Chapter 21
Straw Hat Rematch


As the fight between the Marines and the pirates raged on, Buggy and his crew were running around like crazy, trying to get out of harm's way and back to their ship.

"Darn it! I was so close!" said Buggy angrily. "I actually had the treasure in my hand, but then a bunch of whores showed up and took it from me!"

"Tough luck… Life is more important anyway, so let's get out of here and then decide what to do next!" Alvida told him.

"If we're lucky, we might actually find the treasure that fell somewhere after the destruction of that island," Galdino said to Buggy.

"Why haven't I thought of that? Then let's look around the island for it! It shouldn't have fallen far!" suggested Buggy.

Suddenly, a large mass of smoke came flying in their direction, not only surrounding them but also pushing them back as if it was a semi-solid mass. The pirates collapsed onto the ground in pain, and Buggy looked at the attacker angrily and shouted, "WHO DARES ATTACK THE GREAT BUGGY?! YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH, DON'T YOU?!"

Smoker appeared before him and said, "It's you."

"Smoker! I'm a Shichibukai, so I'm on your side! You're going to get it for attacking your own people!" Buggy angrily said to him.

In response, Smoker picked him up by the collar, saying to him in an intimidating tone, "I don't give a crap about your position! Pirates like you are all the same to me, so you better watch your mouth when speaking to me!"

Buggy was struck with fear, but he still showed a face of frustration. "Argh! Today just isn't my day! I got my hands on the treasure and even saw what it is, only to have it taken from me! And now someone who is supposed to be serving me is talking crap at me!"

Hearing this, Smoker asked him, "You saw what the treasure is? What is it?"

"Why should I tell you?!" replied Buggy angrily.

"SAY IT!" Smoker shouted at him while shaking him violently.

"ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT! I'LL TELL YOU! STOP SHAKING ME ALREADY!" cried Buggy.


Luffy and Enterprise, upon landing in a barren landscape somewhere on Delta Island, became engaged in a fierce combat.

With a pair of metallic wings on her back, Enterprise flew around the air at a fast speed, firing missiles at Luffy. The rubber pirate was able to see the projectiles coming thanks to his observation haki, so he had no problem dodging them.

Enterprise herself was swift as well thanks to her wings. When Luffy threw a punch at her, she moved away so fast that she left behind afterimages.

"She's definitely better than before!" said Luffy. "I'll have to take her more seriously this time!"

"You won't be beating met his time!" said Enterprise with confidence as she stopped moving in the air. Holding up her flight deck, several miniature planes materialized on them and flew towards Luffy while firing nonstop.

Luffy jumped around fast to dodge them, and as he was doing so, Enterprise got behind him with her bowstring pulled back and fired an arrow of energy at him. Luffy stepped out of the way in time before extending his fist in that direction to punch her.

Enterprise once again dodged it with a fast speed and got up close to Luffy in an attempt to stab him in the face with the blade sticking out of the front part of her flight deck. Luffy bent back his body in time to avoid it and then performed multiple back flips to get away from her, but when he stopped, he was shot in the back by some of the jets. As the projectiles were not solid but made of energy, it burned him.

While Luffy had yet to recover from getting shot, Enterprise charged at him and stabbed him in the body, or so she thought. Luffy was able to harden his body with armament haki in time to protect himself. "Gum Gum Balloon!" he shouted as he expanded his body like a puffer fish, pushing back Enterprise.

The ship girl immediately fired an arrow of energy at him. Even with his inflated body, Luffy was unable to bounce back the energy projectile, and it exploded upon impact, blasting him backwards.

All the planes then dived at Luffy while firing rapidly. He hurriedly crossed his hardened arms in front himself for defense against the projectiles. Some of the planes then dropped bombs around him, filling the place with explosions and smoke.

Normally, this would spell doom for the opponent, but Enterprise knew well that this logic doesn't apply to the people of this world, so she readied another energy arrow and pointed it at the mass of fire created by the bombing, in case Luffy showed up again.

Sure enough, Luffy leaped out of the flames. Enterprise immediately fired the moment she saw him, but Luffy was able to see it coming in time and dodged it.

Luffy threw another punch at her, only for her to dodge it yet again. Enterprise took to the skies and flew in circles at a fast speed while firing missiles from her wings. Luffy did his best to avoid them, and while he was at it, the planes were still going after him.

"Time to use this!" he said before biting his arm and blowing air into it.

"What is he doing?" wondered Enterprise.

"Gear Fourth! Snakeman!" shouted Luffy after he was done blowing air into himself. His body and limbs were now slightly muscular than before, and his arms and legs were coated black in haki.

"Whatever that is, I will still take you down!" said Enterprise with confidence.

"Let's see you take me down this time! Gum Gum Jet Culverin!" Luffy launched a punch at her. Enterprise was able to dodge it again, but the fist changed directions behind her and struck her from behind. The ship girl didn't even have time to cry in pain as she got punched towards Luffy, and the pirate gave her an uppercut to the chin when she was about to collide into him from the previous punch.

Enterprise flew back into the air, her back bent back almost unnaturally due to the force of the punch. "What… Did he change the direction of his fist?!" she thought.

The planes headed for Luffy and began firing again. Rather than dodging the projectiles, Luffy unleashed an incredibly fast barrage of punches that involved his extended fist making bends and turns in the air to the point where their trajectories were completely unpredictable. "Gum Gum Black Mamba!" His hardened fists were able to take out the projectiles and also destroy the planes in a matter of seconds.

Enraged and also nervous, Enterprise fired several missiles from her wings at him.

Luffy jumped towards the incoming missiles and, amazingly enough, used them as platforms to jump from one to another to get close to Enterprise. The ship girl, in an act of desperation, thrust her blade at him, but Luffy was able to destroy it with ease along with her flight back with his fist, much to her horror.

