~Luffy POV~
Luffy didn't think his fight would become this troublesome. It all started out easy enough. He beat Cindy easily, the zombie had nothing on him but she kept rising. Brook told him after they left the graveyard that the only way to defeat a zombie was to purify them, but neither of them had any salt. To make matters worse the zombie horde made it to the mansion. He was fast but he had no room to maneuver, and for a small second the teen was tempted to just burn them all alive. But then he quickly dismissed that idea, he had no idea what that could mean to those whose shadows had been stolen. Luffy maybe a pirate but he wasn't cruel enough that he'd sentence them all to such a cursed life just because it was easier to do that than it was to do the right thing. That's why he headed toward the only place the nekomimi was sure he could find salt. The mansion, more precisely the kitchen or the storage room there. Because while zombies wouldn't eat salty things Hogback and the rest of the humans were bound to. He threw one more look at Brook and prayed that the skeleton resisted until he made it back.
Luffy ran and broke down the door with a kick. The only way he could use to describe this house was creepy. Even the god-damn rug attacked him although he defeated them easily those things still kept getting up. Zombies were annoying but then Cindy just had to wake up and start attacking him with plates. Once again, it was annoying, he had a great amount of stamina but even he started to feel the drain. This time he made sure the zombies stayed down, before he tied Cindy's hands with her own scarf.
"Just show me where I can find the kitchen and I'll let you go." But before he could answer something kicked him away. He turned in midair and landed on his feet then quickly surveilled the area. There was no one in sight. And then someone shot at him. He had been prepared for battle so as soon as the sound of a trigger being pulled reached his ears he threw himself to the ground. It was reflex and survival instinct in one, the nekomimi wasn't going to take any chances. He had practiced with sharpshooters and gun maniacs and so he wasn't going to just stand around and become one of their target thank you very much.
It was a bazooka that had been fired and while he avoided the explosions, the debris that had been sent flying from the impact managed to graze him slightly. Noting more than scratches truly. He decided to run for cover while the shooter reloaded. Since he knew which direction the attacks came from it was easy to deduce what could serve him as cover and what couldn't. His opponent fired again as he run and managed to hit him once in the shoulder but he close enough to make it to the cover. He cursed slightly as he held his bloodied shoulder and tried to ignore the pain. If his opponent was a sharpshooter it would make sense why he couldn't see them. They were probably hiding somewhere but that theory still had inconstancies. Like how did he get kicked, it was a kick no doubt about it, and why couldn't he see the ammo?
He wasn't given too much time to think about it as something wrapped itself tightly around his neck.
"Ghhagg!" Luffy shouted with a raspy voice. He couldn't see it but it was almost like a leash of sorts and it kept getting tighter, it was dragging him out into the open. It had admittedly taken him by surprise so his reaction time was slow. It was getting harder to breathe now so it was time he did what he should have since the start and let his flames break free from underneath his skin. It was like a small explosion had gone off in the room. Everything in the room even the windows got broken but unfortunately he couldn't see any bodies. The lucky idiot got away…
The nekomimi cursed to himself all while trying to keep his anger in check. His expression turned neutral again as he exhaled softly and reigned in his flames. He had to relax and remember what he had learned. While debating how to proceed Luffy tore off strips from his hoodie to wrap them around his shoulder as makeshift bandages.
'It should be enough to stop the bleeding for now.' He thought as he stood up, the teen knew he couldn't just run around stupidly and just hope he won't get hurt. The one thing the nekomimi was sure about was that this wasn't a sharpshooter. Because he would have been shot dead by now if that had been the case, the pirate thought with a small sweat-drop. He was pretty sure about that and almost as sure as he was about the fact that his attacker won't give up this easily. The teen had to be careful, he couldn't relay on what he was seeing only, he had to use his other senses too or else his invisible enemy would win.
Luffy had to stay alert and while he used his eyes to guide him through the house, mostly to avoid falling flat on his face, he didn't relay on them to detect his enemies as he walked down the halls. He listened carefully to every little move and then he caught a scent. He closed his eyes as he sniffed the air again. The scent that lingered in the air was weird… it felt both like a human and animal but it was somehow different from the other zombie's they encountered on the island. Could it be another Zoan? More so if he could disappear a Mythical Zoan maybe? But if it was so the man probably didn't have his fruit for a long time.
Every predator knew and learned how to mask their smell. Else they would give away their presence to the prey, or worse yet to other predators. That's how easily the hunter became the hunted. He tore apart two more surprise zombies with his claws alone as they tried to attack him. The teen was annoyed and didn't have time for small fries. He had to get the salt as soon as possible but first the nekomimi had to take care of that guy before he became too troublesome. The teen wasn't going to let the lucky idiot to ambush or trap him again his pride wouldn't allow it.
Luffy was getting closer but his opponent wasn't alone. He could feel the man's presence, behind the door and somehow he knew that there were two more zombies inside. The nekomimi although slightly shocked by the revelation didn't question that feeling. It was the same as when he fought Mihawk. Luffy somehow just knew it and that instinct or feeling had yet to guide him wrong. The teen decided to trap them all inside, he wasn't going to let his prey escape a second time. He placed his hand on the door and let his flame out. They burned down the annoyance standing in his way and quickly encircle the entire room cutting off their escape routes.
"Yo!" Luffy greeted them after he stepped through the flames. He fixed his eyes on the blond dude, well good news he wasn't a Zoan for start. Not with those patchworks.
"Grrhh! You!"
