-Enies Lobby-
-Sasuke, Robin, and Luffy Group-
"I'm so sorry…" mumbled Robin, holding onto Sasuke's back with all of her strength, "I didn't believe it… I didn't think anyone could ever…"
Sasuke, Luffy, and Robin charged through the streets of the Marine Fortress on their way to the docks. Moving through the main streets they passed skirmishing Marines and rogue Franky Family members, but with Luffy on point any potential threat was absolutely obliterated as soon as it was identified.
Feeling the slowly drying damp patch on his shoulder where Robin's tears had fallen throughout their trip, Sasuke struggled to come up with the words to comfort her.
"I don't think anyone blames you for doubting it," he said, his feet striking the ground at a sprint. "The Straw-Hats defy common-sense, after all."
He felt her seastone-weakened fingers grip his shoulder tighter, "You were there too."
"Yeah, I guess I was, wasn't I?" Then he winced, "But don't thank me. Naruto's the one who believed in you."
"No… that's not what I meant," she said, "You said 'the Straw-Hats' just now."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm actually a part of the team, blah blah, blah. I already got enough of that from Luffy."
Robin laughed, but in her state it came out like a small snort right next to his ear. "Sasuke… Don't make the same mistake I did."
Sasuke frowned, but said nothing. Luckily he was saved the trouble of extending this conversation when one of Naruto's giant toads saw them and came hopping.
Sasuke didn't recognize this one, but that was hardly unusual. He hadn't met most of the toads Naruto could call upon. It had brown, warty skin, very little in the way of clothing, and- oddly enough- a mane of unruly curly black hair. It's belly was covered with terrible scarring.
"Hey, how's Naruto doing?" asked Sasuke as soon as it approached, falling in alongside them in a hopping run.
"Gero Gero!" said the toad.
"I'm... sorry?"
"Gero Gero!"
"Why're you talking to that frog, Sasuke?" asked Luffy.
"It's not a frog. It's a toad." Now he eyed the massive battle-scarred creature carefully. "At least, I think it is. Anyway, whatever it is, Naruto sent it."
"You think so?"
Sasuke exhaled hard and rolled his eyes, as Robin gently laughed on his shoulder. Sometimes Luffy could be a bit dense.
"You think there's some other giant toad running around for no reason? Look at him- he's a friend. I just need to figure out how to talk to him so we can learn what Naruto sent him for."
"Gero!" shouted the frog/toad, now irritated.
The young ninja sighed. "Naruto, this had better not be your idea of a joke…"
"I think he's looking for someone," said Luffy.
"Gero! Gero-Gero!" agreed the creature, who then began waving his arms and gesticulating wildly.
"Great," said Sasuke, "But unless you can understand toad semaphore then we're out of luck."
Luffy, however, just nodded back to the frog-toad with complete understanding. "Oh, I get it. You're looking for the blue-haired old guy." When the creature jumped eagerly up and down, Luffy pointed off to the right. "He was going that way."
"Gero!" exclaimed the frog, who then hopped off.
As Sasuke continued cursing the outside world and all of its oddities, Robin began laughing wholeheartedly, barely able to control herself. She laughed until she couldn't breathe, shaking and gasping. When Sasuke turned his head, he felt her tears dampen his cheeks.
"You okay?" he asked, but Robin just kept laughing.
He chuckled. This display of intense emotion was unusual for the woman he had come to know, but she was basically still in shock. Even if she had been out of her handcuffs he wasn't at all sure she would be up for a fight. Not that he hadn't tried to free her- he'd spent a minute looking over the lock once they had gotten away from pursuit, but this thing was high-quality work. He was still sure he'd be able to pick it, but he'd need to set her down and work at it for a while.
So, they continued to run through the streets, hearing the Franky Family's thugs yelling to spread the word that their boss had been broken out. Luffy and Sasuke didn't stop to engage them, continuing to run through to the City Gates. Finally, they arrived in the square before the walls where they saw Zoro dueling the giraffe-man from earlier.
"What the hell?" asked Sasuke, "How did Zoro get ahead of us? We pretty much made a straight run for it. Could this day get any weirder?!"
"Zoro!" yelled Luffy, "You're gonna win, right?! Kick his ass and come after us!"
