Chapter 29

Madara

Maxwell worked fast to try and get Chopper up and functioning again. He was soothing the nerves in Chopper's muscles trying to restore motor function. Chopper wasn't paralyzed, in fact he was awake. However, Chopper was as close as one could get to paralysis without suffering injury. The problem laid within his aura. Somehow Chopper's psyche had retracted onto itself, coagulating, and acting like a stubborn booger clinging to the inside of your nose.

…Well that was the first analogy Maxwell could come up with.

"Max! Is the ship sailable?" Nami interrupted his healing session.

"Yes, it's sailable. Now let me focus!" Maxwell barked back. They all needed to be able to fight when the situation finally came to a head. They were surrounded by all sides, and the marines weren't just going to let them go! The ship was fine. He just needed to focus on Chopper!

Nami took to yelling at Franky and the others instead, "We're ready to sail out any time now! We can set out as soon as Luffy comes back!"

Maxwell briefly glared at the navigator, but refocused on his task. On top of treating the physical symptoms, Maxwell also had to treat the spiritual side of Chopper's ailment. Medicine could probably label this as manipulating Chopper's neurotic network, but Maxwell didn't want to get into semantics between magic and science. There weren't a lot of treatment options Maxwell could offer, not with the resources available, and not with his amount of training. The best he could do was cycle his own vitality through Chopper's body. It would try to coax Chopper's aura back into re-expansion, merging back with the regular functions of Chopper's body. It was slow work, but the reindeer's aura seemed to be responsive.

Unfortunately, the slowness of the treatment also gave Maxwell time to listen to this.

"[REPORTING FROM THE NORTHWEST SIDE OF THE MAIN GATE,]" the marines were announcing on their speakers again, and the cannons had stopped.

"[MARINE PERSONNEL AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS OF ENIES LOBBY HAVE BEEN ACCOMMODATED. WE HAVE ALSO CONFIRMED THAT APPROXIMATELY 50 PIRATES, INCLUDING THE MUTINOUS GIANTS OIMO AND KASHII, WERE AT THE MAIN GATE. WE HAVE COMPLETED OUR FIRST OBJECTIVE. THE CRIMINALS HAVE BEEN ERADICATED, BY MEANS OF CANNON FIRE, AND ARE THUS PRESUMED DEAD. THERE ARE NO OTHER SIGNS THAT PROVE OTHERWISE. AS IT STANDS, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE ANY SURVIVORS LEFT ON THE ISLAND. THE NUMBER OF SURVIVORS ON THE MAIN ISLAND OF ENIES LOBBY IS ZERO.]"

…Shit. Zambai, Paulie, Gally-La, the Franky Family? They had all been taken out?

"[REPORTING FROM WARSHIP #2. THE COURTHOUSE AND THE TOWER OF JUSTICE LOCATED ON THE SOUTHEAST OF THE ISLAND, AS WELL AS THE UNDERGROUND PASSAGE THAT LEADS TO THE BRIDGE OF HESITATION HAVE BEEN DEMOLISHED. THE ONLY TARGET LEFT IS THE BRIDGE OF HESITATION.]"

"Yokozuna was probably with them, too…" Kokoro muttered. She was looking out towards the island. The normally smiling granny wasn't smiling anymore now, and Chimney and Gonbe seemed just as equally concerned.

"Sodom… Gomorrah…! Everyone…!" Chopper was beginning to tear up.

"…Can people die so easily?" asked Nami.

Maxwell had no answer to give. The marine speakers were pretty indicative... In Thedas, death was as much a part of life wherever you travelled. Human-Elf conflicts, roadside bandits, noble machinations, even a rogue dark spawn from the Deeproads. Notto mention his own personal conflicts. Maxwell had seen enough death to know it was easy. But in this world…? After all the stuff they've seen, it was hard to believe someone they knew to be dead.

"You can't see people on the map," Robin answered. "They just erased an island from the world map, without hesitation. That's what the Buster Call is!"

Then Franky's voice yelled from the bridge, "HURRY UP STRAW-HAT~! YOUR NAKAMA ARE WAITING FOR YOU, HERE! BASTARD, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU IF YOU END UP DEAD!"

"Franky…" He was putting up a front, ignoring the fate of his subordinates until they were all out of there… Franky still believed they could win this. There'd be time to mourn afterwards.

*KABOOM!*

The only indication Luffy had heard them was another blast coming out from the chamber.

Chopper then spoke up, "…When I think about it, it's sometimes as if Luffy knows whom he should fight… From the very beginning…"

Maxwell blinks. Chopper wasn't wrong. Luffy always did have a knack for choosing his opponents. Whether that was a good or bad thing, Maxwell wasn't so sure.

