BLP 31:
"Zoro!"
"Get him!"
Luffy leaned backwards at what Zoro just said to him up close for the first time in what felt like forever. His eyes shook, and then he yelled out as Zoro put more strength into his slash and knocked Luffy's Keyblade and his body backwards. Zoro then lifted his sword and held the hilt back with one hand over his shoulder. The blade was pointed backwards diagonally down behind his back.
Usopp slashed his broadsword with both arms at full strength. Zoro did not turn around. He held his katana with one hand diagonally behind him, and Usopp's sword slammed into his. Sparks flew. Their blades trembled. Usopp pushed harder and harder, leaning forward and growling through his teeth. "Rrnnn- Haa HAAA!" Usopp slammed down, and Zoro stepped to the side while moving his blade away.
Usopp's broadsword dragged down Zoro's katana and smashed into the ice. He put so much force that his whole body hunched forward when Zoro finally moved because it was too much force to hold. Usopp thought that was why Zoro had moved at least, but he questioned if it was the real reason when Zoro's left elbow slammed back and caught him in between the eyes because of how he had hunched forward following-through with that slash.
Usopp stumbled backwards. He pulled the sword off the ground though and slashed up while Luffy ran back forward and attacked with his Keyblade. "I didn't know- the world would have fallen anyway!" Luffy exclaimed. He was flustered after what Zoro said to him in their first meeting for what had been a decade for the swordsman. "It's not my fault!"
"Don't let him get in your head, Luffy!" Usopp yelled while slashing again as Zoro parried him then swung his blade in front and parried Luffy. Zoro moved faster and parried both of them as fast as they could slash at him.
Smoker shot in towards Zoro's left side. Four hands emerged out of Zoro's waist and grabbed the other two hilts there before Zoro could draw another sword. Zoro's eyes darted towards Robin who stumbled backwards with all of her hands flinching at the look in his eyes. Zoro's pupils dilated and Robin dropped down to her right knee. "Robin!" Chopper yelled over towards the woman.
"Shitty bastard!" Sanji yelled.
Zoro drew his second sword while parrying Usopp and Luffy. He slashed his left arm towards Smoker whose body erupted into a wall of smoke and yanked away the core of it. Zoro's flying slash off the end of his sword cut through smoke and made blood splash out of the cloud. Haki, even in a flying slash, Smoker gasped while pulling his body back together. He staggered around and reached to the left side of his stomach where the cut had remained on him. Shallower than last time. I can't avoid him by turning into Smoke though.
Smoker's fists covered in dark Armament Haki. Usopp stepped back and closed his eyes while Luffy fired a ball of Fire magic at Zoro who jumped up in the air to dodge it. Usopp covered his blade in the willpower force that Smoker had been training him in. His did not appear as a dark coating, but he could feel the invisible force present on his blade.
Zoro's eyes darted from Luffy, back to Usopp, and over to Smoker. He rose the sword in his left hand up to his mouth and bit down on the hilt. Then his free left hand lifted at his side while he dropped back down onto his feet between those three. Directly behind him, Chopper and Sanji were running towards his back. The two of them skid to stops as Zoro wanted to only focus on the three he was already facing. Two dark spheres emerged out of thin air in front of the other two pirates.
The doctor and cook stopped short. Luffy darted his eyes over towards these two creatures with wide eyes too for a second at the sight of them. They were much smaller, but their muscular and dark bodies looked reminiscent of giant Heartless he had fought before. Almost like the Darksides, these two Heartless had humanoid bodies in that they had two arms and two legs. Their torsos were muscular. They had glowing yellow eyes. Two tall horns sticking off the tops of their heads. These smaller ones had wings on their backs though, and coming off of their elbows. They had long tails that pointed at the end in curved sharp blades. Their tails were not as sharp as the actual swords that each of them held. Tall silver weapons larger than Usopp's broadsword. On the bottom of those blades the word 'Hardcore' was carved into the steel. Their chests had pitch black heart-shaped holes on them that they could not see through but did not look to be continuations of the dark blue flesh of the Heartless monsters.
The Invisibles were clearly powerful, but neither Chopper nor Sanji were expecting the speed at which the two flew towards them and slashed with their huge blades. The two barely managed dodging, but their dodges took them farther away from Zoro who sprinted forward at Luffy. "Damn it," Sanji growled. He spun and kicked up towards the flat side of the blade of the Invisible striking at him. His leg collided, and he pressed against the blade for a second before forcing it back. He pressed his hands down on the ice and kicked three more times into the body of the monster, only for its whole form to turn into a black will-o-wisp that circled behind him and then reformed with its sword arm first shooting out of the dark cloud and slashing into Sanji's back.
"Guard Point!" Chopper puffed out with fur and blocked the slash of the Invisible attacking him. He transformed back into Horn Point and charged at the Heartless, but when he tried to stab it, the dark creation turned into the same wispy form that he had seen attack Sanji. He went into Jump Point at the last second and leapt up high to dodge the attack as the Invisible turned back solid again.
Forget saving strength for the bosses, Robin thought while panting down on one knee and wondering what Zoro just did to have her drop as she had. Was that Conqueror's Haki? I've seen Luffy use it unknowingly, but Zoro seems to have it as well. He is conscious of that power and directed his will straight towards me. But, I should not be this tired from that. My heart already feels weakened. I want to stand- "Ahhn," Robin groaned and grabbed at her chest tightly with her right hand, though she did push her left palm into the floor and struggled onto her feet. I want to fight with Luffy.
