I can't thank you enough for the outpouring of reviews the last chapter got. I wanted to show my gratitude with a few words, but here's 5,700 of them instead. This chapter alone covers at least 12 in the manga.
It also includes scenes and lore drops that have been written for literal years.
It started above the clock tower as a bright red spot of color Sunny would have attributed to the after-effects of the poison, had the ground not begun to shake. Then the light bloomed outward and Sunny could make out the smoke and fire curling outward across the sky as if a fiery world was being exposed by parting the blue sky. It came with a deep, loud rumble that echoed off every building. There was no other movement for long moments, until the disorientation from the vibration faded.
…There was a massive explosion in the sky? What could make something like that? There were things falling from the smoke cloud, what they were, Sunny had no idea.
His feet were moving before he consciously made the decision to run toward the explosion, which was now a ceiling of smoke slowly sagging. Every instinct told him Vivi was bound to be there, and probably others in the crew, based on their propensity for trouble. Not even Zoro could get lost heading over to the wilting smoke cloud.
Sunny ran as best he could, stumbling and pausing to catch his breath after every Billion tried to attack him or his vision blurred. His fight with Ekans had not been forgotten by his body and he cursed himself for fighting instead of running, as unrealistic as it was.
He'd gotten in that situation by getting too caught up in battle instead of focusing on the task Sanji entrusted him with.
If Sanji found Kouza and the rebels before he did… or if anything happened to Vivi while Sunny dawdled, Sunny wasn't sure either Sanji or he himself could forgive him.
The tiny shrew was utterly unprepared when he hurtled directly into Vivi, Crocodile, and a third person standing alongside Vivi. Sunny didn't recognize him but he was tan and very large, and wore green desert robes.
Vivi was the first to notice him, as he'd bounced off of her leg on arrival. "Sunny! You're alright!"
Sunny gave a chuff in affirmative, rubbing the side of his head against Vivi's calf in relief. She was scratched up but more or less in one piece.
Vivi's eyes softened for a moment, looking down at her friend, but she did not bend to pet him, instead, she looked back toward Crocodile with the cold rage of Ms. Wednesday in her eyes.
This was a standoff. There were many people Sunny didn't know at all here. A group of muscular men that seemed to be with Vivi and the large man at Vivi's side.
That woman—Ms. All-Sunday—stood to the side, and there was some long-haired man held to the wall and bleeding.
Crocodile sighed from where he was standing on the roof above them. "How pitiful. Are you done collecting your army now? Is this all the power of the royals of Alabasta? A squad of men who just poisoned themselves for momentary strength, yet another animal companion, and the remaining member of your zoan guard." Crocodile smirked.
From those words, Sunny felt Vivi's entire body go rigid. A bearded man who seemed to be nailed to the wall shouted in surprise. But Crocodile just smiled and held out an arm, sending a lashing wave of sand toward Vivi. Neither Sunny or Vivi had a chance to move before the large man stepped in front of them. His body shifted into a half-jackal form in the same kind of pseudo-evolution Chopper did. He raised his black furred arms to take the hit, being pushed back several feet with a howl.
"Chaka!" Vivi yelled.
"Princess, I'm sorry," the jackal-man growled, tears leaking from his eyes . "Pell…the blast in the sky. I'm sorry—"
Vivi suddenly understood something that Sunny hadn't. Her eyes went dim and tears leaked out from them. "No…"
"He sacrificed himself, saving everyone in the city. He was happy to do it, Princess."
Vivi closed her eyes and re-opened them. She was still crying but there was determination there in the place of the void of emptiness Sunny had sensed from her in the moments before.
Sunny remembered the explosion directly above the city, a massive blast of fire like a tiny sun, descending in embers onto the city as it dispersed. So someone had flown it up. He could only imagine the destruction that blast would have caused on the ground.
