To Walk the Path of Freedom
"So how're you holding up Watson?" Asked the Captain of the Void Pirates, peering his head into Watson's new room aboard the ship. The boy jumped a bit at his words, not expecting someone to come by to interrupt him while he was at work. The young Doctor turned away from his desk and looked at the man who had agreed to come with him to free his island. "Not bad, I feel like the rest of your crew still aren't my biggest fans." He explained to Naruto who responded with a light chuckle. "Don't worry about them! If I'm going to be completely honest with you, each one of them has been alone for a very long time and well I guess they're just not used to be a part of something." He explained to Watson, not dropping his trademark smile the entire time
The boy blinked at this statement. "R-really?" He raised his brow, and Naruto gave a nod. "But we can't dwell on the past! We got an island coming up soon and I don't know about you but I'm excited to go on an adventure!" The Pirate Captain grinned ear to ear and ran over to the doorway and looked back to Watson. "C'mon! We're almost there!" He told him before running off to the deck of the ship. Watson sighed at the teen's antics and closed the book he was looking through and walked out of his room and up to the deck to meet the rest of the crew. After opening the door to the deck and having the glaring sun blind him for a moment, he was treated to the sight of all the crew looking forward to a lush green jungle island that seemed to be a couple minutes away. "Look how gorgeous it is! It almost seems unnatural!" Voiced Lucy from behind the wheel of the ship
"Beautiful or not, never let your guard down! The Grandline is a sea of deception and lies, and if you think otherwise then it'll kill you!" Kiji harshly voiced to no one in particular as Watson gave a shutter. After the fish-man's words, Lucy gave a sigh. "Always a blast when you're this cheerful Kiji." She said sarcastically which earned a chuckle from Naruto and Russ. "Laugh all you want navigator! But I won't be the one being turned into a cooked chicken the moment we set foot on that island!" The fish-man quipped back which shocked the entire crew as Kiji barely ever participated in group banter. Of course right after the fish-man said that, Russ was rolling on the deck laughing. "HA HA HA! Damn right Kiji! How's it feel beak breath!" The Marksman voiced his approval of Kiji's statement along with adding a few words himself
"Shut up you bag of fleas! And you!" She pointed to Kiji from her spot of the deck. "Watch yourself or I'll turn you into sushi! Understand!?" She yelled at the first mate of the crew who gave a huff in response. "Jheez, we need some more women on this ship." Lucy whispered to herself just as Naruto jumped onto the very front of the ship and let the wind blow past him. He raised his hand to his head and covered his eyes from the sun, but continued to look out at the island that was getting closer and closer. "Alright! It's in range!" He expressed prior to looking back at his crew. "I'll meet ya guys there!" He waved to everyone and a split second later he vanished, leaving no trace behind
Watson gaped after Naruto vanished. "Wow! I bet it doesn't get old to watch Naruto teleport around with his Devil-Fruit!" The boy spoke with a high level of optimism. "WRONG!" Russ, Kiji, and Lucy chorused right after he finished talking
With Naruto on the Shore of Tin Tan Island. . .
In a blink the Pirate appeared on the sandy beaches of the island and took a big breath of air. After a few seconds he exhaled with a grin before he made his way off the beach and into the tree line. Moving some foliage, Naruto observed that Tin Tan Island was infested with trees and greenery of all types, not to mention how thick the jungle was with said plants. He took a few steps into the jungle to have a look around and seemed to be having a great time. "I wonder if there are any fruits or wild creatures near by? I could go for a snack!" Naruto exclaimed to himself, picking up a stick as he walked through the jungle. Unaware to the rookie Pirate, there was a camera zooming in on him, covered by camouflage.
In an Unknown Location. . .
"ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT!" Rang a siren with red lights lighting up every couple seconds within a room that was lit only by the light produced by computer monitors. In said room, there were dozens of people murmuring amongst themselves, most of them being distressed about the alert that was sounding. "Someone is on the island!?" A shocked voice rang out. "S-should we engage defence protocols?" Another asked out loud. Almost immediately after, yet another voice sounded. "If we let him roam around any longer he'll find our location!"