Luffy then slammed down his other fist onto her head hard.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Enterprise shot straight down onto the ground with such a force that a crater was created. As she lied unconsciously at the bottom of the crater, her metallic wings disintegrated into nothing, while her broken flight deck and bow fell down on both sides of her.

Luffy landed onto the ground and deactivated Gear Fourth. "Phew… I can't believe she actually took a lot out of me…" he said as he fell on his back. "Let's hope nothing happens before I can…"

Before he could finish speaking, a shadow loomed over him, and he looked and saw Bismarck standing on a cliff overlooking the place those two are in. Bismarck noticed Enterprise's unconscious body and widened her eyes in shock. She then turned to Luffy and asked him, "Did you do that to her?"

"Yeah, she attacked me, so I fought back! I won fair and square!" he replied.

"I see… Then she went down as a warrior," said Bismarck, calming down a bit. "It seems that you are in no condition to fight back, am I right?"

Luffy gritted his teeth, knowing that she got it right. After using Gear Fourth, he cannot use haki and is also incredibly weak, barely able to move, for ten minutes. Now a new enemy had showed up, and it is unlikely he will be able to defend himself if she is a strong foe.

"This looks like the perfect opportunity to strike you down," said Bismarck. "Some may say that attacking an enemy while he is weak is a low move, but to me, it doesn't matter as long as it brings me victory. Since you are about to be vanquished by me, I might as well tell you what the content inside this coveted treasure chest of the Pirate King is." She held up the treasure chest as she said this.

"Huh? You have it with you?!" said Luffy in surprise when he saw the chest.

Bismarck opened the chest and looked inside it. After a few seconds of silence, she closed it and said, "I see… I'm not sure whether to say that the Pirate King is smart or stupid for keeping something like this… With something like this, you will undoubtedly find One Piece."

Luffy was shocked to hear this. "It can lead me to One Piece?!"

"But unfortunately for you, you will never be able to find One Piece, much less get your hands on this treasure chest," Bismarck said to him.

Akashi then appeared to her. Noticing Enterprise, she said in surprise, "Is that Enterprise?! She looks badly injured-nya! I better go heal her!" She jumped down the cliff, which wasn't high, and ran towards the still unconscious Enterprise.

Bismarck also jumped down the cliff and began approaching Luffy as the pole bearing a German flag in her hand transformed into a sword. Luffy gritted his teeth angrily and tried to stand back up. He managed to do so, but he didn't feel any strength in himself.

Akashi ran up to Enterprise and held up her giant wrench. "Time to put my new magic to work-nya!" The front end of her wrench glowed with pink light, and then she touched Enterprise's back with it. The aircraft carrier glowed brightly in the same light, and then it died down.

Enterprise groaned as she slowly pushed herself back on her feet. "I… I feel more energized…?!" she said in surprise.

"Wow! It really worked wonder!" said Akashi in surprise. "Do you feel much better now-nya?"

Enterprise checked her flight deck and saw that it had been fixed completely. "Incredible… Your new power really can restore warships back to their original states in an instant!"

"Glad to know that it worked-nya!" said Akashi happily.

"You've done well, Akashi," Bismarck said to her. "Now go out there and give your aid to our comrades! They may surely need your presence! Leave this scoundrel to us!"

"Got it!" said Akashi while saluting, and then she sprinted off.

"Only a few more minutes! I have to somehow hold them off until then!" thought Luffy as he attempted to run.

Seeing him running, Bismarck fired from one of her guns at his feet, blasting him onto the ground. Bismarck walked closer to Luffy, but then she was distracted by something explosive striking the back of her rigging, much to her surprise. She looked and saw an injured Usopp standing on the cliff she was originally on, holding the Kabuto in his hands.

"Don't touch my captain!" he angrily shouted at her.

"So you can still stand," Bismarck said while glaring at him. "I should've strike you harder so that you would've died."

"I told you to get away from my captain!" said Usopp as he fired something from the Kabuto at Bismarck. It was a small, green seed.

Bismarck simply moved her head to the side to avoid the incoming projectile, but unknown to her, it fell into a small gap in her rigging and stayed there. "Pathetic! Even the child ships in our group know more about fighting than you!" said Bismarck before firing from her guns at Usopp.

Usopp leaped out of the way just before the shots struck the area he was standing on, and though he avoided direct impact, the explosion still managed to harm him.

"Usopp!" gasped Luffy, and then he glared at Bismarck angrily. "Don't you dare hurt my friend!" He was going to lunge at Bismarck regardless of whether or not his strength returned, but Enterprise grabbed his neck from behind and forced him onto the ground.

"You're done for this time, Straw Hat Luffy!" the aircraft carrier said to him in an intimidating tone.

"Once the captain that is you goes down, the rest of your crew will lose their wills and surrender!" said Bismarck as she pointed her sword at his head.

"My crew will not surrender so easily! And I won't either!" shouted Luffy, and all of a sudden, a burst of aura came out all around him. Enterprise and Bismarck were blown back by it with looks of shock on their faces. They felt a huge chill running down their spines and almost fell to the ground due to their legs wobbling.

"What… What is that…?!" said Enterprise in shock.

"Is that what they call Conqueror's Haki?!" said Bismarck.

Luffy got into a fighting stance and said to them, "I can move again, so you two better get ready, because I'm not holding back!"


TO BE CONTINUED

I think I might as well tell you this now. This story is reaching its climax. Yes, it's going to end with the Stampede arc. I never intended for this story to last very long in the first place. Sometimes it's better to be short but fun.

Anway, we will be heading over to see what the Sirens are up to next chapter!