But Vivi had lost a friend. Not long after she'd thought she'd lost Igaram from the same fate. In the end, Sunny didn't care much about this kingdom, he didn't fight for a friend's flag like Luffy. But he would protect his friends in front of him to his last ember. Sunny ignited and stepped forward to stand with Chaka, his ignited frame not coming up to mid-shin to the man.
"Stay out of this, little—" he began to say, before Vivi interrupted.
"Let him, Chaka," Vivi told him. "We need him."
Elsewhere, Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper were heading toward the palace. Usopp, injured, limped along more at a slightly slower pace than his friends, tears pouring down his face.
Sanji stuck a cigarette between his lips mid-stride, though he didn't light it. "Why exactly are you crying?"
"B-because that damn mole l-lady, she s-said Luffy's dead!"
"What?" Chopper gaped.
"What, you really believe that?" Sanji's eyes disappeared beneath his bangs.
"You bastard, why shouldn't I?" Usopp yelled.
'We'll be waiting for you in Alubarna!' The words rang dimly in Sanji's head.
"The swordsman bastard and Nami-swan, and Sunny and Vivi-chwan are out there. I don't see why we won't be meeting up with Luffy soon, too," Sanji finally says, hoping he came across as assured and confident. "Let's talk this all over once we're back together after the war."
Things had not progressed well at the palace. Chaka had taken a flying leap toward Crocodile that Sunny had no hope of copying and had been struck down in a flash from the hook on his hand.
The man on the wall kept yelling and pleading with Vivi and Chaka and Sunny was beginning to wonder if he should be helping him.
But his responsibility was Vivi. And Crocodile. So whoever this man was, he wasn't on Sunny's lists of concerns.
Then another young man came and Vivi was yelling again and calling him Kouza, and it was so much. He desperately wanted to be pointed in a direction and told to battle. It was positively frustrating, not on the inaction that ached in his bones, but the fact that all this arguing and politicking was making it impossible for Sunny to distinguish good from bad beyond those he already knew. Thankfully, there was just one thing he knew he could do. He ran to the side, off the plaza. Angled his head just enough, and blasted a bright ball of fire fifty feet up into the air.
'When you find Kouza send up a flare, we'll come find you.'
I carried out my half of the deal, Sanji, Sunny allowed himself a second to think, before dashing back to the plaza, where little had changed. He made his way easily through the crowd back to Vivi's side, little attention afforded to him.
"You may have mitigated my bomb, but that wasn't my only plan. But now you're down your strongest warriors. Kouza, you've been nothing but my pawn—your men are fighting my battle all over the city! And Princess, you've shown yourself to be nothing but a morally bankrupt figurehead who died after trying to run off with the rebel leader."
"No!" Kouza yelled, bending over. "I won't let the rebels fight this meaningless war against our royals! MEN!" Kouza stood up straight, and holding a white desert cloak he held aloft in defiance. Behind him, the legion of men below the steps raised a sea of white. "TELL THE OTHERS THIS WAR IS OVER! WE HAVE NO REASON LEFT TO-"
Sunny nor Vivi had a moment to react. Maybe he could have, had his body not been worn down by the remnants of poison in his veins.
Crocodile speared Kouza right through the back, sending a gout of blood scattering to the stone.
The rebels who had turned to run now stood stock still in horror.
Then two things happened at once: a sandstorm kicked up across the city, and Kouza's elite soldiers attacked. Vivi's yells couldn't pierce the fighting, even as she begged them to stop. The human's sight was suffering in the pelting sand and Sunny had to redirect several of the rebels away from running into Vivi by nipping or shoving.
Crocodile appeared in front of them, the sand twisting up Vivi's legs and circling Sunny completely.
"You thought you could save everyone? How naive, in the end, you led everyone to their deaths."
Tears began to streak helplessly down her cheeks as Crocodile approached, wrapping his hand around her neck and pushing her backward. The sand parted in time for her to see the turret's edge, a hundred feet above the desert. The breath left her as she was lifted off her feet.