Robin looked up and stared towards the man who had stood by her even after her betrayal in Agrabah. When others told him to abandon her, she thought of the man rushing towards her and shouting out her name. Luffy let his Keyblade disappear and he pressed his right fist into the floor. His arm scrunched up and then straightened out. His skin turned red and steaming. Zoro had seen this before though. He did not look surprised, and he was prepared as Luffy's right fist flew at him faster than Smoker or Usopp approached. "Gear, Second: Jet Pistol!"
Luffy's fist pressed against the flat side of Zoro's sword that he rose quickly in front of Luffy's attack. They pressed against each other, and then Luffy's shaking and steaming fist opened up and wrapped around the blade that cut through the insides of his fingers. "Jet Rocket!" He yelled. Now that he had Zoro's blade gripped in his hand, there was nowhere for Zoro to run to. Luffy's body slammed into Zoro's and knocked the swordsman off his feet, flying past a surprised Usopp who spun his head and then sprinted after the smoke cloud that also chased the pirate captain and his first crew member rolling away.
Luffy pinned Zoro down beneath him as they slid over the ice. "Zoro! I'm sorry!" Luffy yelled. His crewmates behind him and Smoker too all stared towards Luffy in surprise at that shout. He did not yell another excuse this time. Luffy just leaned his head down close to Zoro's and yelled into his face, "I'm sorry, that I didn't find you sooner. But I just got out here! I don't get it, but it happened-" Zoro pulled his right leg up swiftly and kneed Luffy in the chest much harder than Luffy was expecting.
That hurt, Luffy thought with his eyes clenched shut in pain as he flew up in the air off Zoro's kick. It's that Haki stuff. I'm rubber but it doesn't matter. Luffy squinted his eyes open and stared down towards his dark crewmate who was back on his feet again and glaring up at him. Zoro had not reacted to his apology nor his explanation. The kick came and it hurt. He's trying to hurt us. Is he, trying to kill us? Luffy could not tell. He could not read the face of the man he was falling back down towards at all.
Luffy bit down angrily. His teeth ground and he threw both of his hands back at his sides. I don't know what you want. Or what I can do! Luffy growled and then started punching his fists down as fast as he could. "Jet GATTLING GUN!" Ice cracked around Zoro and huge chunks blasted up in the air as Luffy punched as many times as he could and as fast as he could down into his crewmate who he was certain could take it all. Zoro leaned back and forth but had to jump backwards as the ground below him started collapsing. So I'll just fight you! If that's what you want, Zoro. I'm going to kick your ass!
Meanwhile on a nearby area of the icy world. "…how'd you really get here? Your story doesn't make sense." Riku stared down at the hairy creature that groaned and pushed back up onto its hands and knees from where it had fallen on its face. "Without a ship, or help from the Heartless, you could not have made it to this world."
"I have to find Belle. And so I am here," the Beast dragged his right hand back to his chest while pushing off the ground. "Which means she must be here! TELL ME WHERE! ROAAA!"
"Take her if you can." Riku leapt forward and flipped over the claw that the Beast slashed at him. He landed on the Beast's other side with his sword slashed out, and the Beast stumbled forward then collapsed with an agonized gasp.
"Riku! Stop!" Sora yelled out as the iceberg he was on rose up to the ledge at that moment and allowed him to jump off. He ran towards his friend who turned his head towards Sora calmly and with a smirk over his face. Sora ran right up in front of the collapsed beast and stopped when he was in front of the monster's outstretched arms. Standing between the Beast and his friend who had cut him down.
Donald and Goofy ran up behind Sora. Nami jogged closer as well but glanced at the large hairy monster that looked powerful and had made her shiver when she heard its bellowing roar a minute ago. That creature had been taken down with ease though by the boy she looked up to cautiously and with an uneasy expression.
"So, you finally made it," Riku said while staring back towards his best friend. "About time. I'd been wondering if you were ever going to show up."
"Riku," Sora whispered. He leaned forward and called out, "No need to wonder. I'm right here!"
"Too you long enough. I've been waiting for you, Sora," Riku's voice got more nostalgic and less of the teasing tone he had in it a second ago. He lowered his head a bit and wondered to his friend, "We've always been rivals, haven't we? You've always pushed me. As I've always pushed you…" Riku's voice had a hint of sadness in it, like this friendly rivalry he was talking about was something of the past that no longer existed.
"That's," Sora whispered. "Riku…" Sora stepped towards him but Riku called out and stopped him in his tracks.
"But it all ends here. There can't be two Keyblade masters," Riku held his hands up to the sides and shrugged as if this could not be helped.
Sora shook his head in confusion though and waved an arm out to his side in annoyance at Riku's weird cryptic conversation. "What are you talking about?"
I have a bad feeling about this, Nami gulped and reached down to the pieces of her Clima Tact down at her side. She readied herself to put them together at any moment.
"Let the Keyblade choose," Riku called out while putting his hand to his chest. He swung his right hand out and reached for Sora, shouting, "Its true master!"
A Keyblade flashed into existence in Sora's hand and tugged forward away from him. He grabbed it with both hands while gasping out in surprise as he had not summoned the weapon to appear.