"Me." Luffy replied humorlessly as the man shot at him. He summoned his particles and made a tall wall appear in front of him, the ammo exploded but it didn't even scratch the glass like substance. "That doesn't work, if I know they are coming and from where they are coming from." The man of course didn't seem to listen to him and fired again but the nekomimi was faster. Luffy used Soru to appear right in front of the man who seemed shocked. His claws gripped both invisible bazookas that were fixed to the man's hands. "I said that doesn't work." Luffy repeated once again before he ripped them off and head-butted his opponent. He throw both over his shoulder after he lighted them with his flames of course. They exploded thanks to the gun-powder before they even touched the ground.
"Ahh! Absalom-sama!" The two zombies shouted as they saw their leader fall down.
The blond stood up slightly disoriented he looked into Luffy's eyes which were gleaming at him unforgivingly. "Come!" The nekomimi ordered and the blond run at him enraged, he couldn't believe he got overpowered by such a small brat. Absalom turned invisible midway but Luffy knew from where the man was going to attack him. The blond was suffering from a bad case of tunnel vision, not to mention he was shouting as he attacked him. What good it did to turn invisible when you shouted and give away your positon? But then again even if the man would have kept his mouth shut his steps were loud enough to give away his positon. Maybe he could have posed a challenge if he would have calmed himself but as it was, the man didn't pose a threat.
He prepared himself to kick the man away, the kick packed quite a bit of strength even if it was too slow for his liking. Absalom saw it coming and defended with one arm but it was useless. The moment his boots made contact he knew he broke the man's arm. It sutured his broken pride slightly. He still couldn't believe he let himself get caught off guard by such a weakling and even got injured by the blond. True to be told it hurt his pride more than it actually hurt him. The mas was sent flying this time for good and even took out a pillar instead of just falling back.
"I-imposible!" One of zombies shouted.
"I'm in hurry, do stand up already." Luffy said in a bored manner.
"D-Don't be ridiculous!" The other zombie shouted now at Luffy who's gaze was enough to silence him.
"I don't want to hit him while he's on the ground" He didn't, he could but he felt like it would be shameful of him to do so, since his opponent was weaker than him. Maybe Mihawk was rubbing off on him. "He has to stand up." The nekomimi explained with crossed arms, like it was something understandable and they were the ones acting weird instead of him. Maybe he was, after all once challenged even the Greatest Swordsman in the world wouldn't hesitate to strike down his enemy. The man had tried to kill him so he couldn't complain if Luffy returned the favor.
"There is a limit to being Unreasonable!" Absalom shouted as he rose from under all the debris slightly cradling his injured hand.
"It isn't unreasonable, you're up." Luffy said with a small grin before he seemingly disappeared using soru only to reappear above the blond who looked up just in time to see the nekomimi drop an ax-kick on him. He tried to guard himself but it was too slow. The man's face got planted deeply into the ground, and Luffy was standing on the man's head for a good second with a small grin before he jumped back.
"NO WAY!" / "Absalom-sama is losing."
The zombies wailing made the invisible man twitch and then stand up with a grunt. He was visibly annoyed and with all the blood pouring down his face he looked dangerous. "You are strong… just as Moria-sama said, but you can't win against me! Grr!" The blond said as he throw away his jacket, the guy looked more and more like Frankenstein's monster. "It is not just the jaw of a lion, an elephant's sk-"
"Don't care." Luffy interrupted with an emotionless face. "but there is one thing I'd like to know… It was you, wasn't it the one who kidnapped Perona?"
"Ah, it was me, what about it?" The nekomimi's feline eyes hardened and the man would never admit it but the chibi unnerved him. Until now the kid seemed mostly emotionless if a bit arrogant but now, he could tell the boy was livid. The scary part was his expression didn't change in the slightest, his eyes though…
"… did you hurt her?" Luffy knew he shouldn't ask because his restrains were already slipping. It was evident by the way the fire encircling them flared up angrily as a response to his feelings. It was creating a suffocating heat wave.
"Why would I?" Absalom asked and Luffy could tell he was speaking the truth. "I have nothing against her personally." The nekomimi couldn't really understand what the man was saying. They had been comrades, nakamas… and her betraying them wasn't anything personal? The man continued to speak though. "Is simply business you see."
"… I see." Luffy knew that he was and always had been selfish. He wanted her as his nakama and when his wish was fulfilled he didn't go looking into the gift horse's mouth. But this… How could they even call this betrayal, from the very beginning they had never acknowledged her as nakama after all.
"You are annoying but I will be the winner!" The man said as he turned once again invisible. He had to take this seriously. It didn't matter how young the boy looked he was strong, and then the kid had to go and do something weird once again. Luffy closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the man's presence, although the blond's seemed alert his unceasing chatter was making it a bit more difficult.
"What you already give up? Haha Loser!" Absalom shouted before he launched his attack.
He could actually see it, the attack was coming from his right. Now the blond was Behind him! Right again, left and jump.
"It can't be!" The invisible man shouted in denial before he launched himself once again but this time Luffy was already prepared to counter him. The nekomimi gathered his power and punched him in his stomach, then followed up with another and then a few more before kicking the man away with a round-house kick. Absalom was sent flying through the fire and destroying the entire wall he hit. Luffy knew the blond won't wake up for a while, he was knocked out for good and while he could kill him, it might drive Moria into retaliating in kind. For now he'll have to spare all he could and hope it won't come back and bite him in the ass later.
"Tell me." The nekomimi spoke as he turned to the zombies who squeaked in surprise. "Where is the kitchen?"