All these people continued to panic until a tall figure, covered by shadows opened a door behind everyone. Immediately after the door shot open, everyone who was panicking fell silent and watched as the figure walked walked into the dimly lit room and up a little bit of stairs. He took a seat on a rather large chair that was risen above the rest and rested his arms on both of the chair's arms. "Report." His deep voice sounded coldly
A moment went by before one of the people who were previously panicking stepped forward. The person in question was balding on the top of his head, wore a thick pair of glasses along with a lab coat. "S-sir, we d-don't know how but this teenage boy appeared out of the blue a-and tripped our alarms!" The technician managed to explain despite being overrun with fear. "I see. Have we managed to identify the intruder?" The figure asked the man who nodded slowly. "T-The system i-is telling us that i-it's Portgas D. Naruto sir! H-He has a-a 304 million beli b-bounty!" The technician informed the figure who nodded in the darkness
"Dispatch Ryouku with 2 sentries. Are there more on the island as well?" The figure had once again questioned the group of technicians, not panicking in the slightest. This time a different member of the crew spoke up. "N-no one else has breached out defences yet sir! B-but Portgas does h-have a crew he travels with!" The member informed the figure who remained silent for a few moments prior to sending out his next order. "Prep more sentries but wait until my word to send them out. In the mean time, observe Portgas and relay information directly to Ryouku as she's in pursuit." He ordered
With the Rest of the Crew. . .
"Why does that idiot always have to run off and make us do all the work!" A frustrated Lucy vented to the remainder of the crew as they anchored the ship just off of the coast of Tin Tan Island. "It's the Cap'n, what do ya expect. He's always runnin' round gettin' into trouble on the ship. Only makes sense he's do the same thing on an island." Spoke Russ who finished tying off some knots to make sure the sails didn't fall while the crew was on the island. "W-Wait, are we going to look for him?" Watson asked the crew who gathered the remainder of their things to traverse the island. "Yeah we are. Chances are he's already gotten into a jam and needs our help to get out of it! That's exactly what happened last time!" Lucy explained to the boy while glaring at Russ as her final words came out. The Marksman looked up to make eye contact and was a little annoyed with the Navigator. "What!? You can't blame me for not passin' up on a few high bounties!" He protested but she ignored it
Kiji stood in front of the rest of the crew and huffed. "If you two are done bickering I'll be going to the island now! I'll find the Captain myself!" He told the crew but Lucy was quick to stop him. "Wait wait wait! You're not going by yourself! You might get lost! Take Watson with you and search the other side of the island! I'll partner up with shit for brains and we'll search the closer side and meet you half way through!" Lucy told Kiji who reluctantly agreed to the plan
"So be it!" The fish-man had begun to say. "Doctor! Come with me! We're leaving right now!" Kiji yelled out to Watson who ran over to him. The Doctor stood beside Kiji for a second and looked around. "Um w-what boat are we taking over?" He asked and Kiji cracked a grin. "As if we would take a boat! Come and grab on, I'll show you how much better we mighty fish-men swim than you fragile humans!" Kiji exclaimed as Watson wrapped his arms around Kiji's neck before the two jumped into the water and swam off towards the island
After the two left, Russ finished getting his belongings he would need on the island and asked Lucy a question. "So why partner up with me? I thought you and I didn't quite see eye to eye?" He asked her with a raised brow and she turned to face him with an annoyed expression on her face. "I'm partnering up with you cause I don't fully trust you! Did you forget you used to be a bounty hunter! This crew is worth a lot of beli and I refuse to let you get the drop on us when our guard is down!" Lucy answered, getting all up in the man's face. "Did you already forget when I was betrayed by the Government? You were in the cell too! Even if I wanted to capture all ya, they would just lock me up in Impel Down too!" Russ responded to her reasoning
