals. Any one of the Turtle Hermit students would be fun to crush however, he looked back at Yamcha and his grin reappeared. Yamcha was talking to him like they were equals. "I'm no quitter," Yamcha said through a pained expression. "I've come too far, trained too hard to lose this match." He jumped up and roared, "This one's for Usopp!"
Before he even started his punch, Tien stepped forward and slammed a fist so hard into Yamcha's solar plexus they could see his fist on Yamcha's back. Tien watched him start lifting up, but before he could get thrown, he continued by lifting up his foot so fast that he knocked Yamcha's head straight back and made the fighter go spinning away.
Usopp watched from the crowd as the man who remembered Tien crushing him in the preliminaries tried to avenge him and failed. He ground his teeth and furrowed his brow in anger as he watched his friend go flying. Tien started taunting him again and Usopp's fists clenched at his sides. "Damn, it," he growled, wishing this wasn't a tournament so that he could go up there and stop Tien.
"Yamcha no," Bulma shouted.
"Yamcha!" Puar screamed, putting her little blue hands in front of her eyes, but leaving enough space for the cat to watch through.
Launch had sneezed a little earlier and the blonde woman yelled at the arena, "Get up Yamcha!"
Roshi shook his head, "He has improved a great deal, but it seems Shen's pupil is the stronger of the two."
"What? That's not true," Puar shouted at the old man. "Yamcha will win, you'll see."
"None of the turtle's students will survive this tournament," a voice said behind the group and they spun to see Master Shen and Chiaotzu standing behind them. Chiaotzu still looked pretty beat up from his fight against Luffy, but everyone was focusing on the old man who just spoke. Shen no longer had the smug expression from before when he was making fun of Roshi and his students. He looked deadly serious now as he spoke, "For what your pupil has done, I will never forgive you you damn turtle."
"Don't get so upset just because your student lost," Roshi scolded the other man.
"Oh, that's not why your boys are going to die here," Shen replied while narrowing his eyes behind his sunglasses. "I have recently learned that your pupil Goku murdered my brother, Tao."
The others gasped and Roshi's eyes went wide. The old men stared at each other through their sunglasses and Roshi started to sweat. Goku, you do not know what you have done. "Crane, we both know the type of man Tao was. If Goku killed him then it was surely out of self-defense."
"I do not doubt it," Shen replied, "but that does not lessen the severity of what he has done. Your student has killed my brother, and for that, all of your students will pay."
Simultaneously, on stage, Yamcha was pulling his arms down to the side, attempting one final attack. "Kame, Hame," Yamcha continued, and Roshi spun around, panicking that Yamcha was going to try the Kamehameha Wave. "HAAA!" Yamcha yelled, pushing his hands forward. Nami, Usopp, and Robin lowered their bottom jaws at the sight of a huge ball of blue light appearing in front of Yamcha's hands and flying towards his opponent. Tien clasped his hands in front of him with his index fingers pointed up, and he yelled right back at Yamcha.
Everyone watching stared in absolute awe as the end of the blue beam was about to collide with Tien, only to stop inches away from the man. Then, Tien roared and the Kamehameha was redirected back at Yamcha. Yamcha panicked and jumped up high in the air, the beam narrowly going beneath him. Tien jumped up after Yamcha, but meanwhile, the beam that Tien redirected exploded back behind the crowd. An enormous explosion occurred and people went flying, everyone screaming as the ball of fire got larger.
Sora and Luffy dropped their jaws at the sight of the massive explosion. It was even bigger than the one Chiaotzu tried to get Luffy with earlier, and Tien redirected it right into the middle of a crowd. While the screams echoed out, Yamcha looked down in shock, sweat all over his face. "Okay, how did he do that? Roshi's been holding out on me," the man was reaching the top of his arc and slowing down up in the air.
"Yamcha!" Goku shouted, and everyone watching the explosion looked to Goku. "Watch out!"
They all seemed to have forgotten it was a fight except for Goku. Yamcha spun around as a figure appeared behind him, and while he was turning, Tien started to yell. "HaaaaAAAA!" Tien slammed his leg so hard into Yamcha's stomach that his upper and lower half seemed to bend over the leg. Yamcha's eyes popped wide at the feeling of the intense pain that made his mind go blank.