"It's just that his animal instinct for these things is good," Nami told the doctor. "And apparently his are better than yours."

"No…" Maxwell corrected the navigator, "They're just more indicative for him to run."

"Max~!" Chopper moaned from the deck. He was supposed to be defending him!

"Okay Chopper," the glow faded from Maxwell's hands, "Try to see if you can move."

"…Hmf! Mmf," Chopper raised his chest a little, to try and get him to move, but he still remained on the floor, "Mmmf—! Ah! …Hah, hah… It's no good. I'm not going to be able to fight in time…!"

"Damn it…" Maxwell cursed. The marines were about to attack at any moment and Chopper was a sitting duck… And where the hell was Salem!?

*BOOM! KRRCH!*

"Dammit!" "[DETACHMENT FROM THE FIRST COLUMN HAS BEEN COMPLETED.]"

Meaning, the marines had destroyed the first half of the bridge!

"[MR. ROB LUCCI OF CP9 AND STRAW-HAT LUFFY ARE IN THE FIRST COLUMN.]"

"UWAH!" Chimney startled when something big and dark came close.

"The warships are coming this way!" Nami yelled.

"Maxwell…" Mordred reminded him of his presence. The demon had been hovering his shoulder this whole time.

"I know!" Maxwell barked back at the demon. He already drew his staff and got ready for a fight. They were going to have to defend their position. Both for the convoy and on the bridge!

"[ALL SHIPS: SURROUND THE BRIDGE OF HESITATION. WE HAVE CONFIRMED THAT THERE ARE 11 PIRATES, INCLUDING PIRATE HUNTER ZORO, MAGISTER TREVELYAN, AND NICO ROBIN ON THE BRIDGE AND ON THE CONVOY.]"

Nami snapped her clima-tact into it's staff form, "We won't let you take Robin!"

"[THEY ARE PROBABLY THE MAIN FORCE WHO DEFEATED THE CP9 IN THE TOWER OF JUSTICE.]"

Now how in Andraste's name had they been informed of that? Unless… Spandam! That pathetic little cockroach was probably still kicking around somehow. Was he even still on the bridge?

"HEY! LUFFY!" Usopp's voice came off the bridge. They must have spotted their captain, "WE'RE HERE!"

"WE ALL GOT TO THE BRIDGE SAFELY!" Franky yelled at him. Soon even Sanji and Zoro joined in.

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT US!" "WE GOT ROBIN SAFELY, TOO!" "DEFEAT HIM!" "WE'LL GET OUT OUT OF HERE ALIVE!" "TOGETHER!"

Luffy was still fighting then. At least he now knew his crew was back together. Luffy could focus on his fight! The Straw-Hats will focus on their own.

Two warships had lined up along the remaining half of the bridge, "[THOSE RANKED LIEUTENANT COMMANDER OR LOWER ARE REQUESTED TO BE HELD BACK. TO THE 200 CAPTAINS AND COMMANDERS, ENGAGE THE ENEMY AND WIPE THEM OUT IMMEDIATELY.]"

They were sending in the big guns first. Marines of significant rank lined up on the ports and starboards of their ships. A hundred men on either side. They were looking down on them, assessing their strength.

"Granny, I'm scared," Chimney edged behind Kokoro as she saw all of the marines. They had some severe looking faces, and each had a little more personalized than your average marine.

"We've got to move away from the ship!" yelled Nami. "If they inflict any damage to this ship, we won't be able to escape!"

"I won't let them capture me ever again!" Robin looked ready to fight, her hands in her signature "V" shape to sprout more limbs.

Then someone on the warships yelled, "CHARGE!" and all of the marine commanders and captains jumped down onto the bridge.

Maxwell, Nami, and Robin immediately got off the boat and fought on the stairs. Marines were coming down, spliting up between taking out the pirates and retrieving Nico Robin.

"Mordred! Fly around the bridge and rain spells down upon them! Make sweeps on them if you can!" Maxwell opened up by erecting barriers along the stairs meant to funnel the amount of marines coming down. Glacial Strength was placed on the lower end while Lasting Flames was further up the staircase.

"Right!" Mordred immediately flew up the bridge, weaving in the air as he went. Their weren't many gaatlok weapons among these marines, but it was better safe than sorry.

Maxwell started using Wildfire on the marines, clasping his fist every time one came through. They would enter from the gap between the ice wall and the edge of the stairs. Maxwell would then light them up with fire imploding onto them. Of course, Maxwell couldn't get every marine that came down, but that's where Mordred came in.

Mordred knew the full repertoire of Necromantic and Inferno spells and used it to his great advantage. The demon would fly around, unleashing a mote of Flashfire and curses inflicted on the marines. Some panicked being set on fire, others suddenly exploded from spiritual markings that had grown on their body. What was truly remarkable though, was when a marine was taken down a ghost would rise out of their body! That spirit would then start attacking other marines! It wasn't even a spirit! Maxwell wondered how that worked.