The man began to walk to the railing and untie a smaller boat to take to the shore of the island but Lucy spoke out again which interrupted him. "Wait, well then why would you stay with us? You know I don't really like you and Kiji is hateful to all humans! So why stay?" She demanded of him, and Russ turned to face her after a moments silence. "The Cap'n- I mean Naruto said somethin' to me while we were lookin' around in that lighthouse at the Twin Capes. He mentioned how thankful he was to have you as his Navigator." Russ had begun to say. "And when I half jokingly asked about Kiji and myself he told me that he doesn't consider any of us his crew but instead he believes that we're a part of his family. And I don't know about you but I forgot all about that word and the meanin' behind it when Coraline died and when someone who I hurt, who I shot with my own gun and planned to turn into the Government for money called me a member of his family, it made me feel somethin'. Somethin' that I haven't felt in a long time." Russ explained to the Navigator who was at a loss for words. "So when ya ask why I'm stayin' it's because I consider Naruto parta my family too! And I wanna do whatever I can to grant him as much freedom as possible!" The Marksman finished with a look of determination before he turned back and began to start untying once again
Lucy stood in the exact spot she was in for what felt like an eternity prior to speaking up once again. "Wait. . .Russ I-I'm sorry for being so hostile. . .i-it's just I want to protect him. No one knows this but Naruto rescued me from a Celestial Dragon's ship. That's how we first met. I was a slave and he just happened to get on the ship to get revenge for his brother. He freed me and after I told him I had no where to go, without hesitation he told me I could stick around with him. Even after I denied him and wanted to go my separate way, he stuck around and made sure I had no obstacles in my way to freedom from Jalmack." She told Russ who listened quietly. "Even before he ate the Suki Suki no mi, a Devil-Fruit that could have bought him an island, he offered it to me so that I would be able to live a life of comfort and never see the Celestial Dragons only reasoned I joined up with him in the first place was to repay the debt I owed him for freeing me, b-but over the last little bit that's changed. Now I guess I'm like you, I consider him to be a part of my family too and I want to help him however way I can! So that's why I'm so protective over him, because I guess deep down I don't want to lose him and if I can keep everyone at an arms length from him then he'll have a greater chance of focusing on and achieving his goal." Finished Lucy, with a few tears welling up while she fell to the ground on her behind. In response, Russ walked over to her and offered her a hand which she took.
"I wouldn't cry! Like it or not he's gonna need some help achievin' his dream! And that's were you and I come in! So let's get over to that island and get our Cap'n back!" Russ motivated her and she grinned. "Well we're not going in some little boat!" Lucy expressed as she began to transform into her bird form. "Get on!" She ordered him and the Marksman complied getting atop her bird form. "And if you pull out any of my feathers I'm dropping you in the Ocean!" Lucy scolded, prior to taking off with Russ on her back
With Naruto. . .
"Jheez! I've been walking for 20 minutes now and I haven't seen any people yet! What the hell!" Naruto complained out loud as he continued to walk through the jungle. He looked up to the top of the trees. "Well at least I'm having a nice walk under the trees!" He once again said out loud, unaware he was being stalked. About 20 meters behind him stood Ryouku with her two robotic sentries by her side. "This is Ryouku, I have eyes on the target. Do I have permission to engage?" The lady spoke silently from behind a tree into a transponder snail. "Ryouku this is command, you have permission to engage the threat!" Spoke a male voice on the other side of the line. "Roger!" She responded before waving over to the two robotic sentries. Examining the two artificial soldiers, they both stood at around 8 feet tall and had a rectangular torso along with the same shape being used for their limbs which were all covered in a metallic grey finish. Their heads were an oval shape with a thick slit being present across the eye line that acted as an eye.