On a glacier nearby, Luffy stopped sprinting and skid to a stop while looking to his right hand and the Keyblade that had reappeared in it. Ahead of him, Usopp snapped towards Zoro, "Where's all that dark power you bragged about last time?" Zoro glanced sideways at him but noticed something in his peripheral vision that had him turning back towards Luffy. Usopp grit his teeth angrily but stayed planted firmly on a flatter and more solid section of ice than the broken-up chunks that Zoro stood on.
Smoker stood opposite Zoro as Usopp on the swordsman's left side. In the corner of Smoker's vision he saw what just distracted Roronoa too and he glanced over when he saw the confused look on Straw Hat's face. "Huh?" Luffy muttered while looking at the shaking Keyblade closely.
Back behind Luffy, a dark-haired woman wobbled forward while reaching up to her chest and grabbing it in pain. "Robin!" Sanji yelled out towards her while Luffy was already looking over his shoulder, feeling something in his own heart that told him to look back that way.
"That just doesn't look right in your hands, Luffy," Zoro taunted towards his former captain who spun back in Zoro's direction and looked at him confusedly. "Because it never belonged there."
"What are you talking about?" Luffy shouted at the older man.
"You never thought it was strange that a pirate like you got his hands on the Keyblade?" Zoro wondered.
Smoker tilted his head back and darted his gaze to Luffy again and then at Zoro. Chopper and Sanji had run up on Robin's sides to help the woman who suddenly collapsed down to her knees. They all looked towards Luffy and past him to Zoro themselves though at what he was saying. "A weapon like that was never meant for you. And now, it seems, the course-correction is complete."
Luffy stumbled forward as his Keyblade yanked away from him. Then it vanished. It disappeared into a bright flash of light particles that faded away a second later. Luffy stared in confusion at his hand for a few seconds. He swung his arm out to the side. He waved his hand in front of him, clearly trying to summon the weapon. "Keyblade! I said- Keyblade, come! What gives? What did you do?!" Luffy yelled towards Zoro.
Zoro shook his head back and forth though. "It seems Maleficent's plan is going without a hitch."
Back at the top of the floating glaciers, Sora's own Keyblade vanished from his hands no matter how hard he pulled back against it when Riku was holding out his own hand to summon it to him. Light flashed around his hands and the Keyblade disappeared. "Huh?!"
"What?!"
"Oh no," Nami whispered while already seeing the light start shining around Riku's risen hand. She stepped back nervously, while Donald and Goofy also stared in shock towards the Kingdom Keyblade with the yellow hilt that appeared in Riku's grasp. It was not even the same weapon that Sora had been holding a moment ago, but it was undoubtedly a Keyblade.
"Maleficent was right," Riku turned the weapon over in his hands and examined it with a smug and reassured look. He lowered the blade and pointed his free hand at Sora, "You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me." Riku put his hand back on his chest and over his strong heart, bragging, "Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door, and change the world."
"But that's impossible," Sora whispered. "How did this happen?" He shook his head angrily and shouted back at Riku, "I'm the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"
"You were just the delivery boy." Riku taunted while still looking over his new shiny Keyblade with interest. He cocked his head to the side and let it vanish, then he pulled out another weapon from behind his back. "Sorry," he glanced towards Sora and shrugged his shoulders. "But your part is over now. Here, go play hero with this," Riku tossed the wooden sword that they used to play with back on their worlds towards his stunned friend who finally dropped down to his knees and then his hands too at what had happened.
"Riku! That's enough-"
"The pirates," Riku muttered, glancing towards Nami and acknowledging her for the first time. "I suggest you get out of here. You're not needed anymore. It's not like Luffy will still have his Keyblade anymore either."
Donald and Goofy had looked back and forth at each other anxiously after Sora collapsed down in between them. They spun towards Riku again though in surprise at what he just said. "What?" Donald exclaimed.
"What do you mean, by that?" Nami asked softly.
"That Keyblade was never yours, Luffy," Zoro called to his former captain who stared in shock back towards Zoro.
"I, don't get it," Sanji muttered. He stood up and stepped closer to Luffy's back. "I thought you've had that since back on those islands. Back on our world."
"Yeah, Luffy's the Keyblade wielder," Usopp snapped at Zoro for being annoying and making stuff up.
Smoker stayed quiet though. It didn't make sense to me. What Roronoa is saying, does not sound unbelievable to me.
"You really think the Keyblade would pick someone who cared so little about what happened to the worlds?" Zoro said it and even though Luffy's crew had been backing him up, Luffy himself hesitated as it was not the first time he had had the thought. He imagined back when Leon first explained this all to him and he just flat-out ignored it. "You got that Keyblade, by accident."
"That's not true! Luffy got it because he's meant to save the worlds," Usopp denied Zoro angrily.
"Hmph," Zoro scoffed at the idea of it. He shook his head while Usopp turned back to Luffy who looked at him in surprise that Usopp thought that of him. Then they all looked back at Zoro as he said, "Luffy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don't you remember, Luffy? I've seen how our world fell after I vanished into the darkness. Unlike myself, when you sank into the darkness you came back out of it fast. Reappeared out of that darkness that pulled you in, when no one else did. No one else… except for Sora."
Luffy's eyes slowly grew wider but mostly in confusion. He did recall what Zoro was talking about though. He thought back on the bridge when he had sank down, and Zoro spoke as he thought back on it, "On Destiny Islands, you threw your arm around Sora when you both got sucked into the darkness." Everyone else looked towards Luffy as they had not heard about this and yet Luffy was not denying it so it must be true. Zoro continued, "Your physical bodies faded, your hearts all that remained, and yet you were still connected."