"Yamcha!" Usopp yelled up at the man.
"YAMCHA!" Yamcha's older friends shouted.
"Ooohhhhh ugghh," Yamcha fell out of the air and slammed down hard into the tournament arena. He bounced off the ground a few feet and his eyes were rolling back into his head. He dropped back to the floor and his head tilted to the side, only quiet moans coming from his still-open mouth.
"He's knocked out," Luffy muttered. He was pissed that the guy he liked more lost, and he looked back up at Tien with a frown. The bald man took advantage of Yamcha watching the explosion and caught him off guard, and he didn't like it.
"Mm mmm," Krillin whimpered as he looked at Yamcha's unconscious, twitching body.
Goku hopped up on the wall and yelled up, "Hey, no fair!"
Tien was dropping out of the air though, in surprise to everyone watching. Even Smoker had come over after seeing that big explosion and he was watching the arena now. He saw Tien dropping and his eyes darted down to the man he was dropping towards. Tien pulled his right leg up, bent at the knee, and then at full speed he slammed his knee down into one of Yamcha's sprawled out legs. The upper half of Yamcha's left leg stayed in place, while his bone shattered and his leg from the knee down bent upwards and then in a direction no leg should ever bend.
"Ah!" Goku, Sora, and Krillin gasped.
"Nnn," Bulma whimpered, putting her hands over her eyes.
"Yamcha," Roshi whispered as he looked out at his pupil. He turned his head to Shen who started laughing uncontrollably from behind them. "Shen, how low you have stooped."
"I warned you Roshi," the Crane Hermit said, a huge smile on his face. "Next time, a broken leg will be the least of your fighters' worries. Hahahahaha!"
"Why do the psychos always come out on my shift?" Rick the announcer asked with his mouth away from the microphone. He got up on the stage and walked over to the man's body while Goku sprinted over and started shaking his friend. Rick spoke softly while Goku called out his friend's name, "Yamcha, hey you alright?" The announcer shook him a few times, "Hey, wake up, come on."
"Hey," Tien snapped at the blond man, making Rick turn to him. Tien was grinning with his hands on his hips and he said, "It doesn't take a genius to see that he's knocked out."
Rick turned to the crowd and pulled the mike to his mouth, "By way of knock out, Yamcha is unconscious and is unable to complete the fight. Therefore match one is over, the victor is Tien." He shouted and pointed his hand at the winner of the bout. "We need a doctor over here now," Rick continued then he put the microphone down and looked over at the monks, "call the hospital and get an ambulance."
Tien smirked and turned around, only to come face to face with a slightly shorter man. The figure was skinny, with a red shirt open down the middle. Luffy stood on stage with his messy black hair shadowing his face. When he snapped his gaze up, Tien was surprised to see Luffy snarling at him with a ferocious look on his face. "You bastard," Luffy snarled at him.
The crowd was getting ready to disperse and go talk about the match, but they noticed this figure standing in front of Tien with a look that scared the crap out of the rest of them. Sora ran right past Luffy and over to Yamcha, pulling out his Keyblade as he did. Rick got afraid for a second as Sora pulled out a weapon, but Sora held it over his friend and used his strongest Cure magic. Despite a few cuts and bruises going away, Yamcha's eyes stayed rolled in the back of his head and his leg was still broken. Sora exhausted his MP from just one Cura though, and without any Magic Power left he couldn't help the man in any other way.
"What do you want?" Tien scoffed at the figure in front of him. "You will find that your luck against Chiaotzu is about to run out." The two men glared at each other, sparks flying from the intensity in the ring right now.
"What is that man doing?" Shen asked, taking a step forward angrily. "Doesn't he know he will be disqualified if-"
Usopp reached behind his back and put his hand on the hilt of a broadsword he had resting there. He heard Shen's words and the Crane Hermit stopped as the muscular man in front of him grabbed his blade. Usopp turned his head sideways and glared at the old man behind him. At the same time, Nami reached down and grabbed three pieces of the Perfect Clima-Tact that Usopp made for her during his three years away from them. The girl connected the pieces and turned around as well, while Goofy looked back and forth between Luffy and his fellow pirates. "W-Wait," the dog-guy started. "We aren't supposed to meddle-"
"If Luffy starts a fight, we have to help him," Usopp stated, while narrowing his eyes at the two dressed in green from the Crane school. "Besides, that Tien guy just crushed Yamcha's leg."