Zoro stood before the mighty giraffe, covered in cuts and breathing heavily, then he looked back to Luffy. "Damn straight I will."
Kaku moved. "Don't take your eyes off the battle, Roronoa Zoro!"
[SORU]
The giraffe-man moved so fast he seemed to disappear, kicking off the ground several times in an instant. The Sharingan caught the high-speed movement in perfect fidelity, but what was even more startling was the speed with which Zoro reacted, his bleeding limbs flicking out like lightning to intercept the oncoming strikes. He counter-attacked immediately, slipping his third sword underneath the giraffe's blades to strike its body.
Instead of biting deep, the blade sounded as though it had struck steel.
[TEKKAI]
Sasuke analyzed this technique as well as Kaku broke the deadlock and knocked Zoro away. Still facing the green-haired swordsman, Kaku nonetheless glanced over at Sasuke and saw him staring.
"Dammit, you whippersnapper! Stop staring at me already! It's creeping me out!"
Sasuke didn't respond, absorbing the interesting techniques as they moved to the City Gates.
"Luffy," said Sasuke, "He's not looking too good. Shouldn't we stop and help him?"
"Help Zoro?!" exclaimed Luffy, "Why?! He said he was gonna win!"
"But what if he's wrong?"
"Man, you just don't get it, do you?"
Sasuke frowned as Robin continued heaving with quiet laughter on his back, but he wasn't about to drop her and help fight unless Luffy was on-board. Instead, he continued analyzing the techniques he had seen.
The Sharingan was capable of memorizing every shift in chakra and every flex of even the tiniest of muscles, updating muscle-memory until it could be reproduced perfectly. So far he had seen four of these strange techniques in use, and each one seemed to be a combination of brutal body-training, rigorously-practiced muscle memory, and unconscious chakra control. His eyes could reproduce everything except for the strength and endurance, but his Taijutsu training counted for a lot. Even now his legs itched to try out what he had just learned.
Soru he could probably manage right away, even though his legs were still a bit stiff from the first Geppou he had attempted. A couple weeks of practice and he'd have both of them pretty well down. Rankyaku seemed like it would take a similar amount of training; the Sharingan told him how he could replicate the movements right now, but it was a useless technique unless you could get it strong enough to harm things at a distance, and he wasn't sure he was exactly ready for that.
Tekkai was probably no good for the time being- his instinctual feel for the technique seemed to indicate that aside from the endless beatings he would have to endure as practice, something was odd about the chakra control method that those assassins had been using. He wasn't sure, but when he thought hard about replicating it he got the feeling that flushing his system with the chaotic and swirling chakra they were using to reinforce their skin would make it impossible for him to use Ninjutsu for a short time afterwards, and he wasn't quite ready to experiment with that yet.
Still, Sasuke smiled. There were so many fantastic Taijutsu arts to steal out here. These people were ridiculously specialized in their own areas of expertise, and it showed in the incredible depths of skill they could display. It was as if they had produced a entire world full of Maito Guys, each one developing their own style.
Actually, that thought made him want to shudder.
Anyway, it was a shame he hadn't been able to steal these assassination techniques earlier in his life.
His thoughts were interrupted as they passed underneath the walls. Ahead of them, just outside the immense City Gates, Chopper was doing his best to stay hidden from the climactic duel between the two swordsmen. Behind him, two Naruto clones who had abandoned their disguises were waving them down. "Hey! Over here!"
As Luffy, Sasuke, and Robin dashed through the gates, Chopper abandoned his hiding place and rushed after them.
"LUFFY!" cried Chopper, tears matting his fur, "Waaahhhh! Help me! He said we had to capture a ship, but I can't do that by myself, and if Naruto's clones blow up then I'd be alone! What do I do?!"
"Come with us! We're gonna take a ship by storm!" said Luffy.
"We might not have to," reminded Sasuke. "Naruto still had a bunch of clones on the Merry, and if I can fire off a signal then they'll bring her around to meet us."
"The Merry's here?!" asked Chopper.
"I don't know. Naruto? You two are clones, right?"