"Holding onto each other through all of that. You didn't want to let go. Sinking into the unknown you held onto one another. No one wants to be alone," Zoro hesitated after saying that and then continued louder towards his captain who flinched and stared at Zoro with even wider and shakier eyes. "Sora's Keyblade powers were awakened within him while your hearts were connected, and ever since, you've been able to use the Keyblade."
"But not anymore," Zoro said darkly.
"What happened to Sora?!" Luffy roared towards Zoro in fury.
"Nothing," Zoro replied. "Only that his heart was not strong enough to hold onto the Keyblade any longer. By now, Riku's already taken over as the Keyblade master. And with this being the end of the story for Sora," Zoro tilted his head back and stared down his nose towards the pirate captain. "That makes it the end of the line for you too. All of you no longer have any part to play in this story."
Zoro sheathed his blades. "Get back on your ship. Leave this world. Go, explore the stars or something. Space pirates. Adventure. Sounds nice, doesn't it?" Zoro turned towards Smoker who he faced alone now. Smoker had a different goal here that he was not going to be able to just tell the man off from. He paused while looking at that Marine, and he curled his mouth down more at the corners thinking of Smoker's purpose here. "You traveled across the stars for her. Yet she's still, without her heart. You should go as well."
"Not without my-"
"ZORO!" Luffy shouted in rage. "What are you- I'm not leaving…" Luffy balled his fists confusedly and furiously at his sides. "You don't get to tell me where to go. I'm the captain! And I'm staying here. I'm, going to get you back."
Zoro tilted his head back and turned Luffy's way with an annoyed look at the pirate. "Do you not believe me-"
"Whether I have the Keyblade or not doesn't matter!" Luffy yelled while swinging his right arm out to the side in anger. "That never mattered! I came out into space looking for you. For everyone! And we're all together again. Zoro, we can be together."
"Luffy," Usopp growled under his breath. "Don't you hear him?"
"Bastard doesn't want to be part of the crew anymore," Sanji said while stepping up on Luffy's right side and glaring into Zoro's eyes himself. "But tell us, what are you doing to Robin-chan?"
Zoro glanced past Luffy and to the woman down on both knees. Her head was partially bowed but lifted enough with Chopper's help that through her one squinted eye she could stare towards him. Zoro looked into Robin's eye and hesitated. "I, don't…" Zoro muttered. He stopped responding after a second though and just frowned deeper while looking back closer into Sanji's eyes. "I don't care." It sounded like he was going to finish with 'know' at first but had changed it up in a way that angered Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp a lot more.
"You aren't getting out of here without a fight," Smoker snarled at the green-haired villain who sounded finished with their battle when none of them were ready for that.
"I came to distract you. I didn't need to stay in order to defeat you. The Heartless alone can do that. Especially now with your lack of a Keyblade," Zoro said while looking back to Luffy. "I figured I'd let you live because of our pasts together. If you still want to be killed. Fine." Dark wisps seeped out of the ground underneath the cracked ice. Black lines seeped up through the floor all over the glacier around Zoro.
Everyone staring towards him started backing up. A dark shadow was rising up underneath the ice. Zoro rose his right hand up at his side and brought it higher in front of his body while dark wisps came off it. Crack- creeeak… More cracks shot through the ice as whatever was below them started coming up.
"Luffy! Move back!" Sanji yelled to his captain who was not backpedaling like he had begun to. The ground under Luffy's feet was breaking apart and the captain was losing his balance. Chopper grit his teeth but had to pop in another Rumble Ball because he could not carry Robin away like this and she was too weak to stand. He transformed into Guard Point on accident, then Horn, and finally he got Jump Point like he was looking for and managed to leap up in the air with Robin right before the glacier cracked apart beneath him.
"Zoro," Usopp said. His growl got softer while Smoker flew up in the air on Roronoa's other side to get farther away himself from whatever was coming. Just above the most broken-up ice though, Usopp kept his balance and glared down into Zoro's eyes that turned towards his own. "Is this really what you want to do? Did you, ever wonder why only we got pulled back in time?" Usopp wondered to the other man who had aged a lot since their world had fallen.
Zoro did not respond immediately. Usopp continued quickly at him, "All the others just showed up out here in space. Our world just fell. But the two of us were pulled back through time. Why?" Usopp gasped towards him the question then took a step back and needed to throw his arms out to his sides to balance himself on breaking ice. Usopp's eyes snapped to the darkening ice below him where he heard a low roar coming from through the cracks. He looked back up at his quiet opponent though and asked him, "How was it that Maleficent found you?"
Zoro's eyes narrowed darkly at the muscular man in a toga who glared back just as dark. "An evil witch like her," Usopp suggested. He was hinting at something that made Zoro lower his right hand back to his hilts- "It makes sense!" Usopp yelled at him angrily that Zoro would react like that. It made Zoro's hand flinch near his hilts rather than grip onto them. "She's playing you-"
"Ten, years," Zoro growled. His voice pierced the air between them over the sounds of cracking ice and a roaring Heartless beast on the rise. Usopp froze. His mouth was still open but slowly closed as he stared down and into Zoro's eyes that were hardened and cold. "Ten years," he repeated. It shut Usopp up. The long-nosed man pursed his lips but struggled to come up with a single response for that.