Sunny's fire ignited in blasts, shaking off layer after layer of sand trying to restrain or destroy him. For every foot he made it to Vivi, another lash of sand caught his legs or back, slowing his progress. Around him, every rebel within thirty feet was fruitlessly hacking at sand bindings as well. The mouse-type was the only one making any progress, but it wasn't enough.
"Vivi, no!" Sunny made another break for it with an explosive blast of heat just as Crocodile let her go. He reached the edge just a moment after her blue hair disappeared under it.
Sunny swung his head toward Crocodile, eyes wide and glowing with fury. It was his turn then. He was the only one left, but that didn't matter. It was his turn anyway. Neither of them were going to walk away from this-
Then…
"LUFFY!" It was Vivi's voice, then a hand on the edge by Crocodile's feet, a stretching of rubber accompanying it.
Sunny blew a blast of fire above Luffy's hand when Crocodile raised a foot, intending on stomping it away.
Then Luffy landed, holding Vivi in his arms. "Phew, I caught up!"
"Crocodile turned Kouza and the royal guards against each other, there isn't any time, everyone will die and no one is listening—!"
Even though his face was bloodied, Luffy smirked brightly at the princess. "Vivi! We all heard your voice!"
With the perfect timing only the Strawhat Pirates could possess, suddenly, Sunny heard other voices—Chopper, Sanji, Usopp, Nami, Zoro, they were all there, bruised and battered and all arguing like nothing at all had changed.
Luffy stepped forward, stretching his arm. "Don't worry, everyone, I'll finish this now. All of it."
And a brutal beat down commenced from Luffy, sending Crocodile flying across the plaza.
Sunny stared hard at Crocodile's retreating form. He wanted blood after what happened. But he saw Vivi drop carefully to her knees and rushed over to her, alongside Chopper. He took a careful sniff of her face, it was mostly tears, not too much blood. She pulled out of her shell-shocked expression enough to laugh lightly. "That tickles."
Just for that, Sunny gave her a lick on the cheek. That elicited another shuttering laugh-sob, just as the others rejoined them. Sanji swooned and worried about Vivi for a few moments, then laid his hand on Sunny's head.
Sunny peaked between the large fingers at his friend in surprise, giving him a curious whistle. Sanji just gave a small smirk, ruffled his fur, and pulled his hand away, refocusing on Luffy's battle.
Nami, Vivi, and Usopp were trying to figure out how to stop the fighting and sweep the city for more detonators.
"He knows he can't call any bluffs. We need to look everywhere," Vivi's voice was shaky but regaining strength as Sanji helped her back up. "And we need to find a way to stop the rebels. Kouza is in no condition to do it himself."
"Hm…" Zoro said. "What if—"
The next second a sword swung for Vivi's head. It was blocked by a sword and a leg, and followed up with Sunny's swift tackle to the muscular lacky's sensitive spot. The lacky fell backward soundlessly, foaming from the mouth at the feet of two dozen more Baroque Works agents, all carrying various weaponry.
Sanji and Zoro looked at each other.
"How long do you plan on taking?" Sanji asked.
"We have to make every second count," Zoro said.
"Two seconds," they decided, turning back to Baroque Works. "Everyone, go!"
Chopper, Usopp, Nami, and Vivi ran. Zoro and Sanji followed suit as rear guard, taking down the crowd with decisive blows as they went. Sunny didn't follow.
He ducked around a pile of bricks, out of sight as they fled, it was infamously difficult for the group to keep track of him while escaping anyway, he was too small.
Crocodile was still here. The rage from Vivi's fall hadn't left. Luffy was injured and Sunny didn't have the energy or will to run around the city all over again before dealing with another crisis. If Vivi's voice couldn't reach her people, certainly Sunny's quiet, alien one would be useless.