"Alright sentries! Engage the enemy!" Ryouku yelled as the two ran straight towards Naruto. The man in question stopped walking through the jungle and remained still for a number of seconds. Behind him he heard the rustling of branches and bushes and turned around, drawing his staff. Within a blink of an eye, one of the sentries ran out of the tree-line with its fist cocked back and threw a punch at the Pirate who blocked with his metal staff. "ZZZZZ Primary objective: eliminate Portgas D. Naruto ZZZZZZ" The robot buzzed with its eye flickering red. Naruto saw this and grinned. "Well you can sure try but I don't know how it'll go for ya!" He teased the soulless machine while its eye glowed even brighter before it launched a laser at the Pirate. It hit him square in the chest and knocked him back into a tree with a few fragments and splinters flying off in various directions. "A-alright! That was a surprise!" He voiced, getting back to his feet while a second robot came into view from the tree-line and charged him.
Seeing this one coming, Naruto dodged the robot and watched it crash into the tree he was previously standing next to. "Universal Pull!" He yelled out with his hand stretched and the robot began to fly towards him until it was about 2 meters away. "Spatial Expansion!" Naruto followed up with a flat palm facing the robot. A second later an invisible force passed through the robots right side and the second sentry along with both Naruto and Ryouku, from a distance, watched as the sentry's arm and a bit of its torso were blown clean off into the bushes. "ZZZZZZ Breach in right arm, right shoulder, torso- right side, repair requested ZZZZZZ" Came the robotic voice from the sentry while the second one came to its aid and attempted to attack Naruto again with a swift low blow which the Pirate was barely able to dodge.
After its attack, the sentry stood up and Naruto swung his foot in a round house fashion and made contact. Instead of the robot's head coming clean off, it managed to stop the blow. "AHHHHH! THAT HURT!" Yelled Naruto who fell to the ground, clutching his leg. As he did that the sentry prepared its eye laser to fire and Naruto widened his eyes in shock. A split second later, the laser fired and Naruto teleported out of the way. "ZZZZZZ searching. . . searching. . . searching. . .searching. . .-" The robot began to buzz but was interrupted by the Captain of the Void Pirates. "Up here you asshole!" He yelled, falling from the top of the trees. The teen fell until he was right above the robot and he yelled out. "Space Division!" The result of the attack was a slash of white that came from Naruto's hand that travelled through the robot on a diagonal axis, cutting it in half from the top of its left shoulder to its right hip. "ZZZZZZ Error Error-" It had began to report prior to an explosion happening after the top of the robot began to fall to the ground
The other sentry threw a punch at Naruto's head when he landed on the ground but the Pirate began to expand the space between himself and the metallic fist. "D-Damn! This i-is hard!" He grunted as the fist slowly got closer and closer to his face. Eventually, he moved his body and stopped manipulating the space between them and the fist dug into the dirt ground. "Spatial Expansion!" Came Naruto's attack as the space in the robots torso expanded, knocking various parts of it everywhere. Right after the confirmation that both mechanical soldiers were out of commission, Naruto gave a sigh and fell onto his behind. "Huh, well those guys were interesting." He mused to himself as his eyes grazed over the tree-line
Before he could say another word, an arrow was shot at him which Naruto side stepped and it impaled itself a few inches from him in the dirt. "Quite the reflexes you have there." Came a calm voice from atop a branch a couple of meters in the air. The red-head's eyes snapped over to spot a woman standing atop the branch, dressed in a camo jacket that cut off at the mid riff with a black tang top underneath. For pants she wore cargo shorts that fit her form nicely and had her dirty blond hair done up in a pony tail. Moreover, she also had sunglasses on which helped protect her eyes from the harsh sun, with a bow and arrow at her hip with a sash of arrows on her back. "Hey, up there! Who are you?!" Naruto asked with a raised brow while she chuckled. "Who am I huh? Why do you need to know that?" She calmly asked him with an arrogant smile on her face
With Kiji and Watson. . .
"Keep up! You're falling behind!" Kiji yelled back to the young Doctor who struggled to follow the fish-man through the dense jungle. Watson responded back to Kiji, "I'm sorry, I'm not used to a jungle terrain! You forget, I'm used to living on a winter island! Im way out of my element here!" Kiji looked back to him for a second prior to looking back ahead of himself. "And I'm used to living in the water. You're not making a strong case for yourself." He grunted back to the Doctor. Watson was about to say something back to Kiji but he swallowed his words.