…Now he really did have to study necromancy.

"Watch out! There are Devil Fruit users, too!" Franky's voice yelled from overhead.

"Yet the same… goes for us, too!" The girls fought hard, taking on the captains and commanders Maxwell missed. Robin cracked the spines of at least 3 marines trying to charge in. All falling from the limbs she had grown out of them. Nami even electrocuted a few with her claims-tact. The staff-like weapon produced lightning like a paint brush, shocking marines if they drew to close or got smacked.

Maxwell had to deal with his fair share of close combat as well. At one point a marine with an iron mask had grabbed him from behind, while another with a fur-lined belt tried to punch him in the gut. Maxwell was able to use the Fade Cloak to escape and counter them. The marine trying to punch him ended up punching his partner as the fist went through Maxwell's sternum. It was enough to knock the iron masked marine out. Maxwell took advantage of the other's surprise and clobbered the marine with his staff.

"We're hostages!" "We're weak!" *NYAA!*

Of course Kokoro and Chimney tried to keep marines off the boat by pretending to by hostages. And the ruse was a lot more effective this time round. Buster Call of not, the marines still had a sense of justice and wouldn't risk civilians in the crossfire. That and it kept them off the boat.

"Heheheh! Take this!" One captain, with a curly orange hair due under his cap, aimed a bazooka at Maxwell. He couldn't faze through it or else it might hit the ship, so Maxwell raised a smaller Ice Wall between him and the gunner. The mage ducked as the small cannonball shot through the ice. He wasn't hit by the cannonball, but could feel the chucks and stinging needles of ice flash into him. Maxwell then took the opportunity to get close using the Frost Step. He passed right through the marine and kicked the launcher off his shoulder. The marine was frozen, so he didn't have much of a chance to dodge. Maxwell then pushed him down the stairs, hoping he'd hit his head or something.

Unfortunately, using the Ice Wall meant his roadblock had now disappeared.

Maxwell didn't have a moments rest though as he caught a blade between his staff and a Spirit Blade. Marines were spreading out along the stairs and one helmeted marine had pushed and pinned him against one of the walls of the the staircase. The walls for aesthetic but that wasn't going to help him. Maxwell may have improved at close combat, but he was still no warrior.

Then feminine arms sprouted out of the marine. His shock allowed Maxwell to parry his blade and blast him away, using a Fortifying Blast.

"Thanks Robin!" Maxwell yelled to the archeologist. Robin smiled and nodded. Just because they were taking on multiple marines at a time, didn't mean they couldn't help each other.

Then even more marines started raced down.

"LUFFY!" Usopp's voice came from the bridge. Why was he talking to Luffy now!?

"LUFFY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? WAKE UP! LUFFY!"

What!?

Luffy was—!?

Maxwell suddenly had to duck and roll as a rather large axe tried to swing at him. He spun onto the steps and used his staff as a lance to shoot off a Blistering Pain. This rather tall and lanky marine spun his axe to deflect the spell with the axe head.

"Damn it…!" What was going on up there!?

O O O

Bloody, battered and exhausted, Luffy laid on the floor of the column's chamber. Lucci had used some technique on him that acted like some strong impact dial, and it was wrecking havoc on Luffy's body. Still, there had been a voice calling out to him. Luffy was able to look out at the bridge where he saw someone he never thought he'd see.

Is was Usopp, standing on a giant arm of sheered rebar, "Usopp…!? You… You're here…!?"

It was Usopp alright. Usopp had taken off his mask and looked at Luffy. No mask, no Sogeking, Usopp needed to say this himself, "D—Don't misunderstand me! I only came here to rescue Robin! It's not like I came here to see your face!"

He still played on pretences, as he had been disguised as Sogeking this whole time. Usopp knew everyone but Luffy and Chopper had known who he was, but he was still ashamed of his actions back at Water 7. He had taken it too far, leaving the crew and challenging Luffy like that. But he still wanted Luffy to live!

The sniper looked at the hybrid Lucci, "Hey! You! Boss cat of the CP9! I'll be your opponent! Come get me!"

"Eh!?" Luffy noticed Lucci glaring at Usopp, "Hey…! Don't…! Don't try…! You…" He was breathing hard. Steam rolled off him as it still recovered from Gear Second, "Don't start it!"

Lucci looked back, already turned his back on the captain, "I have no business with someone who has already been defeated. I'll kill them all anyway."

"Right here, boss cat!" Usopp taunted the agent, "I'll blow you away!"

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?" Luffy yelled at Usopp at the top of his voice, "STOP IT, USOPP! YOU'LL GET KILLED!"