Even after witnessing his power the zombies still tried to oppose him. They were loyal to Moria he had to give them that, but he knew that it wasn't genuine loyalty. Perona told him that they were somehow brain washed in the process of their creation and couldn't disobey Moria even if they wanted to. Yet another thing that angered him, the warlord was stealing away this people's free-will and the government ignored it all. No they didn't just ignore it, they rewarded the warlord for it.
After a bit of exploring he found the storage room and plenty of salt. Took enough to share with Brook too. Speaking of the skeleton he should hurry up. There was just something in the back of his mind urging him to do so. He ran to the entrance purifying zombies left and right. They were still annoying, but now at least they didn't keep going after getting beaten up.
Luffy couldn't help but shout out Brook's name in fear as he arrived to the entrance. The skeleton was lying on the ground utterly defeated and something inside Luffy simply snapped. He found himself attacking the samurai before he could even rationalize it.
~.~
Perona was always head-strong, she always followed her own desires. She was the Ghost Princess, the Future Pirate Kings trusted nakama. Luffy was the one she promised her loyalty to, the one who finally gave her a place to belong. She was practically a sovereign, a royalty of the highest order how dare the plebeians try to restrain her. Did they think they could keep her away from Luffy, her chosen king with mere shackles? She was the Ghost princess; there was nothing she couldn't do if she put her mind to it.
That's right, Perona thought retracing her ideas once again… she was a hollow women. Hollow meant empty… a being made of nothingness. Then how could something bound her, it was because of the sea-stone. While she was in contact with it, it made her tangible so theoretically if she had no contact with it shouldn't affect her. Perona knew there were many things wrong with this idea. For one she had never tried such thing before after all. Leave her body and use astral projection before yeah sure, turn her body intangible big nope. But she wasn't going to dismiss the idea just based on how crazy it sounded.
Perona smirked as she pushed herself into a sitting position, it took great effort since those blasted handcuffs keep draining her energy but she finally had a plan. Objective one- find a way and avoid contact with sea-stone; objective two- use her devil fruit power and turn her hands intangible. Objective one was easy to accomplish. The sea-prism stone had effect only upon actual contact with devil fruit users, that's why and how even devil fruits users could carry sea-stone on their person.
Moria should have made sure the handcuffs were tight, she always had thin wrists and while she couldn't just slip out of them, they weren't that lose, it still give enough room for what she had in mind. She had to try hard to even kick off her long boots and even that took colossal effort from her part. She had to stop to regain her breath as dark spots started to appear in her vision. She was panting by now and inwardly thanked herself for her stubbornness. Had she not been that insistent on the physical aspect of her training Perona had no doubt she would have fainted already. Next time she will hide lock picks on her person, after all no one ever checked the shoes. Well next time… not like she wanted a repeat of this but it was better to be prepared. Since she was a devil fruit user she had to take precautions so something like this couldn't happen again.
There was movement outside her cell and Perona almost jumped when the footsteps neared her cell, she didn't even realized she withhold her breath until the guard passed. He didn't even check on her instead he just kept on walking. Well it was a zombie… and zombies were usually dumb. She had to hurry the ghost princess realized she might not get this lucky next time around. She shuddered to think what could have happened if that had been one of the Mysterious Four, well more like three now instead. Her preparation was complete. Her long boots were made of resistant but flexible thin-leather material. She imagined it would work fine if she managed to wedge the material between her wrist and the handcuffs as an isolator. She worried for a second that it didn't work but then her strength started to return slowly but steadily.
No time to celebrate, she still wasn't free, it was just time for the next step. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. It's not like the devil fruit and the abilities she got came with a manual.
Concentrate on her wrists… like when she was making ghost and mini hollows… transparent and translucent… she imagined her hand and wrist turn immaterial. Similar to how she did astral projection, she separated the two images in her mind. The one of her physical body and the one she of her spiritual form then combined them slowly, focusing intently on the feeling of being intangible so it wouldn't slip away.
#Clung# her eyes snapped open at the sound of her restrains hitting the ground. It worked, it had worked!
The ghost princess chuckled as she stood up, still feeling a bit dizzy and her until then immaterial hand regaining their shape and color. "That's what you get for underestimating the Ghost Princess!" She shouted and then looked around hastily but happily no one heard her. Should she just blow up the cell's locked door with a Mini Hollow or try for something more subtle? Perona doubted she could pull of the same trick again. Mini Hollow it was then… but first, her shoes, she wasn't going to walk around barefoot after all.
~.~
"Captain please tell me we're not going in there!?" One of the crewmembers asked with tear-filled eyes as he pointed at the ominous dark fog. "You know what they say about this waters-" the man added in a low conspirator voice. "they say it's cu-"
"It is cursed!" their newest guest on the ship shouted hysterically all while clinging to Shanks boots. "Please turn back!" The red haired-yonko only sighed in annoyance as he tried to detach the leach he had acquired once more. "I'm telling you the truth! This part of the seas is truly cursed, please turn back the ship."
Rockstar gulped hearing that. He didn't really believe in curses and all the mumbo-jumbo but couldn't help a stifle a shiver as he looked at the sea in front of them "Captain…" he asked with slight hesitation as he looked at the man for orders.
"Hold steady." The man commanded and Benn who was at ship's wheel nodded back with the same determination. "There is no way we're leaving any of our own behind." The crew nodded with renewed fire in their eyes. "We're going to get Luffy back no matter what." The crew cheered loudly in agreement.