They continued through the jungle for a few more minutes before coming across a small clearing filled with a few grassy hills and was overlooked by a stone cave. "Thank goodness! Now we have a bit of a break from those stupid vines and leaves!" Watson expressed, relived that him and Kiji were now able to go on a bit of an easier journey before they had to go back through dense jungle. "Wait Doctor! Something seems off about this! That cave, I don't like way it's positioned! Besides we're still fairly close to the shoreline! What if that is meant to be a means of repelling an attacking force?" Kiji questioned the purpose of the oddly convenient cave while Watson dismissed his superstitions
"Don't worry Kiji, I see no harm in that cave-" He was cut off by rapid flashes coming from within the cave. Before either of them could even blink, spots of dirt began to be kicked up as bullets flew all around them, digging into trees, dirt and bouncing off of rocks. "Get down Doctor!" Kiji screamed to Watson who let his body go limp, avoiding more of the machine gun fire. "Continue firing on them! Don't give them the chance to move! And get some of the mortars in position to fire on them!" Both Kiji and Watson heard a man from inside of the cave order
Watson widened his eyes after hearing the command given by the an in the cave and turned to look at Kiji who, like him, had his body pressed to the ground. "Kiji did you hear that! They're going to shoot explosives at us! I'm terrified! What do we do!?" The Doctor frantically asked the fish-man who still kept his one eye just above the hill to look at the cave. "You're not going to do anything! You don't have the strength to do anything Doctor! Now stay here and wait until I solve our problem!" An angry Kiji yelled to Watson and the boy visually sunk emotionally after being told he could not help due to lack of strength
The fish-man moved his body along the ground before making a break for the tree-line off to the side of the cave and, while doing that, caught the attention of the main gunner. "Commander, I see movement to the left of us!" The gunner yelled, firing the machine gun at Kiji who continued to run off to the tree-line. Dirt kicked up all around the first-mate of the Void Pirates, with some bullets grazing him. After a few seconds he had made it and the machine gun once again fired wildly around him, though it was unable to land anymore shots. With a moments rest, Kiji examined the spots the bullets had hit him and noticed that despite his dense fish-man skin, the bullets still did significant damage and drew a few streams of blood. 'Dammit! These bastards must be using high caliber rounds! But still, all this to protect a jungle? I wonder what they're hiding here?' The fish-man's thoughts blazed prior to him peaking back over at the cave which still fired wildly around him. 'And I'm still out of range to make any of my attacks effective! Dammit! And I have to watch the human child too!' Kiji cursed in his head before deciding upon a plan of action in his head. 'My only option is to charge and hope for the best! If they get the mortars then I and especially the human can't do anything!'
Kiji began to raise his body back up into a standing position and took a few steps forward before immediately taking a few bullets to the arms and the legs. Despite this, he still pressed on, determined to destroy the machine gun battery. Though shortly after, his limbs had begun to take serious damage and he was dangerously close to dropping them which would give the gunner a chance to take a shot at one of his vital organs or his head. Though to his surprise, after a few seconds, the gunner began to wildly shoot in every direction and he took his attention off of Kiji. 'Now's my chance!' The fish-man screamed in his mind, taking a few more large steps to the cave. Once in position, he extended his bloody fists and arms towards the cave and yelled out. "Fallout!" He exclaimed with a booming voice as a huge chunk of the cave was blown away by an invisible force, also destroying the machine gun in the process.