Zoro broke their eye contact first and looked away. He removed his hand from near his hilts and just swung it behind him with a flare of black flames surrounding it. A swirl of darkness pulled up from below his feet and surrounded him. Zoro vanished. CRACK! The ground under where Zoro just stood broke apart, and a massive blue hand shot up into the air.
A head of ice lifted from below the surface. The monster was shrouded in dark wisps that pulled away from it and swirled in the air around the beast. The head was rounded and had three glowing yellow eyes on the center of its pitch black face a darker shade than the rest of the dark-blue body. Four huge ice arms reached up and pressed down on the edges of the hole in the glacier to pull the monster higher up.
"Did he just make that thing?!" Sanji yelled out, trying and failing to mask his panic that Zoro had just summoned some giant Heartless.
"Luffy! We have to go!" Chopper yelled towards his captain.
"No." Luffy did not hesitate. "I meant it. Keyblade or not, we're going to that castle. We're kicking Maleficent's ass!" Luffy balled his fists and started running back over the ice towards the monster that stood over a hundred feet tall. "And I'm kicking Zoro's ass too! And maybe Riku's! Definitely the Heartless' ass! I'll beat them all up!"
"What will that accomplish?!" Sanji yelled towards his captain who had just done his best to talk to Zoro only for their comrade to call in a monster to kill them. "He's gone, Luffy. It's been too long-"
"It's not too late," Luffy denied. He jumped up high in the air and shouted, "It's not over!" His voice got quieter as he flew between giant arms of the icy Heartless. "Not yet. I won't let that be the end, Zoro. IT'S NOT OVER YET!" Luffy roared and bit down into his thumb. He slammed his right giant fist forward straight into the face of the giant Heartless that stumbled backwards at the blow.
Smoker glared towards the spot that Roronoa had just disappeared from. He ground his teeth in fury and spun towards the distant floating castle, then back to the giant Heartless that he could take out his frustration on now rather than hold it all in for later. A pillar of smoke rose up beneath him and shot him high into the sky, and he sent a huge mass of it into the wobbling giant that went from stumbling backwards to back and the right as it was hit on the left side by a giant moving cloud.
Usopp sprinted forward and shot past the right leg that the monster put all its weight onto as its left lifted up. He slashed as he went by it, biting down in his own fury as he thought about the way Zoro looked right there before vanishing. Does he know? Did he figure it out on his own, or is he actually mad that I suggested it? Could a blockhead like Zoro have thought of something like that before, or did I just shatter ten years of his life? Ten years. Ten years lost, all alone… Usopp was angry at the man he was thinking of, but that anger did not keep tears from forming in both eyes.
Nami spun her head around at the platform below the stone archway at the top of the floating glaciers. She looked up over the edge of the cliff to where she saw the very top of the Heartless as well as Luffy and Smoker's last attacks. She spun back forward as Riku just glanced that way before scoffing and turning away from his own friend who he had tossed a wooden sword to, only adding insult to injury. "I need to get going. She's waiting for me," Riku said. Then he started away back for the castle of Hollow Bastion.
I'm not going anywhere with him. "Sora," Nami stepped up next to Sora and lowered down onto her right knee. She put a hand on his back as the dejected boy kept his head down and his shaking eyes staring in disbelief at the floor at how he had lost his Keyblade.
"Goofy, let's go."
Nami rose her head in surprise and then shock as Donald had took a step forward after Riku. Donald turned to Goofy and reminded his comrade, "We have to remember our mission."
"You can't be serious," Nami whispered. Her hand was on Sora's back, but she felt his heart pounding even faster as he flinched hearing what Donald just said. She looked back to him then up at Goofy who tilted his head and nodded as if he just remembered himself.
"Oh! Well, I know the King told us to follow the key and all…" Goofy scratched his chin but turned his head sideways and glanced behind him. "But…"
Donald started walking and Goofy moaned softly and regretfully but started forward after him. "Donald! Goofy!" Nami exclaimed. Donald bowed his head when he stopped for a second. Goofy turned and looked sadly back at Nami who met his gaze and looked hopeful that they might stop. Goofy looked away though and then turned forward and kept walking.
Donald started walking again but stopped. The duck could not bear to turn all the way around, but his head did twist a bit to the side for a second. "Sora, sorry…" Donald looked back ahead and kept going. He and Goofy were on a mission. They each closed their eyes regretfully but then focused on Riku who glanced over his shoulder and grinned as he saw them following after him.
Nami watched as the two animal creatures they had been traveling with for all this time left them behind. Her heart hurt, but it hurt more for the boy next to her who had been closer to them than anyone. The rest of us are on the same crew. We're already a team. It felt like, the three of them were their own team too. And they just left him. Nami rubbed her hand up and down on Sora's back. She stopped though and tensed up while turning to the furry creature in a purple cape who staggered forward behind her. I didn't even see him get up!
The Beast's expression was scary as it stepped up on Sora's other side as where Nami knelt. Sora lifted his head and watched as Beast walked by him and kept going forward in the same direction all the others had walked to. He was a massive figure, but the Beast was staggering and dropped down to his hands and knees after only a few more steps. Sora watched him fall, and the boy took a second before getting up on his feet again and rushing forward to Beast's side. "Hey, don't move. You're hurt."