The two Naruto clones nodded, running alongside them. One said, "Sorry, man. I'm a clone from about half-an-hour ago, but when I was made it wasn't looking good. They were already low on chakra when we started this whole invasion, and it's only gotten worse since then. The last information I got from the Merry was that there were five clones left and they were thinking of weighing anchor so the ship wouldn't drift all over the place when they were gone. They put a seal on the ship so the real me can triangulate its direction, but I dunno if it'll be sailing to the rescue today or not."
"Okay," said Sasuke, "Still worth giving a signal, just in case, but let's assume we need to capture a ship. That sound good, Luffy?"
"Yeah," he said, "Keep Robin safe. When we get past the next set of gates, I'm going in."
Determined not to be left out, one of the Narutos spoke next, "We'll head in right now to start scouting for a ship, alright? See you when you get there!"
The Narutos leapt off, leaving Robin's guards behind.
It wasn't long before they had reached the half-way point between the City Gates that protected the city itself and the Main Gates that guarded the Docks. This meant that they were now at the narrowest point of the rock pillar that supported the island proper. Thinking about it made Sasuke shudder. He obviously wasn't afraid of heights, but he still didn't understand how anyone could live somewhere that seemed like it was going to fall into the ocean at any moment. As soon as they got past the Island Gates they would be off of this ridiculous deathtrap of an island and surrounded by the sea again.
"SASUKE!" shouted Luffy.
Sasuke didn't need to process the sudden call for information. Every ninja worth their salt knew not to dither when someone shouted like that. He moved, letting his upgraded muscle memory kick off the ground several times in an instant as he turned himself around.
Rob Lucci had made no sound until he crashed down from the sky with a surgical strike, his finger extended for a blow that Sasuke and Robin narrowly avoided.
[SHIGAN]
There was a noise of rock shattering as Lucci landed, then he extracted his hand from the earth leaving a single drilled hole behind. Sasuke watched the man stand up with interest. That was the fifth technique he'd seen so far. By hardening the muscles and tendons in one's hand, you could punch at full strength using the surface area of just one finger. It seemed to be a refinement of the Tekkai he had seen earlier, which meant it was similarly outside of his ability to perform it for now. Whatever. If he really needed to stab people he had knives and a sword for that.
Luffy, immediately sensing that Sasuke couldn't fight effectively while protecting Robin, charged the assassin and began a fierce melee. Fists and feet collided, with Lucci largely taking the hits on his iron body and Luffy dodging everything he could. Sasuke watched, unable to help.
Actually, this was ridiculous. Now that they had other helpers, Sasuke should really be free to fight if necessary.
"Chopper, I have an important job for you," he said, glancing at the young reindeer. "I need you to carry Robin for me."
Chopper nodded, taking her as he shifted into a much larger form to cradle the weakened woman in his arms, carefully avoiding coming into contact with her seastone shackles. As soon as that was done, Sasuke drew his sword.
"Straw-Hat," said Lucci, blocking blow after blow, "I believe I told you that we would find you no matter what you did. Your game was amusing, but this ends here!"
He struck like lightning, and Sasuke knew a fatal blow when he saw it. His fist hit Luffy in the chest with the kind of force that shattered boulders, much less sternums, but Luffy took the attack without injury, rebounding off the terrain into a flurry of punches with his rubber-enhanced body.
[GOMU-GOMU NO GATLING]
Lucci continued walking calmly towards Luffy, evading every single one of the blows by bending his body in every direction.
[KAMI-E]
Sasuke took that technique in as well. Good grief—that was six different techniques from the same school, each one something that pushed the limits of Taijutsu in ways that he'd never seen before. How many more did they have? He could feel his muscles eagerly requesting the chance to try out this newly-coordinated movement.
The fight changed in an instant as Lucci dodged a strike from the captain and then kicked him back towards the city like a soccer ball. Suddenly free of the fight, Sasuke's eyes saw the moment that the assassin's center of gravity shifted towards them, and then Lucci blurred. He all but teleported straight to Robin and Chopper, but stopped dead as Sasuke appeared bringing his sword around for a decapitating strike.
[TEKKAI]
As the sword swung in, Lucci's muscles shifted in preparation to use the defensive technique. The sword struck the man's neck with a *clang*, but Sasuke was already hurling a kunai at Lucci's eye.