"But-" The pirate-hunter tried again in vain. Shanks was already engaged in a heavy conversation with the navigator.
"It's useless." Yasopp spoke up as he appeared from seemingly thin air.
"Your captain is crazy… " the crewmembers in vicinity hearing that all started to laugh.
"…If I have a dime for every time someone says that." Yassop said as he approached Benn.
"How can you all laugh, we all are going to die!" The man shouted having a mini break down.
"Not before we find the brat." Yasopp added again.
"Oh well that's easy he's at the bottom of the ocean!" the man shouted out yet again " And I don't care if you all are suicidal but I don't want to die!"
"Luffy isn't dead." Benn spoke up with conviction.
"You don't know that! I was there when the ship went down not you, there is no way anyone, more least a devil-fruit user could survive that!"
"Yet here you are."
"I was just lucky!"
Lucky Roo grinned as he took a big bite from his meat "Well Luffy is the luckiest person I know, myself included."
Yassop grinned " 'member when that sea-king kidnapped Luffy?" the pirates chuckled fondly remembering the incident well. The small nekomimi was as usual sitting on the ship's railing when something slammed into the ship. That something turned out to be a giant sea-king.
"oh yeah the sea-king lead us to that ship wreck, where everything was made of gold. A good haul." Lucky said with a hearty laugh.
"And the brat slept through it all." Benn said in disbelief. He still couldn't understand how someone who usually woke up at the smallest twitch managed to sleep through such a thing.
Rockstar grinned as he added "If I remember correctly Luffy even said it was one of the best naps he ever had."
"Oh course he did!" Shanks added from where he was. "He got a few hours of silence. You idiots are usually loud as hell." He stuck out his tongue childishly making the crewmembers shout back indignantly.
"like you are any different?!"
Benn watched them bickering amused for a few seconds. He knew they all needed this. Maybe that's why Shanks provoked them. They were all fired up and anxious to finally see their brat, Luffy once again. But the ship wasn't going to navigate himself, not through the storm that was approaching, no more like the storm they were sailing right into. They needed all hands on deck so he stormed into the fray that turned into a brawl and hit them each over the head with a punch a la Benn before sending them back to their posts.
~back to Luffy~
"You, just what do you think you're doing asshole?!" Luffy asked with a glare as he landed. Ryuma was kicked back, the samurai skidded back a few meters before steadying himself. The nekomimi glanced back at Brook with a seemingly expressionless face but the skeleton could clearly see the worry dancing in those feline eyes. "Hey Brook?!" The boy asked slowly. "You are still alive right?"
"L-Luffy-san… w-why are you here?" The boy's lips twitched although barely as teen stood up, he refused to lose sight of his enemy on a battlefield or give away his emotions.
"What are you talking about? Did you forget, you're not fighting alone, not today, not ever if you decide so. But good job on holding out until I got back, thanks to you I managed to get my hand on salt and purify the zombies I encountered."
"Yohohoho… This will not do… I almost forgot about Moria-sama's guest." Ryuma said before he rushed toward Luffy with his drawn out katana.
He was stopped by what looked like glass. It was quite resistant, the samurai jumped back as flames erupted from it but Luffy was already there before his feet even touched the ground. Ryuma was unbalanced and was forced to push himself away to regain his footing but it was too late Luffy's long sword was already upon him.
His scarf got torn to pieces and blown away. "That katana is quite something Yohohoho!" The samurai said as he finally landed, barely glancing at the deep cut that traveled through the earth from where the boy was.
"I could say the same." The nekomimi answered dryly as he stood up, and let the remains of his torn hoodie be blown away by the wind. The samurai managed to parry his attack in the last second and that swing packed enough strength so that the power that was scattered by Luffy's attack continued in its path and cut into the nekomimi. The cuts were through numerous quite shallow unfortunately his already damaged hoodie did not survive the encounter. Inwardly Luffy was annoyed slightly with himself, had it not been for his injured shoulder he could have dodged the backslash of their encounter in time.
Brook meanwhile couldn't help but squeal slightly as he took in the boy's appearance, more precisely his cat-ears and his swishing tail. He figured the boy had eaten a devil fruit, a powerful one, but he never thought… that it would be something so cute. Ryuma grinned as he watched his opponent move without as much as a flinch. Despite how adorable the child looked, he was a worthy opponent indeed.
"Ah, you got good eyes. This is indeed one of the 21 great swords. It's T-shaped and black, the Meitou(Named Sword) Shuusui( -Clear Autumn Water)! It's a sword not seen by many."
"Is that so." The boy dead-panned. If he was impressed by it he didn't give it away, the boy had a seriously good poker face.
"This is…how long has it been?" Ryuma asked as he sent a flying attack Luffy's way. "This feeling is so exciting…" The nekomimi simply sidestepped them as he advanced toward the samurai all while keeping his eyes on his opponent "I can feel it even from where I'm standing; you are quite powerful." Ryuma said and grinned before he lunched himself at Luffy. The nekomimi parried, but the shockwave caused by those two seemingly unimpressive swings was strong enough to sweep through the entire battlefield and had almost blown away Brook too. The skeleton remained where he had been only by pure stubbornness. He had to witness this fight no matter what…
"Right-hand Dawn strike!" The samurai shouted and the blade's thrust sent an air projectile toward the nekomimi. That thrust could have been considered the opposite of Luffy's flying attack. Luffy's swing was sharp enough to cut through even the wind and concentrated enough to continue cutting onward, while the samurai's thrust technique relayed on manipulating the air surrounding the blade and send it flying toward the enemy like it was a projectile of sorts.