Nami stared with her eyes massive at the sight of the kid who just bounced back in a second. Sora looked concerned for the Beast she was more afraid of than afraid for, but Sora was only looking worriedly at the Beast's injuries sustained against Riku. The groaning Beast down on elbows and knees lifted his panting face and stared off ahead of him and up at that castle. "Why…" he growled. "Why did you… you come here?"
"I came, to fight for Belle," the Beast snarled. He sounded to be in horrible pain. His arms pushed back down though and he struggled onto his feet once again. "And though I am alone, I will fight." Nami's eyes widened even more but in admiration of this scary figure now who sounded to be in love. "I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here."
Sora stared at the Beast as it continued to walk past him. His blue eyes steadied and then refocused up on that same castle the Beast was marching towards. He turned around and looked down at the wooden sword on the floor. Sora stepped back towards it and reached down. "Sora, that's not," Nami started to the kid who looked way too confident to be picking up a toy.
"It was never the Keyblade that brought me here," Sora said softly while looking at the wooden sword he held in front of him. He slashed it back and forth then turned after the Beast that looked over its own shoulder towards him too. "I'm not giving up either," Sora said towards the Beast that looked back forward. Sora ran up to his left side and they each stared towards the castle together. "I came here to find someone very important to me."
"Rrrr," Beast nodded its head. The two had come to an agreement without needing to explain it to one another. They were in this together now. They each took a step. Then they froze and Sora spun his head to the right fast. Nami was just lifting her arm towards Sora's back to try and say something to stop him from being so reckless, but her face paled and she spun around too and looked up onto the ice cliff.
The glimpse of a fight they spotted before had suddenly become a much clearer view. The ice Heartless had its back to them but was skidding backwards with its heels digging up huge shards of ice that broke apart away from it like wakes being dragged in the glacier. The monster lifted up its left leg when it stopped skidding, and it stopped that leg forward in a way that made the glacier ahead of it explode upwards with huge spikes of ice. Screams rang out from up on the cliff, and Sora spun the rest of the way around when he heard them. "Oh no. They need help!" Sora glanced at his wooden sword but then just focused up at the huge monster and ignored the feeling of the weak weapon in his hands.
"Hrrr, rrrr," Beast snarled while darting a look up onto that cliff then back towards the castle again. "Belle is not that way."
"Please," Sora asked his new companion. "My friends are strong. They can help too if we go help them first. Trust me," Sora said. Beast turned back to the boy and stared closely at the child's face that looked too earnest for him not to trust the kid's words. Beast nodded his head with a grunt, and he and Sora started running for a floating ice glacier that could get them up closer to the cliff's edge. "Come on, Nami!" Sora called at the woman they ran past who stumbled on the ice as she spun and ran with them too.
Sora stared up at the cliff's edge from the high point that their glacier floated up to. It was the highest one in the area, but it was still far below the top of the wall. "We have to find a way up there somehow," Sora said while looking around for another way up.
A furry hand grasped him by the scruff of his neck. "Huh? AHH!" Sora got launched up into the air. He flipped around and started gliding forward towards the back of the huge ice beast in front of him that slammed both arms down to its sides and made another two long lines of ice spikes shoot out of the ground in both directions. "Hey ugly!"
"Please don't throw me," Nami whispered nervously to the Beast that just picked her up too.
Beast frowned and looked at the woman closely. Then he grunted again and just tucked her into his armpit instead. The Beast bent its legs, and he leapt up high into the air and to the cliff he released Nami carefully down on. She smiled gratefully at the monstrous figure who seemed nicer than his gruff exterior gave off. Then she attached the pieces of her Clima Tact quickly and ran forward after him as the Beast was already charging forward. "ROOOAAAARRR!" Beast roared while running at the icy leg that he slashed his claws into.
Sora slammed his wooden sword into the back of the massive Heartless. He glided around its body and slashed back and forth the whole time he was dropping. "Sora!" Usopp exclaimed up towards the spiky-haired boy who flew around the front of the monster for a second only to keep going around its other side. The Heartless turned its upper body and then started lifting its legs to turn more and get a swing on the distracting kid whose blows were doing nothing to it with the weak toy sword in his hands.
Usopp focused on that wooden sword for a moment right before Sora wrapped around and went behind the monster again. Zoro wasn't lying then. "Luffy, get up," Usopp ran over to the captain who lay on his back after the last huge Gear Third attack that sent the ice monster skidding almost all the way to the cliff's edge. "If you hit it again like that," Usopp said while helping Luffy onto wobbly feet. "You'll knock it off the cliff and it'll fall past the edge of the lower area too. We're close to the gap now." Usopp remembered the huge drop he saw on their initial descent after the glaciers ended to down far below Hollow Bastion's castle.
Luffy nodded his head back at Usopp and then grabbed his friend and leapt them both away from the spot where the ground was rumbling. A huge spike of ice broke up out of the ground where they were just standing, and small chunks of shrapnel flew towards them and hit the two in their backs. They rolled on their landings and had to flip over and skid back onto their feet.
"We'll get the legs, Captain!" Sanji shouted towards Luffy on his far left. Luffy looked over and saw Chopper transform correctly this time into Horn Point, and Sanji leapt onto the reindeer's back. Chopper started charging forward and dodging back and forth away from spikes of ice breaking out of the ground seemingly on their own as the giant was distracted by Sora at the moment.