"But-" Goofy continued.
Nami held her blue staff in a fighting pose, though she was sweating at the look the Crane Hermit was giving her right now. Back on the stage, Sora turned to Luffy with a nervous expression.
"Yamcha! This wasn't how it was supposed to happen!" Puar cried as she started flying towards her friend. Puar flew over and transformed into a flying carpet and said she would take Yamcha to the hospital. Krillin and Goku ran over to brace Yamcha's leg and they got him on. The blue cat flew away with Bulma chasing right after her, while Oolong and Launch stayed with Roshi and stared nervously at the confrontations going on both on and off the stage.
"Luffy," Sora began to the pirate whose fists were clenching harder and harder. The pirate didn't turn to him, but Sora kept talking, "We didn't come here to get in real fights. This is just a tournament."
"He took it too far," Luffy stated.
"What? You want to test yourself against a real fighter now that the trash is off the stage?" Tien asked the younger man, and got just the right reaction out of him.
Luffy made his move, Tien made to get into a stance, and Goku appeared in between both of them. Goku reached up and grabbed Luffy's wrist, while at the same time holding out his other open hand and pushing it against Tien's forearm. "Stop," the short boy with spiky black hair said. Krillin was getting in a fighting stance himself, Sora reformed his Keyblade in his hand, Shen and Chiaotzu both stepped forward, while all three other pirates made to attack. Goku's voice had all of them halting in place though, as he had vanished and appeared right between Luffy and Tien. "Hold on Luffy, if you fight him now you'll be disqualified."
The pirate looked down at the spiky haired boy. Yamcha was one of Goku's closest friends, yet the boy was showing more restraint than him at the moment. Goku let go of Luffy's hand and turned to Tien who was glaring down at him, "This isn't over," Goku growled at the man. "You didn't have to break Yamcha's leg. You did it to be mean."
Tien stood back up fully and crossed his arms. He glared down at Goku, "By the end of this, I will have humiliated you in front of everyone here. Then, you will face a fate much worse than he did." Tien's three eyes glared into Goku's two. "For the murder of Tao, I will have my revenge."
"I keep telling you, it was in self-defense," Goku stated, while turning and glaring right back at Tien. "You may have won the first match, but you won't win the tournament. I'm going to beat you, for Yamcha." The two of them glared at each other for a few more seconds, until Tien scoffed, turned around, and walked away.
Luffy's fists shook. He wanted so much to attack the three-eyed man right then and there. He took a step, ignoring Goku's warning a moment ago. He didn't care if Goku was not going to attack, if the boy could wait until his match to attack. Goku looked up at Luffy and watched the pirate take another step, then freeze as a figure stepped up between Luffy and Tien's walking away form. Sora stood between the rubberman and the fighter he disliked just as much as the rest of them. "Luffy, stop."
"You saw what he did," Luffy growled as he looked over Sora's shoulders. "I want to-"
"Luffy!" Sora snapped at the pirate. Luffy looked down at the spiky haired boy's face and Sora was shaking his head. "We need to take what Donald and Goofy say seriously." He walked closer to the pirate and spoke in a quieter tone, "I don't want to cause this place any trouble. We should not even be here. But you crashed us here, and now we're stuck." Sora shook his head and continued whispering as he got close to his pirate friend, "We can't meddle Luffy. Fighting in a tournament is fine, but the only ones we should be fighting for real, are the Heartless."
Goku looked at the two people in front of him with a confused look while Krillin started sweating all over, getting very confused and scared by their weird conversation. What's a Heartless? Krillin thought, then dropped his jaw immediately as all around the four of them on the stage, black spheres erupted out of nowhere.
Rick's eyes popped open wide and everyone in the audience started screaming. "Please people! Stay calm and evacuate the arena in an orderly fashion!" Rick shouted into the microphone, while backing away himself with a sweaty face.