Besides, Ms. All Sunday–or whatever that other name she'd been called was– was still here. She hadn't acted, but she was far from a declawed litten. He turned his eyes back on the battle.
Luffy was soaking himself with a barrel of water he was carrying around. The sand seemed to be able to dry him out and he was using it to counteract it.
Luffy chugged the barrel, filling his stomach with water. "I've become Water Luffy!"
Off to the side, Ms. All Sunday chuckled. Sunny kept crouched as he approached closer. With his fur covered in brick dust and sand, he was sure he was difficult to spot.
Luffy continued to pound damage into Crocodile and it seemed like the tide was turning. Until Crocodile unleashed an attack that seemed to suck up all the water around them, leeching it even from stone.
"Watch out, L—" Sunny started as he saw Crocodile charge for him. He didn't get to see what happened next because the stone crumbled beneath him and the sky disappeared above rock fall.
Sanji and Zoro swiftly finished the crowd of Baroque Works agents following them. There was a breadcrumb trail of bodies for anyone else to follow but that was an issue for later. Zoro scanned their group, making sure everyone was accounted for. He groaned, a pit of dread forming in his stomach as he turned to the crew's chef.
"We left the kid in the warzone."
Sanji flinched and double checked the numbers, muttering a count as they ran. His face grew more grave, then he spoke slowly. "Most of the strongest agents have been taken down, Luffy's fighting Crocodile. We have to trust that Sunny has a plan."
Zoro didn't show anything more on his face. Sunny had made a decision, and not one he could have easily clued them in on. They had no choice but to put their trust in him that he'd catch up to them sooner or later.
That twerp was going to pay for this. A week of sake retrieval, for sure.
Sunny woke up with a start. His chin ached fiercely, he'd smacked it against something in his fall. Every inch of him stung or prickled with exhaustion. Just stumbling to his feet, usually sturdy with his diminutive stature, made the idea of curling into a ball and making a temporary den here more and more appealing.
But he was a pokemon and he was a Strawhat and if they were up they could fight.
Now all he had to do was find a way out. The light was faint, even for his eyes, but feeling around and sniffing for air currents told him that trying to push up through the rock fall was a lost cause. He'd fallen into a handy crevice of older rock that had sheltered him from being crushed.
He started to dig downward, scattering bits of stone and dust behind him. Now that his paws were striking the ground, he was surprised to find that not far away there were walls below him. And one of them was shifting.
Sunny head directly toward the moving wall, burrowing carefully. It didn't take long until he found an exit into a human-made tunnel. He could feel the movement of three humans ahead, two talking lowly. It was the voices of Crocodile and Ms. All-Sunday. They were talking about something called 'Pluton.'
He paused, assessing the distance, then crept along behind them. They walked into a massive room, full of large ornate pillars, elaborate reliefs and all sorts of writing and pictures on the wall. But Ms. All-Sunday barely gave them a glance. She walked further in, into a room bare except for a massive stone cube with writings scrawled on two sides.
Needing a better view, Sunny quietly burrowed into the wall. It took less than a minute for him to tunnel through to the ceiling of the room they were occupying and opening a hole just big enough for him to peek out of. The small bloom of dust went completely unnoticed. The structure of this place was weak already. It wouldn't take much for a collapse, he noted.
In the room below, Ms. All-Sunday ran her hand against the engravings on the stone slat. Her breath faltered for a moment, lips moving silently before she began to read from the wall.
"Well, Nico Robin? Don't think I brought you here to feed that lust for knowledge of yours. Read it out loud," Crocodile said, holding his hook up near her neck.
She began, listing out dates of the country's creation, a history. Crocodile stopped her, demanding something more interesting, and Robin scanned the other side of the stone, quiet for a moment.
Her breath faltered for a moment, lips moving silently before she began to read from the wall.
Sunny could hear the waver in her voice beyond the firmness in it. He hadn't heard that in her tone before. He hadn't realized she could sound like that at all.