A flash of lightning went off and hit the monster in its back. Luffy spun as he was sprinting already. He looked towards Sora, then he turned even more and lowered his lips down for a second at the corners at the sight of Nami twirling her Clima Tact and making more bubbles pop out of it. Sora dropped down next to Beast and just ran at the monster's left leg that he slashed back and forth at with his wooden sword. "Nothing," he muttered in frustration. Sora closed his eyes and focused on the tip of his sword. It wasn't the Keyblade. Leon could use magic too. And so can I! "FIRE!"
A fireball shot out from the tip of Sora's wooden sword that he pointed to direct it. His magic hit the back of the Heartless' leg and he grinned wide that it worked. Then that leg kicked backwards and Sora twisted his sword to block. The leg was much too heavy. He went flying backwards, while the Beast crossed its arms and made the leg slow down while pushing him backwards across the ice much slower than Sora had just gotten launched.
"Oi Nami! Get Sora away from there!" Smoker yelled down towards the woman surprised to hear him shout at her. She looked up towards the Marine who flew around the side of the monster's head and started shrouding its face with his Smoke body. Nami looked down and between the legs of the monster towards another man running forwards who put his thumbs in his mouth again.
Nami's eyes bulged and she spun towards Sora. "Sora! Let's move!" Nami ran to the boy and grabbed him by the hand. Sora's eyes were locked up in the sky towards Smoker whose human body he had seen before the man transformed more into a cloud of smoke. There was blood all over Smoker's toga again in the midsection. Sora spun to Nami and then refocused on the fight itself as he looked towards Luffy whose voice just echoed around the landscape.
"Hey! Move away from there!" Sora yelled back towards the Beast that dove to the side and let the leg pushing against him finally kick all the way back. That made the ice monster off-balanced, which was great for Sanji and Chopper who kicked and horned into the other leg planted more firmly to the glacier's surface.
Usopp grabbed his captain by the back of his shirt and then threw with all his might forwards. "GIGANTO BAZOOKA!" Luffy swung both arms in front of him and then yelled out at the top of his lungs while slamming his arms into the body of the ice giant that lifted off its wobbling legs. It flew backwards over the head of the Beast that dove for cover. Sanji and Chopper dove the other way as ice broke apart below the leg that had just tried to connect itself to the ground in order to prevent it from being blown away when these two had attacked it.
The ice giant lowered its legs back down and they touched the top of the glacier. It skid backwards, ice pulling off of its legs to anchor it… Then it hit the edge of the cliff and passed that too as it still had too much momentum. The huge ice Heartless flew off the cliff and beyond any protruding section, dropping hundreds upon hundreds of meters down so far that no one up there even heard the final collision with the ground.
Luffy dropped back to the ground and panted exhaustedly after the battle. His body shrank down after that much Gear Third use which frustrated him as he kept thinking he was past the side effects already. Smoker lowered down out of the air and put his hands on his knees while Chopper ran towards the man whose stomach was bleeding badly. Chopper reached into his bag. A flash of green light surrounded Smoker first. Chopper was surprised as he had not pulled out the hi-potion yet.
Everyone spun towards the teenage boy running towards them who checked out Smoker but could tell the Marine was fine when Smoker stood up and touched his stomach in surprise to feel that the slash wound had faded away. "Sora," Sanji said as the kid slowed and stopped in front of him. "You lost the Keyblade too?" Sanji wondered, though he figured he already knew the answer to that.
Sora lowered his gaze to the floor for a second then sideways at Sanji who he lifted a small forced smile at. "Yeah. But I can still use my magic. If I really focus." Sora looked at Luffy who struggled back onto his feet in front of him. "You could probably do the same, Luffy."
"You knew, Luffy lost his?" Usopp wondered to the kid. Did he know that stuff Zoro was talking about already?
"Riku said something about it. That Luffy no longer had his either. That's, why Donald and Goofy left with him instead," Sora finished while glancing away and trying to hide the pained look as he just stared back towards Hollow Bastion himself.
Chopper stared with huge eyes at Sora when he said that. Donald? Chopper thought of the duck who he had spent a lot of time flying their ships and working on them with.
Nami thought of the dog man who she had been saved by on multiple occasions during their journey. She glanced towards Luffy who was staring at her with huge eyes wondering if that was true. She paused for a second and then nodded at her astonished captain who balled his fists in anger after a second thinking on the two he had been traveling with practically since leaving his world.
"Robin-chan, hey!" Sanji jogged towards the woman but stopped as she held up a palm for him. Everyone else looked towards the older woman who was slowly walking towards them looking like she had regained some composure from before. Sora cocked his head to the side wondering what was wrong, and Nami also gave her friend a concerned look as whatever had been affecting Robin since their landing had not seemed to cease as of yet. Sanji stepped up to her side despite her holding a palm for him to stop, and he put an arm under her left and helped her continue forward which she thanked him for softly under her breath. "Are you alright?" Sanji wondered.
"Robin?" Luffy asked the woman who looked back towards him and shook her head with a smile for him not to worry about her.
"Well," Usopp began now that everyone was there. Or everyone who's coming, he thought, also stunned that Goofy and Donald had left with Riku. "We've lost the Keyblades. And Donald and Goofy. We're in bad shape for the world with the strongest Heartless on it."
"No to mention all of the big bads in one place," Sanji added.
Luffy darted a look to his chef then grit his teeth and balled his fists harder as Sanji was considering Zoro as one of those 'big bads.'