The man's body control was incredible, shifting from rigid iron to flowing water in an instant as he slipped to the side of the knife. In retaliation, Lucci struck out again and again with a single finger.
[SHIGAN]
Sasuke's body melted to the side as well, whipping left and right as he dodged a series of the scowling man's stabbing attacks.
[KAMI-E]
Lucci's eyes widened as he realized what he was seeing. Knowledge of the Six Techniques training style was restricted to Marines, and for it to be used right in front of him by a no-name pirate was absolutely unheard of.
Using something wider-ranged, Lucci kicked, hardening his body when Sasuke blocked the leg with his sword, both combatants being pushed apart from the force of the strike. Then there was a momentary pause in the battle.
"You. Where did you learn that technique," growled Lucci.
Sasuke smirked. "That? That's nothing. Watch this," he said, holding his sword in both hands. With a breath, lightning chakra cascaded down the blade, and Lucci had one moment to register further surprise before Sasuke's feet struck the ground multiple times in an instant.
[CHIDORI HAYABUSA]
[THOUSAND BIRDS - PEREGRINE]
Lightning screamed and chirped as Sasuke used his newly-stolen Soru to shoot forward like a crossbow bolt, the Sharingan keeping his blade true as he flew, faster than he had ever before moved. Like this, the greatest weakness of the Chidori- it's need to get into close-range- was solved in a single impossible flash of speed.
Lucci's eyes widened further and further in the moment of slowed perceptions, but then it was Sasuke's turn to be surprised. With no warning, Lucci's movement sped up, his feet moving with a swiftness that the younger man couldn't match. The sword moved to follow him, cutting shallowly into his side before Lucci evaded, and Sasuke skidded to a halt fifty feet away.
Shit. Maybe the middle of combat wasn't the right time to try out a new technique after all. He'd need a lot of practice before he would be able to move the way this man could.
He spun, looking for Lucci, but the man was gone. Unsure of where his opponent was, the ninja dashed wildly forward, flicking his eyes in every direction.
He wasn't there. He just wasn't anywhere at all in the area. Even though the hit with the Chidori had been glancing, the coursing lightning should have made it at least a little difficult to control his muscles for the next couple of seconds, which meant this was the best time to grasp victory, but Lucci was just gone.
He couldn't possibly be dodging Sasuke's eyes, so where was he? The only place Sasuke hadn't looked was... underneath the island. Could he have leapt off the edge of the pillar here?
Sasuke looked down, trying to see the man's chakra through the earth, but it was too late.
DEATH
He felt it coming from behind him. Adrenaline flooded his veins and he spun, already powering up the Tsukuyomi for the one chance he had to stop this man.
It was going to be be too slow.
Lucci had slipped around underneath and was now descending from above like the Reaper, the edge of his hand scything in for a decapitating strike that would kill Sasuke in one blow. By the time he saw the man, Lucci was only six feet away.
In that moment, Sasuke felt more certain of his own death than he had in years. Then, at the same instant as he felt the Tsukuyomi powering up, there was a sensation of a second chakra bubbling up from inside him- one that he hadn't summoned.
That was when Luffy collided with Lucci from the side like a cannonball, knocking him away from the battle.
Suddenly flooded with relief, Sasuke deactivated the Tsukuyomi, feeling the second chakra dissipate as well.
Whatever that had been, there would be time for thinking about it later.
"Sasuke!" shouted Luffy, leaping back to his feet and focusing on the unharmed form of Lucci rising from the dirt off in the distance, "Get to the ship! I'll take this guy!"
Sasuke turned on the other man, glaring. "Luffy, are you serious? You can't fight this guy alone- what the...?"
Luffy's skin had turned red, and he was now so hot that he was literally steaming. Abruptly the Sharingan began twitching. It automatically analyzed the subtle motions of chakra and muscles for later mimicry, and right now it was telling him very clearly that he could replicate Luffy's current state by simply forcing open all of his own blood vessels and then pumping his blood using his leg muscles. This was, of course, impossible. Just watching it made his heart tense and his leg feel like cramping up.
Or maybe that was just him using these new techniques without a warm-up. It was hard to say.
"Luffy, what the hell are you-"
"JUST GO! We need that ship!"