"It reads:
They come as beams of light
Opposing souls of nature
To change our world and fight
One will float two shall sink
Be it elemental force-
The fiery will of chaos
The steel fist of law
Or neutral draconian might
Decided be the fate of our worlds."
"It's-it's called the Chosen Three Apostasy. I've heard of it before, it was a piece of old writing. Many thought it was just a poem, or personification of nature mythos, but..." Ms. All-Sunday cut off sharply, fingers tracing a small line of symbols to the side. The hook at her throat touched her skin.
"Azaela Whit." She continued. "That's who translated it. I never knew. She was a famous teratologist-studied deviations of normal organisms-if this is really her writing, it's not just a prophecy, it's a warning."
"That's all it says?" Crocodile growled.
Ms. All-Sunday's eyes darted to the side of the tablet, small thin scratches in the stone. Finally, she nodded.
"What does this have to do with anything? It's useless to me!" Crocodile spat, hitting Ms. All-Sunday to the side in disgust. Her head hit the wall and she didn't get back up. "I NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WEAPON, NICO ROBIN."
Sunny had had to secure both paws against his mouth to prevent himself from making any sounds of shock. That wall, the human writing-it had talked about beams of light? Like he and the other pokemon had arrived in? The fate of worlds? It made his head spin.
Not as much so as what was below the ancient human writing. Under the last line Ms. All-Sunday had traced her hand across, he saw the scratch marks. Faint, but unmistakable.
It was pokemon footprint runes. Clear as day, under Azaela Whit's signature, it read "and Swellow. Fallen to this world in the Year 573."
Nothing made sense for a moment. The year was 1520 in this world. What was this that it could be so old? Had pokemon been disappearing for that long? Why, why was it happening? 'Fate of the worlds?' What did any of them have to do with that? It didn't make sense.
The wall was bust cleanly through below, a panting and hurt Luffy emerging. "I CAUGHT UP! CROCODILE!"
"How many times must I kill you?" Crocodile yelled in frustration.
"You haven't given back that thing you stole," Luffy said.
"WHAT? Money? Honor? Life? The rain? I've stolen so many things!"
"The kingdom!" Luffy exclaimed. He was the one who restarted their battle, slamming his foot into Crocodile's face with bone-shattering force. Sunny's captain had grown so much since they'd first met, and the pain and sorrow of his friends only made him stronger. He followed up with more blows, all breaking through Crocodile's sand logia defenses.
"You," Crocodile choked, struggling to stand, "did you use blood?"
"Blood is wet. Your sand can't harden that way, right?"
At that, Crocodile began to laugh and removed the outer layer of his hook, revealing a poisonous one.
The blows began again, with Luffy being hit by the poisonous hook more than once, but still managing to land hits. The tide was still turning, though, and Luffy had a hand flat against the wall as he pulled himself unsteadily to his feet. He rubbed blood from his nose onto the backs of his knuckles.
"Why do you keep fighting?" Crocodile demanded.
Sunny dug back up, choosing a new spot based on where he could feel Luffy's hand dragging on the stone. He opened up a new hole in the ceiling, a small plume of sediment the only indication.
Only Ms. All-Sunday's eyes flickered to his spot. He froze but she didn't say anything—maybe the gravity of her injuries prevented her from acting, maybe not. He saw the two fighters squaring off. Sunny loosened the ground around him to allow him to move when he had to.
Luffy was talking. Sunny only caught the end of it. "If we die…we die!"
That was all Sunny needed to do the stupidest thing he'd done to date.
Crocodile charged at Luffy, seeing the opening. Before his hook could find his captain, Sunny released a spray of bolts of fire directly down on him.
Crocodile cut off his own yell of surprise, bringing his arm up to cover his face. But the fire attack was followed up with Sunny kicking out of his burrow, and turning, and slamming his front paws directly into Crocodile's head with the strength of a baseball bat. Crocodile's head exploded into sand.