"It doesn't matter," Sora said. He lifted his wooden sword in front of him and slashed then put it up over his shoulder and strapped it to his back. He looked at Sanji with a confident look then back at Luffy who stared back at him frustratedly and looking conflicted. "We're not giving up. Right Luffy?"
Luffy tilted his head back and then smiled too after only a second of looking at Sora's confident expression. "Nope," Luffy agreed.
Smoker nodded his head as well without hesitation. Donald and Goofy have their mission. The Keyblade is what they were following. Never this ragtag group. Still, if they're following Riku now, that means they'll be on Maleficent's side. Unfortunate for us. I've seen how strong they are, and they know our strengths too. Smoker pulled out a new cigar as he considered facing their old allies in the upcoming battles. He darted a look to the hairy Beast that Sora turned to and smiled at as if showing off that he knew his friends would agree to come help them out after that ice monster was defeated. Luffy ran up to the two of them and started asking Sora who this was, then Beast turned and started back towards the castle himself which made the decision for when they were leaving for all of them.
Smoker lagged behind for a few seconds despite being one of the first ready to just keep going despite their early losses. Maleficent, Straw Hat, Roronoa, Usopp, Riku, Sora, Donald, the reindeer, Goofy, Nami, Sanji, Nico Robin… Myself. It seems we still have a bit of the advantage in numbers. But then we have to remember their endless armies of Heartless. Still, we'll have another ally soon enough to help thin those hordes. Tashigi. Smoker's eyes narrowed in a darker glare up at the castle he started walking towards as well. I'm coming right now. Just hold on.
Inside of Hollow Bastion, Maleficent threw open a set of double doors and stared into the room that Roronoa Zoro already stood inside of. "Staring at that glass case again," Maleficent remarked snidely. She stepped into the room and slammed the butt of her staff down on the ground. "Tell me. What is it you wish to accomplish by gawking at that lifeless woman?"
Zoro grumbled and made no actual words of response for her. "Hahh," Maleficent sighed and then started walking around the outside of the hall that Zoro spent much of his time in lately. "This distraction is becoming an unsightly habit of yours."
"Why…" Zoro stopped himself. Maleficent continued pacing around the room but turned her head in and looked towards the man who glanced sideways at her for a moment before staring back into the glass tube. "What is happening to Nico Robin? You've been watching, haven't you?"
"I have," Maleficent responded. She looked back forward and continued walking, tapping her staff down with every second step. "Which is how I know that your Heartless creation has been defeated." Zoro bit down hard at the sound of that. She commented to him, "And those you left out there have decided not to leave this world, but to still try and break in here. They continue to be a nuisance that I would like dealt with. Promptly."
Zoro stared silently at the face inside the glass. The unmoving face. His own head nodded up and down in response to the witch awaiting his answer. "As for that woman," Maleficent continued. Zoro flinched, for a second thinking Maleficent was talking about the woman floating in front of him. He frowned as he realized that Maleficent was responding to his initial question, but then he turned and looked closer at the witch during her response. "Her heart has been fractured. I can see the signs. It is strange that her affliction is only acting up now, but with the pirate's loss of his falsely-acquired Keyblade, her heart has weakened even more."
"Her strength is draining," Maleficent said while looking at the top of her staff and the crystal ball over it that glowed green and showed her the woman being helped by the blond-haired man outside. "Her heart was tainted, but his heart had become so much stronger. Perhaps that is why all of them could be located so quickly. They were in his heart, and so he found them." Maleficent spotted the swordsman's teeth grinding harder in the corners of her eyes. She did not make any outward smug expression but did smirk internally at the sight of that look. "Go, Zoro. Take care of our uninvited guests. I will be quite busy up here very soon. And I do not want to be distracted, with my goal finally so close at hand."
"Do you understand me?"
"…Yes. It is done," Zoro replied. He stayed still for another second and darted a look towards Maleficent with something else on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it back and turned away from her.
"Good," Maleficent watched as the man headed out of the room. He did not just use the darkness, as there was no need to teleport to them when they were already on their way. She watched as he left and closed the doors behind him. Her eyes shifted in annoyance towards the glass case with the young woman they had found floating inside it. Then Maleficent looked back down at the crystal ball and smirked thinking of what she had just told her subordinate. If only that was the whole truth.
Just because it is happening to her on its own, does not mean I cannot add to her affliction. Maleficent waved a hand over the crystal ball and made black wisps shroud the glowing green orb. The dark-haired woman she was looking at in the image lifted her right hand back up to her chest and grabbed over her pounding heart. Her pain distracted the man helping her walk and the one in a Straw Hat in front of her, and it was good timing for the distraction too as Maleficent also made several powerful Heartless appear around the group she was observing with her magic.
"Hahaha HAAA! Enjoy that you fools," Maleficent shook her staff and then watched as a different group of three approached the front doors of her castle. Now, Maleficent thought as she watched Riku turning his Keyblade over in front of his face with a smirk at how the weapon felt in his hands. The time of reckoning has begun.
A/N Sora and Luffy lose their Keyblades! Donald and Goofy join Riku to follow the key as their King commanded. Zoro finally explains why it was that Luffy also got a Keyblade back at the start of the story, which is something I knew was the reason why from all the way at the start and scattered hints about throughout the story. Now they don't have their Keyblades though, but neither are giving up on their reasons for coming to Hollow Bastion in the first place. They're joined by Beast who has come for Belle now too. Next chapter they reach the castle... See for yourself in the next update, tomorrow!