He felt it this time. Some power, intangible but overwhelming, emanated from Luffy and washed over him. For the very first time he knew- he truly understood- what drove the crew's complete trust in this man.
"Goddamn you!" he shouted, turning towards Chopper and running to catch up, "Stay safe! We never leave anyone behind, right?!"
"You're damn right we don't!" yelled Luffy, "That means you have to keep Robin alive!"
Shit. Maybe it was better to let the man who was immune to melee attacks deal with this Taijutsu monster, but that didn't mean he had to feel good about it. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke ran for the distant figures of Robin and Chopper. As he had expected, Lucci moved to intercept. Sasuke made ready to defend himself, only to see something truly unexpected when Luffy kicked off the ground multiple times, performing a textbook reproduction of the Soru technique Sasuke had just copied.
[GOMU-GOMU NO - JET RIFLE]
He struck the assassin at point blank range with a punch far stronger than anything Sasuke had seen from him before, even against the Kyuubi, and Lucci shot away off the edge of the rock-pillar.
How the hell had Luffy done that? Whatever. Hopefully it meant that their captain stood a chance at surviving this fight. Sasuke turned and resumed his dash away from the city. Fixing his sights ahead, he focused on the mission: Robin, Chopper, and the ships at the docks.
-Main Gates-
Leaving Luffy behind to fight Lucci on the tiny finger of land that supported Enies Lobby, Sasuke, Chopper, and Robin were the first ones to arrive at the Main Gates. Those gates loomed ahead of them, torn open from the earlier assault, but once the three of them were through they would be able to take and defend a ship while waiting for the others to arrive.
There was only one problem. The wide Main Gates that led to the docks were thrown open, showing a view of the Marine Battleship, and every other ship in the harbor was missing its masts. That left only one option and one hope. He'd have to signal for the Merry and then try his luck capturing the sole intact ship.
Well, make that two problems. They were stuck on a simple road meandering down a thin piece of grassy land with no cover in sight. Terrain that might have been used for the defenders of Enies Lobby to spot an approaching raid also allowed those on the docks to spot him coming a mile away. Maybe a mouse could have made it by undetected, but not three people.
Actually, as he watched, a mouse did scurry by from the docks, likely fleeing one of the broken ships.
Also, where the hell had Naruto's clones gone?
"Well," said Sasuke, "Since we're not going to make it by unseen, I'm firing off the flare now."
Chopper looked nervous, but he nodded. Summoning chakra for one of the many cantrips he had copied from Kakashi, Sasuke sent a flare of fire into the air that exploded into a bright light over the Main Gates, and then the two of them passed underneath their shadow.
He was never sure what made him wary all of a sudden. Maybe it was the fact that this was an excellent site for an ambush, or maybe it was just the adrenaline from being attacked by Lucci, but he felt, rather than heard, the incoming attack from behind him. Sasuke dropped down as fast as he could, and a strike from some sort of cosh or blackjack went whistling right over his head.
He spun in place, sweeping his leg around to catch his mystery assailant off-guard, but his foot struck nothing. There was a tiny tug at his back, and then a large hand grabbed the back of his neck. A knife swept in from his side, but Sasuke grabbed the attacker's arm and stabbed backwards with his sword.
The grasping hand and knife both disappeared, and his sword connected with nothing.
There was a moment of silence as he spun around. His eyes roamed the landscape, flicking here and there with his perfect vision and chakra sight. Chopper and Robin had stopped, turning back to watch him in concern, but Sasuke could tell in an instant they hadn't seen anything.
"Chopper! Stay back! In fact, get her to the top of the gates for now, alright? You should be safe there."
He didn't see Chopper's response, still keeping his eyes everywhere. Was his attacker invisible? No, he'd caught a glimpse of an arm out of the corner of his eye. He was fast, then, and very stealthy…
No, if this assailant was really fast enough to avoid being seen in this terrain, he'd be quicker than Lucci. Sasuke couldn't see any chakra signatures from underneath him, either. There was something else to it.
Well, let's test how fast he is, then.
He burst into a sprint, priming his reflexes for the moment the assailant attacked. Dashing towards the ships in the distance, he heard a man's feet hit the ground behind him, and then he sped up.