"Yohohoho… you are a scary kid…" Ryuma said in disbelief his attack had been cut in two more so the nekomimi's attack continued on like it never ever encountered resistance. To think someone would be crazy enough to cut in two an air attack, the boy had crazy potential, the samurai thought as he parried another attack. Of course he could see the strain the boy was putting on his already damaged shoulder. He won't be able to produce such impressive attacks for long.
Brook was gapping "T-that… even I can't do that much damage!" he said as he saw two gigantic holes left behind by Ryuma's exploding projectile. "… and such a swing…"
"Impressive…" The samurai said once again, even though the attacks all stopped short of touching him. "But you can't continue for too long in this manner."
"Then I'll just finish this up quickly."
"Impudent!" The samurai said with small annoyance but the boy only grinned and let the samurai's attack push him back. He skidded to stop a few meters before rushing forward again to meet Ryuma's attack once again, but the boy instead attacking head on disappeared skyward using Gepo. Ryuma stopped his movements immediately and looked around hastily, he couldn't believe he let his enemy out of his sight in a battle. Where was he right, left, behind him? No up!
Luffy appeared above the samurai his long katana against his back held in relaxed grip. But the samurai wasn't fooled, the boy was getting ready to unleash an attack as he let gravity push him toward Ryuma.
"Polka continuation!" Ryuma let loose a small but continuous attacks knowing the teen was too close to avoid it.
"Soru-" the nekomimi created a hovering platform in the air to avoid the attack before using it as a footing and disappeared once again.
"Yahazugiri!" the samurai shouted and then silence.
"I'd normally enjoy such a fight." Luffy said quietly but his opponent heard him quite well. The glass that had shattered was made of blue particles which seemed to glitter as they followed almost magnetically the teen movements who had reaper not long behind Ryuma, giving away what just happened. The teen had in a fraction of a second appeared in front of Ryuma meeting his attack head on with one of his, then Luffy took one more step forward. Everything happened just so fast that to an untrained eye it simply looked like Luffy appeared behind the swordsman.
Both Ryuma and Brook knew the samurai had lost as a gigantic slash appeared around his midsection. Luffy's katana was still surrounded by the particles that seemed to pulse around it, as Ryuma caught fire and stopped walking.
"I have a last request." While Luffy didn't particularly like the samurai he somehow respected his opponent strength therefor he wouldn't deny his last wish. "Give this" he said placing the sword in its sheath. "to someone who's worthy… of wilding it." The samurai said presenting the sword to the child, no warrior. The boy indifferent of his age was a warrior.
"I understand." Luffy said as he took it with a small nod.
Ryuma raised his now empty hand to his face almost like he's been inspecting it. "It is shameful… to have been defeated so easily while in this samurai's body."
"Someone once told me: There is no shame in being defeated by a superior opponent." Luffy spoke without an inch of sympathy. Ryuma chuckled hearing those words as his body slowly burned away. His last thoughts was that 'this kid didn't have a bit of modesty did he?' and that 'he would have made a poor samurai that's for sure, but then again, this kid is a pirate'.
~.~
"Fosh fosh fosh, I knew you'll try to escape." Hogback spoke up making the ghost princess stop in her advance. "How the mighty have fallen" the man said looking at her appearance. There was blood in her hair from her fall and her clothes were dirty and torn. "And to think you would be the one to betray our master." The doctor spoke with annoyance. "You were after all with him longer than any of us."
"Hmph, so what?" Perona asked indifferently from where she stood and crossed her arms. "And by the way where are the others? Don't tell me you thought you could stop me all alone? Horo-horo-horo"
The doctor got visibly annoyed at the jab at his powers or more like the lack of them. "Cindry-chan attack!" The zombie that was never too far from Hogback started throwing plates at her.
"Oh please" The girl commented with an eye-roll "Mini Hollow" Suddenly many bubbles appeared from her hand which turned into small hollows. She didn't need to tell them what to do as they flow toward the flying plates. "Ghost Rap!" the small ghosts exploded with a loud sound. The ghost princess smiled as more mini hollows appeared around her. She could create a dozen of them and barely feel the drain thanks to the extreme training she had gone through.
"I hope you do realize by the time I'm done with her there will be nothing of your Cindry-chan to put back together." She spoke with a huge smirk on her face that slowly twisted her pretty face into a disturbing, dark yet seductive expression.
Hogback reeled back angry, embarrassed and visibly struck by those words. "Zombies attack, attack already!" He shouted and a dozen or so more zombies appeared from behind the doors.
"Negative hollow!" Perona created two ghosts and sent them to attack the zombies all while carefully dodging the attacks sent her. She was meanwhile using the Mini Hollows to keep pushing the enemies back. She didn't know why though their numbers weren't decreasing as she expected them too. It was one of her combos that had never failed before, the first wave of negative ghost she used to hinder the enemy's movements and make them vulnerable and unable to dodge the mini-hollows. But instead her mini-hollows were dodged and batted away… the zombies move almost like they didn't suffer from depression. Like her negative hollow had no effect on them. No good, she was getting pushed back into a corner.
"Fosh-fosh-fosh-fosh! What is it, surprised that your trick isn't working?!" Hogback teased.
"That's impossible! Even if they are zombies they have a sense of self-being. They are alive therefor they can't be immune to my negative hollow." The pink-haired girl denied full-heartedly.