Usopp and Nami spun away from Crane and Chiaotzu and back to the stage. They heard their new friends around them freaking out, and the others panicking and running away. The two pirates watched as Goofy pulled out his shield and charged at the stage. The two of them looked at each other, then sprinted after them. Roshi watched the strange people running towards the stage and none of them had the confused looks that the rest of them had. Above the stage floated four large spheres of darkness, with dark purple lines through them and beady white eyes on the front of their bodies. They had black tails swirling out the bottoms of their bodies, and they started zipping around the air randomly before swooping down and slamming into the fighters.
The Darkballs were strong, but they attacked at the wrong time. Goku saw a smirking ball of evil darkness swooping down at him, and the boys got over his surprise to instead jump over the attack and slam a fist down on top of the monster. Tien stopped walking away and he looked back at the stage. He saw a Heartless coming his way and he simply sidestepped the creature. Another one attacked him though and he punched it, only to be surprised as the creature spun backwards, then flew right back at him. "What are these things?" the three-eyed man growled.
Sora dodge-rolled away from one as it swooped down at him, but as he tried swiping back at it he found the creature was much faster than the other Heartless. He had to predict just the right moment to strike before starting up a combo with his Keyblade. "They're so much stronger than those Shadows," Sora called out as he tried blocking one only for it to still push him back a few feet. "What is going on here?"
The arena stage was cleared in under a minute by the powerful fighters there. Krillin watched as Luffy took down the final one with a powerful Gum Gum Bazooka, and then he finally collapsed on his butt. "What were those things?!" the bald boy exclaimed in panic.
"I don't know," Goku said and scratched the back of his head. "They sure were weird."
Sora and Luffy gathered up some of the Munny that dropped from the monsters and they smiled at each other. Master Roshi, Oolong, and Launch all walked towards the stage where Krillin and Goku were already staring at the strange group of people standing in the middle. Roshi stepped up and he stared at the young man wearing a straw hat, before stating, "You do not seem surprised by the Heartless."
Their entire group's eyes widened and spun their attentions to the old man. Even Roshi's own students and friends looked at him confusedly and questioned what he meant by that. Goofy tilted his head while looking at the elderly man who was over five hundred years old. "How do you know about the Heartless hyuck?" Goofy questioned.
Master Roshi shook his head a few times. "Let us speak in private," he suggested, and the group of space travelers nodded their heads in agreement.
"Oi, what are you hiding old man?" Oolong questioned the pervy martial arts master.
"It is none of your concern," Roshi said and waved the pig away. "The rest of you," he turned to his students and their older friends, "should go to the hospital to visit Yamcha."
"Yeah!" Goku exclaimed as if he'd just remembered. "I need to go tell him that I'm going to beat Tien for him." Before anyone could say anything else to the black haired boy he turned and ran off.
"Wait for me!" Krillin called after him. The bald boy chased his friend, but he glanced back once and looked nervously at the group in front of Master Roshi. Just who are those guys?
After most people had left the arena, considering there were no other matches for the day, Roshi led the pirates and their friends back towards the waiting area. They gathered inside the same building they chose lots from and Roshi turned back to them, "What do you know of the Heartless?" he questioned at once.
"Well, what do you know?" Sora asked back. We're supposed to keep it a secret, so we can't tell him what we know just because he asked.
Roshi nodded at the boy who answered him first. The kid did not look in charge of the motley group of youngsters, but Roshi could not tell and he looked Sora in the eyes. "Those Heartless, they were stronger than any Heartless I have seen on our world for several years."
"You know about the worlds?" Nami asked with interest.
"Yes, what I would like to know is how you know about them?" he stated, though it sounded like he was awaiting an answer this time.
Sora looked at Goofy who did not seem to know whether or not to respond to the old man either. Luffy spoke up though, "They're evil, and we're going to kick their asses."
Roshi gained a surprised look, then he started chuckling in a low tone. "Interesting. And that weapon," he continued, and he looked at Sora again, "would it happen to be the Keyblade?"