He rolled up in a ball to bounce away and unrolled a dozen feet away, flanking the Warlord.
"SUNNY!" Luffy gaped, not at all taking the chance to attack the stunned man while his head reformed. Sunny's flames rose at the condition of his captain. He was freely bleeding from his mouth and nose and he was panting and pale. The cold fury in his face had morphed into something like fear.
"We fight what's in front of us, right, Captain?" Sunny said. Luffy's fight with Vivi was seared in his mind forever. He was a young creature, but his captain's words then cemented parts of his own moral code he didn't know he had. Words resounded in his head–
'You think your life is enough!'
'We're friends. You don't have to ask!'
Luffy seemed to understand the reminder. Luffy had vowed his crew would do whatever it took. This was the eleventh hour. The rest of the crew above were fighting for their lives just the same.
Luffy sent a round of Gattlings into Crocodile, though he was able to block most of them. Sunny's physical attack didn't seem to cause any damage. It was his damn logia power. But the fire left angry red marks on his face. He could work with that.
Crocodile's attention was absorbed with fighting Luffy when he was engulfed in a blast of flames.
For a moment, it was hard to make out his figure through the pyre of burning the Warlord had become, then he ripped off his heavy fur coat, whipped it over his head and away, extinguishing the flames. "Obnoxious," Crocodile said.
A wall of sand flung Sunny headlong into a wall, without enough time to curl up. He stumbled to his feet a moment later, shaking the stars out of his eyes when he realized the follow up was underway. Crocodile's fingers brushed his neck, intent on draining him of water. The touch did nothing and Sunny curled, and rolled hard into his shin, making it break up into sand. Luffy had been diving in to cover Sunny, and got a punch in, just as Sunny reversed course and hit Crocodile in the back–sand again–and rolled away again, picking up speed.
The third hit connected, and not with sand. With Sunny's flame active through the roll, it slammed with enough force, he felt something move in Crocodile's knee.
"How. How did it hit me?" Crocodile growled, lashing out. Sunny didn't get away this time. He felt sand impact him with the power of a charging Tauros and he was laid out on the ground.
Luffy caught the hook in his hands as it swung down at Sunny and Sunny managed to get his body to listen long enough to scramble away.
"Don't touch him!" Luffy growled, as poison oozed from the holes on the side of the hook and onto Luffy's damaged hands.
Crocodile just laughed, reaching out with his other hand to drain him. Luffy narrowly dodged but took a scratch from the hook to the chest.
Sunny's heart fluttered in panic. He'd just gotten Luffy hurt. If he could just focus on one body part—his knee—and take it out, he was sure they could finish him off. Crocodile was looking bad. His clothes were singed, he was bloody, and he was smoldering slightly.
His physical attacks couldn't do much, but…
"Wait for my signal," Sunny said, trusting Crocodile couldn't understand him and that Luffy would grasp the meaning. Then Sunny backed up behind a rock and began to dig. He was under and moving in seconds and it was easy to home in on Crocodile's heavier steps. He hollowed out a spot under his damaged leg, then knocked out the last layer of dirt. The warlord's foot dropped in, and struggled as he was unbalanced. Sunny held an ember in his mouth, then bit as hard as he could bite and didn't let go. The leg struggled, and jerked hard, he could see Luffy had got a direct hit in.
The hole was widening with the struggling enough that it was just loose dirt covering them. Sunny didn't think he could taste any blood, it was hard to gauge how much damage was being done to either of them as he was being kicked into the dirt walls with some force. He blamed the adrenaline. The leg jerked a few more times, then the only thing Sunny could feel was burning across his side. He lost his grip on the leg. He looked over his side in shock as his body jerked as the hook lifted, him with it.