"Huh? Did you forget already, but then again I always knew you were bit slow on the uptake. These zombies don't have a bit of humanity left in them. Their only purpose of existence is to follow commands. As long as I command them not to be, they can't become depressed or negative. For a zombie following commands are absolute after all." The man said with his irritating laugh. "That's why you should rejoice because after I finish with you, you won't be able to oppose Moria-sama or betray him ever again. I'll kill you, don't worry it will be only temporal I will bring you back as a zombie. What do you say much better than being dead I reckon? Moria-san might get pissed for a while. He liked you for whatever reason, but then again losing a bit of your personality won't make much difference since your brain capacity was never higher a zombie's."
The girl's cheek flushed red at the insult."Toku Hollow! (special hollow)"
"It's useless!" the doctor said with a smirk. "I know all your moves! Zombies- spread out!"
She knew she couldn't guard against so many zombies all at once even with her Toku Hollow acting as a vanguard. She kept creating the mini hollows to push back her enemy but it was slowly starting to drain her energy.
"To tell you the truth I never really liked you. Fosh-fosh-fosh" Moria said with a loud laugh. "You always acted so high and mighty just because our master favored you but in truth you are nothing but a stupid spoiled weak girl who can't do anything right and still firmly believes she's a princess. Well princess is time you grow up. The only thing that ever worked for you was you stupidly strong devil fruit, but then again that doesn't seem to work all that well against zombies does it now?" Hogback spoke as he watched the fierce battle continued. The ghost princess while slowly but quite surely was going to lose. But then again it was not a surprise. This battle could have never ended differently. Hated to but he had admit he never expected her to hold out for such a long time in the first place.
Perona frowned as she listened to him speak. She knew, she had always knew it deep inside but it still hurt to hear it. The fact that she never amounted more to them than her devil fruit's ability. Had she been the person from back then it would have been enough to crush her will to fight but she wasn't. She was not just a spoiled weak girl who couldn't do anything. She had learned, although begrudged at first but she did it anyway. She had carried her own weight on the Red-Force after all, survived and got out so much stronger. Got beaten down a few times but she never give up, because Luffy never give up on her, even when things got tough.
~Flashback~
It was her first night on an unknown ship sailing toward an unknown destination. It was supposedly as they say the first night of the rest of her life. The decision to join; she hadn't regretted it yet at the same time she couldn't stop her fears as everything that had happened today finally hit home. What if she had been wrong? What if Luffy decided he didn't need her anymore? What if Moria found them and killed them? What if she said something wrong and the yonko decided to kill them?
"Perona?" The ghost princess glanced at the small nekomimi who was looking at her with huge eyes filled with worry. Worry for her, she realized and a warm feeling threatened to explode from her chest. "Are you alright?" The ghost princess would deny it later but she only managed to nod dumbly at the boy. "Come" he said taking her hand and the small and seemingly insignificant gesture filled her with incredible warmth. She smiled shyly and the urge to be closer to the boy grew exponentially as they walked to their destination.
"This is my cabin." Luffy said with a small smile. The cabin was small but had a homey feeling to it. She could see it had double beds and she sit down on the one that had been clearly used, Luffy's. Her small captain smiled and sit down right in front of her. "I asked Shanks to give you your own cabin, he said he'll try but you might have to bulk with someone. There are not many girls on the crew." He said apologetically.
"…"
"You could always sleep here if you'd want of course- but!" The boy looked alarmed. "Don't cry! Please don't cry of course you don't want to sleep here!" he said in quick succession and only stopped his ranting when Perona throw herself at him. She cling to him as she continued to cry and Luffy although wasn't sure what one was supposed to do in such situation decided to just go with his instincts.
"It will be fine, I'm here now and everything is going to be fine, don't give up!" He said softly as he patted her hair gently.
"I'm fine… sorry I don't usually cry so much." The girl said with a sniff as she composed herself. She didn't want her captain to think she was a cry-baby after all.
"I get it. It's been a long and stressful day." He said gently and she nodded shyly as Luffy's eyes lit up with an idea. "Hey, I know how to make you feel better! You still haven't seen my other form yet."
"What-" but the words died on her lips as Luffy transformed into a small black cat. "c…C..CUTE!" Perona shouted and pounced. The feline dodged though and give her a stinky eye. She looked sheepish as she realized her mistake. She could have crushed him… damn she needed to be more careful. The ghost princess tried to touch the small cat gently this time but her hand stopped just a few centimeters short.
What if she hurt him? But before he could think about it the cat nudged his head against her fingers. The ghost princess was taken aback so she couldn't stop a gigantic and sincere smile from showing on her face. She continued to pat him and it felt damn good. Therapeutic even. She curled up on the bed beside the lazy cat who was clearly enjoying the treatment and chuckled slightly at the sensation of her fingers running through his midnight colored fur. And then he started purring and Perona throw in the towel. This had to be a dream there was no way was someone so god-damn sweet, adorable and caring could ever exist in real-life. Her brain had a small meltdown from the overload of cuteness right in that moment.
She only understood after Luffy drifted off to sleep, how vulnerable he was in that form. Perona could crush or suffocate him in their sleep without even meaning too after all. The strong and powerful pirate she had meet, to think he could be just so… And then her brain rushed to what would happen if Moria ever found out. It was his weakest form no doubt, he couldn't even talk in this form and yet Luffy shown her without any hesitation. Just to cheer her up. How was it possible… how could he trust her so much? He barely knew her for what a day, less maybe twelve hours?