"How did you-"
"I am very old, young man," Roshi replied with a more serious nod. "And I also know that the Heartless are attracted to the Keyblade," his eyes narrowed as he spoke and a few of the group in front of him gained more nervous expressions. "I see that you also know this. Then, I would have to ask you to please leave our world."
"We would if we could," Nami admitted, holding up her hands defensively. "Our ship is broken though. Bulma's dad is working on it with our duck," she added, making sure he knew that they really were making an effort to leave.
"Hmm," Master Roshi hummed. He looked around at the group in front of him, "I do not know much about the circumstances around the Heartless and the Keyblade. However, I do believe that your arrival spells dark times not only for this world, but every world."
"That's what we're trying to stop," Sora said quickly. The boy held up a fist and looked into Master Roshi's eyes determinedly. "I won't let the darkness win." Roshi suddenly remembered the boy mentioning something about saving "princesses" and something about a specific girl. "I have to win," Sora added, his fist clenching harder, "to find Kairi, and save Riku."
Sora's friends looked at his back and they all started smiling as well feeling confident as the kid spoke. Sora lifted up his gaze and he lowered back down his fist, "But since we're stuck here for a little longer, I'll do my best to stop all of the Heartless that show up during our stay." He bowed his head a little, "I promise."
Roshi scratched his beard for a few seconds and then the old man smiled. "I guess that is acceptable, at least until the end of the tournament."
The others all smiled at him as well and Goofy spoke up, "We'll try not to meddle anymore sir."
"Very well," Roshi said. He turned from the group and started walking away, "I will see you tomorrow." He glanced over his shoulder and looked at both Sora and Luffy, "I look forward to your fights."
Everyone smiled at the old man and watched him leave. Once he was gone, Nami suggested going to get food and pulled out some Zeni that she got somehow during the day on her exploring with Robin. They went out to dinner and the women talked about how they had little luck finding the Keyhole, but Sora said that it was no problem since they had been running into it at the right time on every world. His optimistic attitude had everyone in high spirits, and they all headed back to the hotel looking hopeful for the following day.
When they arrived it was getting close to dark, and Usopp went to bed early as he was still pretty exhausted from his fight earlier in the day. The other pirates stayed up and talked for a while, and at one point Bulma showed up and invited them into the actual hotel instead of the huge vehicle she was letting them stay inside in the parking lot out front. They went inside and started playing cards with their new friends, and the mood was pretty cheerful despite Yamcha's brutal defeat earlier on.
Krillin moaned as Bulma took his last card and he fell back on his butt complaining about it. He looked up and turned to Luffy, "Anyway, where are Sora and Goofy?"
Nami sighed as she remembered what the kid told them right when they were arriving back at the hotel. A group of Heartless had appeared in front of them, and Sora told them to go on ahead and that he and Goofy would see them later. Since then, the boy had been missing. "He's out training," she said, then asked for any threes from Launch and smirked as the dark-blue-haired woman handed them over.
"Again?" Krillin asked in surprise, and the others turned to him confusedly. He saw that no one in the room understood what he was talking about and he brought up the night before when he and Yamcha went out to train and bumped into Sora and Goofy.
"No wonder Sora's gotten so strong lately," Nami said with a small laugh.
Robin nodded her head and Luffy smiled as well. They continued to play the game, but Master Roshi spoke up this time, "And what about your other comrade? The one who defeated Jackie Chun earlier?"
The pirates looked at each other and they all frowned. Luffy no longer seemed excited about the idea of having Smoker tag along with them, and he thought about his fight the next day and how he was planning on fighting the Smoke Man. Robin spoke up, "We don't know where Smoker-san is."
"Yeah, I haven't seen him since, well since that final match," Luffy admitted. "Wonder where he went?"
Smoker stood alone on the stage for the WMAT. His teeth were bared and a low growl constantly came out of his mouth. His fists clenched at his sides, and his white toga ruffled in the wind. Mugiwara…
Roronoa… Marines… Heartless… Justice… MUGIWARA… Conqueror's Haki… Tashigi… MUGIWARA! Smoker's breaths hitched and his chest started heaving in and out. The white-haired Marine Captain was struggling to keep his thoughts straight. His eyes were bloodshot and he stared straight ahead off the side of the stage in the direction of the hotel he was supposed to be at. He knew he could not go there though, not now. He knew he would not be able to hold himself back if he saw Straw Hat one more time tonight.