He felt gravity-less then he registered the speed at which he was flying to a wall, and that there was nothing he could do about it. The impact on the wall didn't hurt as much as Sunny expected and he realized it was because Luffy caught him. The boy was staring down at him, holding him tight in his arms. His mouth was a flat line, his eyes wide voids. His voice caught in his throat. Sunny followed his gaze at his own body as blood welled in his mouth. There was a long, deep gash across his stomach and his side. It spilled over with blood with every quickened breath.
It would have been a serious wound on a human. On him…he didn't have time to dwell on it. His breaths started to come in fast as the pain caught up to them. Across the room, Crocodile made a show of cleaning off his hook. Sunny wondered exactly how Luffy had gotten to him so fast.
Luffy set him down and covered the wound with his hand. It was bloody and poisoned, but so was he, it wouldn't make a difference. None of it will, a seed of dread in Sunny's chest said.
"Hang on, Sunny. You'll be alright, you'll be okay," Luffy said, but his voice was shaking.
Sunny was starting to feel dizzy and numb. He tried to squirm away from the pressure.
"C-Crocodile. Luffy you gotta—"
Luffy's eyes were still that hard obsidian, but Sunny knew them well enough to see pleading, too. "I can't."
But Crocodile had other plans and came in running, sands whipping up and trying to buffet both sides of them. Luffy dispersed them with snaps of his leg and managed to grab Crocodile in a lock. The fighting continued, Sunny's blood on Luffy's hands allowing his hits to land. But this time, Luffy was losing ground. He couldn't move from his spot, or he'd leave Sunny undefended. He was being too reckless, knowing every moment counted against them.
All Sunny could manage was a twitch of his paws. He felt numb, but he knew enough to know the growing red was a bad sign. A wild pokemon's life could be short and brutal, his mom had told him that once. His mother, who suffered a similar fate. Was he wild, tame, or something between? He thought about his father and siblings, who he never managed to find. Maybe soon-
"You're more dead than alive Strawhat," Crocodile smirked.
"I'm…" Luffy huffed out agonizing breaths, "Gonna be King of the Pirates! And I can't do that with my Lieutenant!"
He was a burden in the fight. He forced Luffy to take hits meant for him. He'd failed when it mattered and the poison wouldn't even get the chance to kill him.
Is this where every victory, every drop of blood, had led him? He'd fail Zoro? Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Chopper? Vivi?
When they'd given him nothing but strength.
Sunny was numb. But his core, that source of his power Laboon had told him about, was so warm. It burned with strength that his body couldn't match. It burned with vehemence while his blood poured out.
His little body had nothing left to give. But his flame did.
Sunny burned. Inside out, he was engulfed in his own flames.
Luffy was grabbed, he made a low noise of protest.
Sunny pulled one foot under him, then another. Unsteady at first, then he felt power surge through his body like a million joltik stings. The fire turned into pure light, bright, bright. He saw Crocodile squint and Luffy, still in Crocodile's grip, turn his head and stare. Sunny could see the pupils of his black eyes turn to pinpricks in the light.
It was coming from him, and as he breathed out, he felt his muscles fill, his shoulders strengthen, his body lengthened. As he managed to pull his back legs upright, and he stood taller than he ever had before. He grew, and felt his eyes adjust and open in a way that had always felt unnatural before. The light began to fade, leaving behind unscathed fur. Fire danced on his head and the end of his back. His core burned with fire.
He shot off the ground past Luffy and straight for Crocodile. Crocodile's fist was covered in hardened sand and came to meet Sunny. Sunny opened his mouth mid-leap and released a burst of fire harnessing every bit of heat he could feel–the fire of a Quilava.
It met Crocodile's fist. It began to turn to sand. The air cooked. The fist turned red hot in the fire. Then opaque.
Sunny caught the translucent fist in his jaws—bigger than they once were—and snapped down. Crocodile howled.
Chunks of glass scattered across the ground.
Again, so sorry for the delay, I've been trying to find time for fanfiction but it's becoming more challenging working 2 jobs + but I'm making due at my own pace