[SORU]
Leaping fifty feet ahead into the sunlight, Sasuke skidded to a halt and turned.
No one there.
"Sasuke!" shouted Chopper, standing at the entrance to the gatehouse "It's a mouse! He's on your back!"
A mouse? Hiding on his clothes? For just a moment Sasuke blanked out, not actually sure what to do about this. Finally, he brought his fingers together.
[KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU]
A Sasuke clone appeared behind him, lunging forward to grab at the mouse, and he felt the moment it dropped from his clothes. Leaping away, he grabbed a kunai and whipped it straight at the falling mouse. The knife homed in unerringly until the mouse moved, kicking off the air to avoid the attack.
[GEPPOU]
It dashed through the air in wide circles around him- a tiny grey blur that Sasuke could only follow with his Sharingan. As it moved, he saw the animal's eyes focusing on him with a human intelligence.
"Pretty good, kid," squeaked the mouse, and then it shot forward. Halfway to him, the mouse changed into an adult human male, two daggers in his grip. Sasuke pivoted to the side to avoid the attack and his clone struck out with a sword, but the man transformed again, dodging the attack by changing sizes and hitting the ground. The mouse rebounded with its tiny feet, transforming back into human form and slashing the clone as he passed, destroying it with a puff of smoke before returning to mouse size.
This time, though, he didn't get away clean. Sasuke predicted the attack, darting in at superior speeds to intercept the mouse with a slicing arc of his blade. Surprised, the mouse flipped in air and transformed again, blocking the attack with both daggers. The force of the strike brought the man to the ground, rolling in the dirt before springing back up to his feet, watching Sasuke's torso while avoiding eye-contact, daggers at the ready.
"Like I said. Pretty good, kid."
"Pretty good yourself," said Sasuke, glancing at the man's insignia of rank that adorned his well-tailored attire. He couldn't tell, but the guy seemed like a big-shot. "You're the strongest Marine I've run into so far at the very least. And you know to avoid my eyes, which is something really special. I have to ask- are you stalking me?"
The man chuckled, his deep and gruff voice contrasting with the squeakiness of his mouse-form. "I suppose you could say that. I've been following you for quite some time now, but you probably know me by my title instead."
"Allow me to introduce myself. Commodore Percival Flounders, former Boss of the Flounders' Fishermen. I'd ask you your name, but I believe that's unnecessary at this point."
"Ahh," mused Sasuke, "You're the one who imprisoned us. How'd that work out for you, by the way?"
The man's lip twitched. "Heh… Watch your mouth, kid. It's just you and me now, and unlike anyone else you've fought out here, I actually took the trouble to learn all I could about your ninja tricks. You're not getting past me now."
"Really?" Sasuke's mouth split in a wide grin. "Since I already took all your other henchmen to pieces, I guess that means if you go down then we'll be free to take your ship from you, huh? I wonder how often it is that a group of less than ten prisoners takes down an entire Marine convoy?"
A vein popped on the man's forehead, so Sasuke pushed a little further.
"How far do you think everyone here will be demoted after we get off this island with everything you own?"
Flounders disappeared, scything inward in between heartbeats to appear at the location Sasuke had just vacated. He looked up. The young ninja was standing upside-down on the underside arch of the Main Gates, cloaked in shadows and chuckling to himself.
"Alright," said Flounders. "You got me. I gotta admit that the Admiral didn't say you were this fast."
Sasuke continued chuckling in the shadows a hundred feet up, his tone turning cruel and smug.
"What's so funny?" asked the Commodore, frowning as he tried to figure how the ninja had jumped that high.
Sasuke shook his head, shrugging his shoulders upside-down. "Well, it's just that he wouldn't have said anything of the sort. I wasn't anywhere near as fast as this before I came here. Heheh.., I'm so much stronger than I was even yesterday that I'm just amused. I came here for a rescue mission, not a training exercise, but it seems like I got both."
"Really?" asked Flounders, seeming disinterested but still holding his two daggers at the ready, stance low and prepared to dodge. "Sorry to say this, kid, but it doesn't work like that. Improvement comes through steady effort and experience, even if a good fight or two might make you feel on top of the world. I'll give you points for the creepy laugh, though. It's pretty good material for a bluff."