Perona didn't understand but there was only one thing she knew though. His trust was a precious thing and it was not to be misplaced, ever. She will rather die than betray Luffy or let someone do that.
~Flashback ends~
Her hands may have grown callouses from all the menial work on the ship and all the training she had to do but it only thickened her skin and then this hands held his too. Luffy was the, her reason to keep headstrongly pushing on. He was the one who patiently took his time to show her the ropes, the one who give her the best pair of his gloves just to protect her hands uncaring of his and the one who lectured (pouted) when she overworked herself. The one who unknowingly started to heal her cracked up and defective soul piece by piece. Perona had no idea why he did it, why he took all that trouble for a no-good person like her. But he did it anyway. He was the one who hugged her close on the nights she couldn't find rest and tell her not to worry that everything will be alright. There was no way she was ever going to lose to someone like Hogback.
"While is true, my negative hollow have no effect on them did you forget about yourself. Not that bright are you now?" She asked mockingly before directing her attack towards him. Perona's way was still blocked by the zombies but thankfully her negative Ghost worked without any effort from her part after being created. They still had a somehow telepathic link just like all of her ghosts, so she could easily communicate with them and give them command which they obey with no question. They were after all a part of her, just like her hand or feet were.
Now that Hogback the coward run away from what became a bloody battle-field the fight become easier for her. They zombies had no other commander among themselves after all. It wasn't a guaranteed victory, it didn't make things that simple. The Mini Hollows while explosive they weren't capable of doing too big of a damage. Worse her opponent was zombies meaning that even if suffered from an injury that would be fatal for humans, they continued to fight.
If only there weren't so many. Perona could detonate the Toku Hollow but… she was still in the range of explosion and she was in her meat suit, meaning her body would suffer heavy injuries if she did detonate it. On the other hand this was a waste of her energy. She knew sooner or later she would be overwhelmed. It was a problem of time now. If her negative ghosts found Hogback she could knock him out. If she got overwhelmed and someone knocked her out or put back the sea-stone handcuffs, well then her ghosts would vanish. She smiled bitterly as she made a Mini Hollow explode in a zombies face and make him fall to the ground lifelessly. She had no other choice though, in the end, she still needed to detonate the Toku Hollow.
"-Rap!"
~.~
The doctor who realizing she was right decided on a temporary strategic retreat. Translation, run the hell as far as possible from the Ghost Princess, as soon as possible. Just until the zombies subdued her, of course. So he headed toward the closest exit and right into her ex-living quarters. He was running heedlessly through the long halls that lead to a dark maze of tall pillars that disappeared into the ceiling he couldn't even see. A few minutes of running around like a headless chicken was enough to make him become disoriented.
"Horo-horo-horo!" hearing that laugh he quickly hide behind a huge pillar. "Ne-ga-ti-ve Ne-ga-ti-ve!" "Horo- horo-horo" He cursed inwardly knowing what that chant meant. She let lose those troublesome ghosts on him, and they were worse than tracking dogs, dogs couldn't go through walls after all. He peaked from behind the giant pillar curiously.
"Isn't it funny, Horo-horo-horo, you're running around just like one of your lab-rats!" The voice asked from behind him. He spun around in shock before he scooted back against the pillar. She was here, it was-
"Impossible!" He shouted, half in shock for her appearance half in disbelief.
Perona jumped back with a shout of -"Negative Hollow!" The hollow went right through Hogback's stomach and had him fall him to his knees. The ghost princess ignored his depressive rant and followed up with her- "Mini Hollow!" the small ghost attached themselves to the doctor who was crying in depression by then. "Ghost –Rap!" The first one exploded and while Hogback was an incredible doctor he was no fighter. He shouted in pain and the pain he suffered was strong enough to overpower his depression.
"Ghaahh! I…c-can't be-believe it… you blow up yourself." The man rasped out through his pain.
"Rap!" Another ghost exploded eliciting another scream from the doctor. The ghost princess who was suffering some heavy injuries said once again seemingly uncaring.
Hogback frowned as he tried to speak once again. "w-WhY?" He asked in utter confusion, he knew her, she was selfish like him. If there was one characteristic of hers that he could identify with was the fact that they put themselves in front of everyone. It was them first, always them. Then why, why would she blow up herself? It was illogical.
"Even if I have to turn myself into a beast..." The ghost princes spoke slowly while he reached inconspicuously into his cape. "Even if you put me in chains, you can't stop me, because Luffy is worth it! Ra-"
"Die!" the man said as he pulled the trigger of the gun he kept hidden under his cape. "Stupid" The doctor whizzed. "I… I made you talk on purpose." The shot hit her in the stomach he knew and yet… there was no blood. "N-no!"
"The stupid one is you." Perona said with a smirk. "Ghost-Rap!" the explosion knocked Hogback out.
The astral projection sighed in exhaustion as she let herself flow into the air. It spoke volumes of how tried she truly was. It was why she didn't just finish it off with her Toku Hollow, simply because she couldn't. But still such a stupid man, she thought grimly. Perona knew this place like the back of her hand this had been her living-quarters after all. She knew all the places he could have hide. So while he was playing hide-and-seek with the Negative hollows she dragged her wounded body back to her room and hide it before joining the hunt in her astral form. It was impossible to make a difference from a distance between her two forms, that's ehy she tried to keep her distance and that's why she didn't let herself float. Surprisingly it has all gone as she planned it would, now if only she could just rest for a little bit… she thought in exhaustion and her astral form dropped lower as she flow. Happily she caught herself before she did tough. Not good, it was getting harder and harder to even move.