Immediately after he was able to destroy the machine gun battery, Kiji fell to a knee and had begun panting due to the damage he had accumulated from the gun. He turned to his right and saw Watson running over to him, no bullet wounds on the teen at all, and he had reached to the side of his hat and pulled out some bandages. The Doctor was about to patch up Kiji until the ladder voiced his discontent. "What are you doing!? I'm fine and I don't need your inferior human medical methods being used on-" The fish-man began but was cut off by Watson. "Will you shut up!" He had begun to yell. "Listen I know I'm a guest on your ship and I know I don't even come close to you in strength, I'll never argue that! But when it comes to an injury, it is my duty as a Doctor to attend to it and I will not stand by and let you deny me that!" Finished Watson, tying off another bandage on Kiji
"So that's why you treat people then? Because it's your duty?" The older of the two asked and Watson nodded. "Most of the time I treat an injury it's because I follow my code as a Doctor, but for all you guys I make an exception. I'll treat you along with the rest of the crew not because I have to but because I want to. I consider all of you my friends! And I'll always offer whatever I can to help a friend! Besides, you guys are already helping me take back my home and healing your wounds along the way is the least I can do!" Watson explained to Kiji with a smile, tying off the last of the bandages and once it was tied Kiji rose back to a standing position. "Oh and I figured out how to distract the gunner for you! I bounced some of the sunlight off my machete and it seemed to buy you the time you needed!" Watson followed up, explaining why the gunner shot all erratically when Kiji charged him
Kiji turned his back to Watson and stood silently for a minute or so. After that minute he gave a small sigh and tilted his head back to look at Watson. "T-Thank you for your help. . . Watson. And I was wrong, you are strong and with the proper training will make a great Warrior some day." Kiji expressed to him, though rather silently until he jumped right back on track. "But enough of this! We still need to find the Captain, let's go Doctor!" He told Watson who nodded with a determined smile. "Lead the way!" He responded as they both ran off into the jungle again
In an Unknown Location. . .
"S-Sir! Machine Gun Battery #3 has been destroyed!" One of the lab coat wearing technicians explained to the shadowy figure who still sat in his chair, observing the monitors that displayed multiple locations around Tin Tan Island. "A-and 2 sentries have fallen against Portgas sir! And we have another 2 of his crew members approaching the island by air s-sir!" Another one explained before following up with more words. 'W-what should we d-do sir?" He asked the figure who, after all that has happened, remained calm
He looked at all the monitors that displayed all of the Void Pirates prior to giving his orders. "Dispatch 5 arial sentries to deal with the Marksman and the Navigator. As for the fish-man and our friend from Drum I want Ushi to take care of them. And a reminder, we need the Doctor alive, Ushi can do what he wants with the fish-man. And as for Portgas, Ryouku is still engaging him and we should not worry unless she loses." The figure order all of his technicians who nodded and scrambled to do what they were told
With Russ and Lucy. . .
The pair of Pirates flew high above the island, looking down for any sign of there Captain. "Do you see anything through your sights?" Lucy asked back to the Marksman on her back as he scanned the ground below with his cyborganic eye and his sniper scope. "Nothin' yet dammit! These damn tree tops are a pain in th' ass! I can't see a damn thing below 'em!" Russ cursed at his lack of visuals below the trees but continued to search none the less. Lucy turned her gaze from Russ back to what was ahead of her and saw 5 dots approaching them from the distance. "Oi Marksman! Take a look at tell me what's in front of us!" The ship's navigator yelled back to Russ who turned his attention to where she was directing him
"Th' hell?" He whispered, looking through his sight at the objects in the distance. "What is it?" She asked him with a raised brow. "I don't know, they look like robots or somethin'?" Russ puzzled, confused as to what exactly was coming towards them. The Devil-Fruit user asked another question, "Friend or foe do you think?" Right after Lucy said that, bullets whizzed by the pair and Lucy took evasive maneuvers. "I'd say foe!" Russ exclaimed, hold tightly onto Lucy and trying not to fall off of her
Soon enough, the robots were flying pretty close to Lucy and Russ, attempting to shoot them down from the sky. Though unlike the ones Naruto went up against; these ones were more rounded, had longer arms that had clothe on them that helped the machines glide, also possessed a longer, narrower head that made them more aerodynamic. Moreover, they did not possess legs, instead having rockets attached to their knees to give them speed.