"Shut up!" Usopp yelled back, "What can you, a half-dead man, do!?"

"I'LL FINISH HIM OFF!" Luffy roared. He immediately thought of getting up, but his body wouldn't listen to him!

"THEN STAND UP! RIGHT AWAY!" Usopp yelled to the Straw-Hat Pirate, "STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE GONNA DIE! IT'S NO LIKE YOU! EVEN IF THERE ARE BILLOWS OF SMOKE, WE CAN STILL SEE THE SKY. WE CAN STILL SEE THE OCEAN!"

Usopp saw his words were having an effect, "We're not in hell yet, SO DON'T ACT LIKE YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!"

He could see Luffy using a fist to push himself up. Tears started to well in Usopp's eyes, "Don't make me worry so much damn it…!" Even if he already left the crew, Usopp still considered Luffy his friend.

"…I know…" Luffy stood on his own two feet, fist still on the ground, "—This isn't hell, or anything like that…!" His crew was still fighting. Sanji, Nami, Robin, Zoro, Maxwell, Chopper. They were waiting for him to finish up!

Lucci looked back at the rubber-man. He couldn't believe this guy still had the ability to move. It was an annoyance.

"WIN!" Usopp let out a heartfelt plea, "AND WE'LL ALL GO BACK TOGETHER, LUFFY!"

"OF COURSE!" Luffy glared at the leopard-man, and steam redoubled all over his body.

Lucci eyed him carefully, "…You can still move?" Luffy had been fighting hard. It was a testament to his determination. Lucci was starting to get wary. This entire fight had been taking a toll on his body.

The pirate captain was breathing hard, "I never said… anything, about giving up!"

"…Release: Seimei Kikan!" Lucci's body suddenly started to bulk up. Biceps, triceps, shoulders, pectorals. His neck, his hands, his ribs. All of them were being beefed up.

"I'll finish you off with a single blow. Don't worry about your nakama, Straw-Hat. I'll send you and everyone of them to hell!" The cat zoomed forward towards Luffy, a clawed finger extended in each hand, "Madara!" He was going to stab Luffy with a flurry of Shigan finger pistols!

Yet the Straw-Hat was able to keep up! Luffy's fists collided with Lucci's knuckles, keeping the claws appendages from piercing his body.

Then, stopping the attack, Lucci thrust his fists forward like he was holding a scroll, or a ship's steering wheel.

Luffy immediately noticed this, "I won't get hit by that again—!" but as he tried to jump back, Lucci's tail had wrapped around his waist.

"San Dai Rin! ROKUOGAN!"

Pure invisible force blasted into Luffy's body. It was the ultimate technique of the Rokushiki martial arts, one only Lucci had mastered. Taking all the disciplines of the of the six styles, it blended them into one single devastating technique. The Six Kings Gun.

And Luffy had been hit thrice now by this technique!

Luffy cough up blood from this blow. His skin was red from all the exertion placed on his body. The whites of his eye were starting to show and Luffy went limp.

Certain he had won, Lucci unwrapped his tail around Luffy and started to walk towards the giant hole in the wall. But before he could even consider jumping out, he went still. The sound of scrapping sanders made his eyes widen. Luffy had gotten up again!

Lucci immediately tried to turn around but it was already too late! "GOMU-GOMU NO…" He could see the fists starting to come towards him!

"TEKKAI—URK!" Luffy's fists hit him with the force of a jet engine. Fist after fist hitting his eye, his chest, his stomach! They were coming so fast!

"JET GATLIIIIINNNNNGGGGG~!"

Rocket speeding fist pulverized into Lucci's body. His body couldn't handle it! The Tekkai broke! He felt every punch, the force enough to back him into the wall!

Luffy refused to stop! "NNNNNGGGGHHHH!" An illegible growl rumbled out of his throat. It was a savage despite desire to defeat his enemy! Luffy refused to lose! No one would take away his nakama! Not Aokiji! Not Lucci! Not even that leather-faced bastard! No one would make his nakama cry ever again!

"GGGGRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!"

*BOOM!*

Luffy's Jet Gatling attack had torn down the remainder of the chamber wall. Lucci had been pulverized and was now falling through it, unconscious onto the column's second detachment.

The explosion had caught everyone's attention, briefly stopping the fighting. Marine and criminal alike looked back at the isolated piece of bridge to see what had happened.

Lucci's pet pigeon landed onto his back.

Luffy had fallen over exhausted from his fight.

…Yet he still had the energy to roll onto his back.

"ROBIIIIN!"

The archeologist had heard his cry.

"WE'RE GOING BACK! TOGETHER~!"

And those words meant all the difference to her.

Luffy had won!