~.~
A.N: Hey everyone ^.^ thank you for reviewing, favoring and following it truly makes me happy to see people like this story.
Also is not exactly an omake but a sequence I wrote than decided not to include since there were already too many flashbacks in this chapter. So for everyone curios about the incident Yassop was talking about –here it is. It takes place after entering Grand Line and before Luffy met Perona.
~Flashback~
It was a hot day with barely any breeze. It made the entire Red-haired crew feel lethargic and lazy. It may or may not have anything to do with the fact they celebrated away into the night the fact they returned to the Grand Line. Shanks was chilling in the shadows tilted his bottle back and …nothing came out of it. He frowned, the red-head had literally just opened the glass so there was no way it could be empty already.
"What?" The man asked as he set up… before the entire glass came spilling right into his face. The yonko licked his sake soaked lips before growling threateningly. "Whoever is responsible for this is going to pay!" The man swore as he stood up and then Benn's shout snapped him out of his day-dreams of revenge.
"Sea-king!" The first-mate shouted making the crew run to their posts.
"Uwah… is big isn't it?" Yasopp asked eying the creature that had just slammed itself into the ship's side and was shaking his head from one side to the other.
"But… isn't it acting a bit strange?" Lucky asked and Yasopp raised an eyebrow before narrowing his eyes. He grabbed the telescope from his sash and his face grew pale than turned blue…
"What's happening?" Benn asked as he approached the duo.
"… Luffy… he's on that thing?" The gunman asked stupidly.
"WHAt?!" Shanks shouted loudly.
"It's the sea-king getting smaller or is it just me?" Rockstar asked snapping the first-mate out of his shock.
"It's departing!"
"No way! What should we do Benn? What if it'll try to go back underwater?" Shanks asked panicking.
The first-mate shook his head in disbelief. "Get it together captain, let's follow it for now. We can't let it escape us."
"Right everyone you heard the man! Let's follow that stupid fish!"
"Aye-aye captain!"
"Can't we just shoot it down?" Rockstar asked making the sharpshooter sigh.
"If we do Luffy will fall into the ocean… the kid's asleep… we have to get close enough first."
Benn just couldn't believe his ears. "What do you mean asleep?"
"Like I said he's still asleep. My guess is he was napping when the sea-king attacked and he fell of the railing." The man asked with a gigantic sweat-drop.
"Didn't I tell him not to sleep on the railing?" Shanks asked annoyed before he let out a long sigh.
It's not like it was the Luffy's fault either. The ocean had a calming effect on the nekomimi which was surprising since the boy was still skittish about large masses of water. The teen usually fell asleep while draped over the railing before he could stop himself. Shanks told him not to do it since it could be dangerous he knew it wasn't something the brat could control. More so, he had to admit that it was endearing in a way. Luffy after all only fall asleep around people he trusted and the fact that he slept without a problem on the deck surrounded by his crewmembers spoke more about the kid's trust in them than hundreds of words could.
"It's almost like the sea-king kidnapped Luffy." Rockstar said making the other look at him skeptically. "Right?! I mean it just slammed into us took Luffy and run away." The man clarified somehow agitated. The rest of the crew slammed their hand on their open palm in revelation with an "Oh…" that was followed up by curses and shouts addressed to stupid nakama-kidnapper idiotic fish and many other not so nice adjectives.
"I can't decide if he's lucky or unlucky…" Yasopp said to himself but of course the others heard him too and give him a questioning look. "Well can you? I mean he falls asleep and then a sea-king attacked, rocking the ship and making him fall overboard."
"Yeah, he is unlucky." Shanks said not understanding how could the kid be called lucky under those circumstances.
"Yes but he also landed on the sea-king's head." Yassop added and made the others agree that the nekomimi might have been lucky about that. "And even through the sea-king decided to swim away "
"Definitely unlucky." Benn spoke up this time.
"- the creature still didn't submerge."
"That is lucky for him." Roo said with a nod.
"And he still didn't wake up…"
"What do you think he'd do if he woke up?" Benn asked with a raised eyebrow and a small frown. He had an idea but… surely it won't happen right….
Yassop chuckled "Knowing him… he'd probably either befriend it or kick its ass."
"We definitely can't let Luffy wake up!" Both captain and first-mate spoke up, in sync and with dread written over their face.
"Eh?!" Roo and Yasopp stood there dumbfounded. They could understand where Shanks was coming from but Benn? They simply couldn't believe their always cool and level-headed first-mate would act in such a way. But then again everyone acted unlike their usual selves where Luffy was concerned.
"You know how Luffy attracts weirdos" Benn asked with a sigh "Unless you want him to make a sea-king nakama" The first mate asked them finally making the pirates shout out denials.
"No way!" It was bad enough they had to share the boy with his gonna-be-nakamas, they didn't want to fight for his time and affection with a stupid gigantic fish.
"Luffy, keep sleeping!" Shanks shouted before Yasopp put a hand over the man's mouth.
"If you keep shouting he'll wake up!" Both Benn and Lucky sighed inwardly as they heard the man's words. Loud and clear… too loud for that matter seeing as the man was also shouting.
"Right." The red-head said a palm-fist tap. "Luffy… sleep… just keep sleeping!" Shanks whispered this time making Roo and Benn sweat-drop.
"They knew Luffy can't hear them given the distance right?" Roo asked finally turning to the first-mate.
"…" Benn's answer was eloquent enough.
~Flashback ends~