Now, the ninja's arrogant grin widened. He didn't say anything, just sheathed his sword and drew two kunai from inside his clothing. As Flounders watched warily, Sasuke moved into the same ready stance as his opponent, two knives matching him while hanging from the ceiling.
The Marine frowned to see this obvious mimicry. "That's just insulting, kid. You wanna try taking me on like that? It's your prison cell." Then he started moving, getting up to his normal speed and preparing to resume his aerial attacks.
While he was still shifting his weight, Sasuke appeared right in front of him, appearing to teleport down across the intervening distance. He slashed outward from his center, and Flounders barely managed to turn his shift forward into a duck underneath the attack.
Knives cut out fast and furious, with Sasuke pressing the offensive using unbelievable speed and flexibility, his eyes locked on the older man as they danced across the battlefield. Eventually, Flounders began switching back and forth between mouse form to dodge attacks, instantaneously appearing behind or above him to continue combination strikes that relied on moves Sasuke couldn't replicate. It didn't matter much- now that Sasuke had his eyes on the man he could see the fluctuations of his chakra system and the twitches of his muscles as if they were a step-by-step guide to his fighting style. Every time that Flounders disappeared, Sasuke was ready to counter-attack.
The Marine dashed away, looking to separate from the combat, but Sasuke moved faster, lunging in and slicing the man across the chest.
There was an explosive noise in the distance and Sasuke paused, glancing up at the Commodore who stood in the shadows while silhouetted against the sunlight from the docks. Staggering backwards, the well-dressed man smirked and then shrunk, darting into an almost invisible hole in the ground.
The battleship had just fired its main cannons, and the tremendous cannonballs were aimed directly at him.
Sasuke jumped, kicking off the air again and again to gain height as the incoming cannonfire struck the ground. As it exploded, Sasuke poured energetic chakra into his system, once again relying on an untested technique.
[TEKKAI]
The explosive rounds knocked him away in a blast of hot air and shrapnel that cut into his skin, but the sharp pieces of iron that might otherwise have gored him were instead mostly deflected by the technique.
Sasuke hit the ground and stumbled, readying for another attack to come through the cloud of smoke, feeling woozy and off-balance. He had been right about the Ninjutsu limitation- he could feel his normally well-ordered chakra struggling to stop swirling about. If he was attacked again, he might be in trouble.
No more cannonfire seemed to be incoming, but he could make out the silhouette of the Commodore's chakra through the cloud of smoke, twisting and changing before his eyes. When the man spoke, his voice was scratchy, but deeper than his normal high-pitched mouse-squeak.
"You…" he began, "I know for a fact you would have had no chance to train in the Six Techniques. I've followed you every step of the way from your island, and I also know you're among the first people to leave it…"
The smoke cleared, and Sasuke saw that the man had transformed into a very odd creature. Slim and gray, the Commodore had become half-man, half-mouse. He was still dressed in his fine clothing, but either some strange Fruit-related magic or some ingenious feats of tailoring had kept it from falling apart. From a well-hidden hole in the back of his dress pants, a prehensile mousey tail slipped out.
From the looks of it he had actually become a little more slim and streamlined as a result of his transformation, and his whiskered nose twitched left and right in the smoky sea-breeze.
"For that matter, you're already fighting with my style, and you hadn't even seen me before today. How have you done such a thing?"
Sasuke waited, feeling his chakra slowly settle down. If his opponent wanted to be cautious for now, then that was fine with him. He took a deep breath.
"You guessed it," he said, "I can copy anything I see."
"Ah… so you're some kind of 'Copy Ninja,' then?"
Sasuke blinked. Being called a 'copy ninja' was really weird, considering that was Kakashi's nickname.
"Well, actually that's not really-"
"Whatever, kid. Now you're going to be fighting me for real, and one thing you can't copy is being a mouse."
Well, it didn't really matter what this man wanted to call him. He was going to win, and then there would be nothing stopping them. The Straw-Hats could win this. They just had to finish the fight.
A/N: Sasuke has access to all six techniques, but currently only four of them are usable. All of them need a great deal of training before his body catches up to where it needs to be.
Next chapter we finish the fight. Expect it on Friday or Saturday.