A few more bullets whizzed by the pair and Lucy did a cart wheel mid air with russ still on her back before diving down in an attempt to out speed the robots. Of course the machines did not give up so easy and all 5 replicated her actions and followed her. "Damn they're still on our ass!" Russ yelled to Lucy, trying to voice to her through the howling wind going past their ears along with the bullets narrowly missing them. "Hold on! I'm going to try and lose them through the jungle!" She exclaimed, flying into the thick jungle and doing multiple quick movements to get past the trees. The robots still didn't seem to let up, Russ then pulled his lever action rifle out and pointed it behind them. "Keep me steady feathers!" He spoke to her, not taking his vision away from the scope of the rifle
He fired a shot and managed to clip one of the sentries where an armour plate over lapped. The Marksman watched as the machine's wing locked up and before long it flew into the ground with a sizeable explosion following it. Seeing what happened, Lucy once again spoke up. "What'd you do to take it down?" She asked the man on her back, who turned his body and looked forward with her. "The damn things are covered in armoured plates! Just get a hit in on 'em where the plates overlap!" Russ explained while more bullets flew by the pair
"Okay well try and take more of them out! I don't know how much longer I can keep up this speed with you on my back!" Lucy explained to him and Russ gave a nod and turned back around to get a few more shots in on the robots but saw a red glow coming from the head of one of them. Russ widened his eyes and yelled to Lucy, "Feathers! Pull up!" She listened and did exactly that which caused the Marksman to fall off of her back to the ground below. Both of the Void Pirates watched as a beam of red shot right where they were and connected with a tree prior to blowing it up.
Russ hit the ground with a thud and was momentarily hidden by the thick green bushes of the island. He then raised his head and saw Lucy continue to fly off with 2 robots following her as the other 2 did a loop in the air and began to circle around the area he had fallen. "Alright so these bastards wanna play hard ball do they?" Russ voiced, getting back on his feet and noticed one of the robots flying straight for him. The robot started by firing a few bullets at Russ, who had run and gotten behind a fallen over tree which blocked all of the bullets from hitting him. After the first couple of shots were fired, Russ peaked his head over the tree to spot the back of the robot coming open. "I-is that-" He had begun to voice until he suddenly ran out from behind the tree and dove into the bushes once again.
A few seconds passed and a rocket struck the spot where he previously was, leaving a crater in the ground. "Shit! These things are packin' some major explosives! Time to get serious!" Russ's voice echoed as his hand began to open up, revealing a gun barrel. "Alright here we go! Beam of Destruction!" The Marksman proclaimed, sending a yellow beam of energy straight at one of the sentries. It connected right on its back and the Void Pirate's Marksman watched as the robot exploded right when the beam made impact. His gaze then wandered through the sky until he spotted Lucy who was still flying away from one of the robots as she had since taken care of the other one. He brought up his rifle and took aim at the robot that was chasing his crew mate. "Got ya!" He began to speak. "Ballistic Explosion!" He yelled out, shooting a special bullet at the sentry which blew it out of the sky once it hit it.
Though Lucy's problems were taken care of, Russ was not paying attention to the second robot that had broken off from the rest to fight him. Right after he shot the one chasing Lucy, the sentry ran into him and knocked him back onto his side prior to looping around and engaging a bayonet at its front. The robot was quick to fly back at Russ in hopes of stabbing him but the crew's navigator came to his aid in time. "Feather Spear!" Exclaimed Lucy, burying both of her wings into the robot from above and smashing it into the ground. Immediately after, she pulled both of her wings out of it and transformed back into her human form. "What are you going to sit there all day?" She asked Russ who had still not gotten up after being knocked over by the robot
Back With Naruto. . .