A single light shone on the side of the stage he was looking at, so his shadow was directly behind him, making it impossible for him to see. He could not see the growing outline that was larger than his own body and stretching farther and farther backwards. He did not see the curving smile on the shadow that glowed white while the rest of his shadow vibrated and shook. Smoker just stood there furiously glaring out into the distance, no idea how great his shadow had become.
"What were you doing on that world?" Maleficent questioned as she walked up in front of a giant glowing heart indented directly in the wall on her left. Filling the heart was a rainbow of different colored swirls mixing around with lightning bolts shooting inside of them. The Final Keyhole glimmered, awaiting her to open it, but it was not yet time. She walked up to the man in the black cloak casually leaning back against the wall near it. "You were supposed to be here, keeping watch for the King."
"I wasn't gone for long," the green haired man replied, barely looking over at the witch who spoke to him. "Just needed to check something out."
"This is the second time now you've gone to see them," Maleficent continued. "One would start to believe you are still fond of your old friends."
The man in front of her scoffed. He closed his eyes while leaning back against the wall. "Is this really all you came here to talk about?" Zoro questioned.
Maleficent frowned that he ignored her taunt and gave her no answer to the question she was looking for. She sighed though and continued in her authoritative tone, "Riku has reached the girl, but it seems he was too late. Just like it was for that woman you brought here." Maleficent turned and looked at the form lying still on her back ten yards in front of Zoro. "I do not understand why you keep her body-"
"Her heart could still be-" he hesitated for a second, "somewhere."
"True," Maleficent agreed. "But the chances are unlikely." The woman with black horns and a green tint to her face frowned at Zoro, then turned and started walking away. She said in a menacing tone, "Do not leave your post again. And if you do happen to run into your friends again," Zoro snarled at the words coming out of her mouth and she grinned while finishing, "make sure you take care of them, appropriately."
A black portal opened up in front of Maleficent and she stepped through it. Zoro finally turned and looked over at the spot she vanished from. "You don't need to tell me twice," he muttered. The man then turned swiftly and his black cloak waved in front of his body, revealing for a second his waist, and the three black hilts he had resting there. He opened up his eyes and narrowed them as he walked away, Luffy won't make it off Earth with Smoker gunning for him. He should have let Smoker drown in Alabasta… As the thoughts of that time long ago snuck into his mind, Zoro growled even deeper and he stopped walking.
The man froze and he glared at the open floor in front of him now that he was at the bottom of the steps leading to the Final Keyhole. "Whatever," he grumbled, and he waved his right hand in front of him. Out from the floor arose ten demonic-looking Heartless, five on either side of him. They held up huge swords, had arms and legs like a human though entirely jet black, wings sticking out of their backs and horns over their heads. The demon Heartless were called Invisibles, and Zoro reached down to his side as they all started flying towards him at once. He drew one sword first and put it in his mouth in between his upper and bottom rows of teeth, then drew another sword for each of his hands. A pissed-off expression filled Zoro's face and he growled loudly, slashing his blades around him and sending every one of the Invisibles sprawling backwards. Half of them were destroyed in one attack, but three others recovered and flew back towards him.
Two of the five turned invisible like their name implied and Zoro saw small black wisps indicating where they were and those wisps flew towards him. While he blocked the other three's swords, he saw the wisps dropping down to his level so he jumped up in the air and avoided them as they reappeared and tried hitting him. As he lifted up in the air he pulled back two of his swords and glared down at the floor, before swinging his blades and releasing a huge ranged slash that tore through the rest of his powerful opponents.
He landed back on the ground and sheathed his swords. The man was not even panting. He looked up and stared down the long hall at a set of double doors at the end. "I'll be waiting," he whispered.
A/N Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry for such a long wait. Tournament! Smoker! ZORO! Lots happening while the crew is stuck on this world. How long until the ship is back running? What will happen in Smoker and Luffy's fight? What about Zoro?! Find out soon on Broken Log Pose!