"You know, for a rookie your moves aren't that bad!" Exclaimed Ryouku from atop a tree, aiming another arrow at the teen who stood below. She let the arrow go before yelling out, "Air Door Times 4!" She exclaimed, watching the arrow fly through an invisible door and then out of another at a wicked speed. This process repeated once more before the arrow was shot out a couple meters off to the side of Naruto who managed to get his body far enough out of the way for the arrow to only leave a light scratch. "A Devil-Fruit huh?" He questioned her after he stood back up straight
She nodded with a cocky smile. "I ate the Doa Doa no mi! It gives me the ability to summon doors wherever I want! Paired with my excellent marksmanship, you don't stand a chance!" She mocked him with a grin on her face and Naruto returned with his own grin. "We'll have to see about that! Universal Pull!" He yelled out as Ryouku was dragged out of her spot in the tree towards the Pirate but he watched as she extended her hand. "Air Door Times 2!" She then vanished through a door of her making and popped out right behind the male pirate, landing a kick on his back.
Naruto rolled into a summer salt after being kicked and jumped in the air whilst extending his hand. "Spatial Shift!" He exclaimed, as the force of gravity around Ryouku shifted towards a nearby tree and she had began to fly through the air towards it. Once she was close enough to the tree, she laid her hand on it. "Door Door!" She spoke, opening a door on the tree and flying straight through it and out of sight. "Air Door!" Came her voice from behind Naruto as a door in the air opened and Ryouku's foot made contact with Naruto's forearm, reacting fast enough this time to counter the attack. She was quick to draw an arrow and point it right at the teen's head, but Naruto did not panic at the sight. She released the arrow as they clashed mid air and Naruto let the projectile pass right through his head.
"Air Door Times 2!" She yelled out as the arrow went through an invisible door and shot back towards the Pirate from behind. Naruto did not have enough time to calculate where the arrow would hit so his body was unable to let the arrow pass through. Instead, it struck him in his shoulder which caused blood to splatter out of the newly created wound and both opponents fell to the ground with Ryouku landing on her feet and Naruto landing on his feet as well prior to falling to a knee. He grabbed the shaft of the arrow and pulled it out of his shoulder and threw it on the floor as blood dripped off of the arrow head. "Damn, do you really have to resist so much? All I want to do is go back to my nap that I was having before you and your stupid crew came to our island! Now just stay still and die!" Ryouku yelled out, drawing another arrow and releasing it at Naruto who extended his palm towards the ground. "Float!" He yelled out as branches, rocks, trees, and dirt alike began to float up in the air in the immediate proximity around the two Devil-fruit users
Ryouku did not float in the air like the rest of the objects around her but she did jump on top of a rock to get a bird's eye view of the battlefield and kept her eyes pealed for the red haired Pirate. "Quite the trick you got up your sleeve! But if your goal is to beat me at my own game it wont work! I can move faster than you! And my range is further than yours! Admit it! I've already won!" She yelled out to Naruto who was coming up with his next attack. "Like hell you have!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping at her and soaring through the air from a little ways away. "Too easy!" She said, taking aim at him once again
"Blink!" Naruto yelled, appearing right beside her and landing a punch on the side of her face, knocking her into the side of a tree. "W-what the!" She spoke out of shock, trying once again to regain her composer as another attack from Naruto connected on her back which sent her flying to the ground. "H-how!?" Was all she could muster out of her mouth as she had begun to get back up. "I just figured it out! Your fruit, the Doa Doa no mi, it's a nice fruit but it can only do a fraction of what mine can do! And not to mention I figured out your strategy! So I hope you're ready to get your ass kicked, cause as far as I'm concerned, this is a whole new fight!" Naruto yelled out, getting ready for his next strike
Alright!
I hope you guys enjoyed the newest chapter! I know that there are going to be a lot of OC's in this story cause to be honest Oda has not really given us a whole lot of details when it comes to about 10 years before the beginning of the story which is where my story is set. So just a fair warning on that part. Onto pairings, I'm thinking about either Hina or Hiyori, most likely the ladder of the two. If any of you think another option would be better please write a review saying what you would like to see and I'll do my best! The same goes for fights or any character interactions in general! I really want to make as many of you happy as I can and if it means incorporating your suggestions into my story I have no problems with that! Anyway, please leave a review on what you liked what you didn't like or just to say whatever you like! I really do like reading them! Anyways, until next time!
Qwert out!