Black as Knight

Thanks for the reviews guys! I won't say much here, so here's the chapter! (The end of the filler arc!)

Enjoy! =)

A yell suddenly split the night outside of the railway station shack. "ARMOURMENT HARDENING GATLING!"

Nami screamed in terror as the door behind them suddenly splintered and flew inwards under a fierce onslaught of punches. The Ripper shielded his face with his arm and turned just as Luffy came flying through the door with a face of pure fury. Upon seeing Jack with a knife in his hands with a little blood down it, his eyes shadowed and he cracked his knuckles.

"Jack the Ripper...You've hurt my nakama." He said, his voice eerily calm.

The Ripper smiled in response. "If it helps any, you're next."

Responding not with words, Luffy launched himself at the Ripper and punched him in the face without using his rubber abilities, making the man stumble back towards Nami in pain. Nami lifted her leg and kicked hard at Jack's back, the high-heel digging into him painfully as he was thrown forwards again straight into the path of Luffy's oncoming fist.

Growling, the Ripper brought his knife up in defence, hoping to slice Luffy up the arm. However Luffy used his ability to create a bend in his arm to avoid it, allowing the tension in his arm to swing back and hit the Ripper in the face like elastic.

Around them, the shack started to shake violently, the tracks below them and outside starting to roar like thunder as the sound grew louder, a certain rhythm to it.

Cursing, Jack suddenly felt himself being forced to the floor unwillingly, Luffy standing over him with a blank, yet contemptuous look on his face as he stared down at him. "What the hell-Haki?!"

"Aa." Luffy nodded darkly, increasing the force on his charge so that he was laying flat to the floor, the knife still clenched in his hand. With a flick, Jack sent the knife flying up accurately towards Luffy's face, making the rubber boy lose his concentration as he dodged out of the way.

Seizing that chance that the few seconds brought, the Ripper sprang up and flew at Luffy, grabbing the rubber boy's shoulders and driving him back with forceful momentum and making them crash through the railway station shack's single grimy window, taking the damp and crumbling wood with them as the train's horn sounded out as it drove towards where they fell to the tracks through the torrential downpour of rain.

"LUFFY!" Nami screamed as her hands pressed up against either side of the wood as she stood in the gap that their struggle had made, her eyes wide in panic and horror as Luffy's calm eyes looked back at her as he fell, the last thing she saw before he and the Ripper were hit being the start of a smile that had it been given any more seconds would have turned into his signature full blown grin.

At that moment, Shanks, Zoro and Thatch ran in through the non-existent door just to see the fall, the three of them stilling in shock as the D brother fell into the darkening abyss with his enemy.

The train claimed them both.

As the roar faded and the train disappeared into the distance, Zoro walked forwards slowly and put a hand on Nami's shoulder, who didn't even move or flinch at the touch. Her body was numb with disbelief, and her eyes were unseeing as she stared at the space outside where Luffy had fallen to with the Ripper.

Leaning against one side of the ripped wooden frame, she slid down it, feeling slight splinters sink into the skin on her arms. Her legs hung out over the side of the shack on stilts, and her hands gripped the edge of the floor in a death grip as she tilted her head up towards the sky in grief.

"Nami..." Zoro called from behind her.

She felt unable to hear him, as though he was too far away for her to hear. Nami wanted to stay where the wind would whisper to her with Luffy's voice so that she could still hear him, hear his laugh. And where the raindrops as they fell told a story of the truth that she now realised, the rain mingling with the single tear that escaped from the corner of her eye.

"He saved my life." She whispered, her orange hair soaking through in the rain so that it clung to her scalp. Her body shivered with cold, which made Shanks start forwards and carefully lift her up so that she was standing. He could feel her trembling in his arms.

"More importantly, why did follow us?" Thatch questioned, his voice betraying how shaken he was.

"He overheard our plan to use Nami as bait for the Ripper. My guess is that he wanted to try and keep Nami safe like we tried to, but knew that Mihawk would not allow another person on the team." Shanks explained, his tone full of sorrow.

Zoro felt heavy, and his voice sounded dull as he finished the explanation, having figured it out for himself. "So he secretly followed us, and when you pointed out the body to us, Luffy went straight after Nami instead."

"Aa." Shanks nodded.

"Just as well he did really. We wouldn't have got there in time." Thatch said, looking like he was having a hard time controling his emotions.

"Damn it." Zoro cursed suddenly. "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. DAMN IT." He ended up yelling. "DAMN IT ALL TO FUCKING HELL." The wall to his right crumpled and exploded outwards as his Haki enforced punch collided with the railway shack wall.

The other three jumped or flinched at the move, both of the guys watching as Zoro quivered. "If I hadn't made you guys join MI5..if I'd just freed you from the start before you'd even started training, this wouldn't have happened."

Shanks shook his head. "No it wouldn't, but then they would have been caught once more and forced into prison, which would have been worse."

"He's right. Luffy would have gone mental if he had been forced to have been cooped up in a cell for the rest of his life." Thatch agreed with a nervous gulp.

Nami spoke up, her voice shaking uncontrollably. "W-We need to l-look for his body." She stated.

The others nodded solemnly and headed for the door and stepped outside and down the steps into the pouring rain that soaked them through to the skin.

Lingering in the doorway, Nami hesitated with her hand on the door frame. Swallowing back anything that she wanted to say, she turned from the shack and headed outside into the rain after her remaining nakama, knowing that what she wanted to say, she couldn't.

On the train tracks, Shanks ran down the wooden planks that lined the metal rails so that his black cape flew out behind him like a train. The other three agents kept pace with him, the only thing driving them was the hope that by some miracle Luffy would still be alive, even after the force and speed at which the train would have hit him.

But it wasn't Luffy they found. Instead the Ripper's body was brutally mangled on the tracks, his breathing shallow and full of pain, and each dispel of air from his lungs forced up blood which trickled out from the corner of his mouth. Shanks swooped down on him and grabbed him by the collar of his shredded suit jacket and shirt, lifting him up so that he screamed in pain, blood spraying from his lips.

"Why have you been killing people?" Shanks asked coldly, knowing that the Ripper would soon be as cold as his previous victims.

"F-Fun." The Ripper laughed defiantly. His laugh turned into another wail of pain as Shanks shook him. "D-DOFLAMINGO ORDERED ME TO." He shrieked, his handless arm reaching for the rip on his stomach to try and ease the pain unsuccessfully.

"Doflamingo?" Zoro questioned, narrowing his eyes at the familiarity of the name. The guy wasn't exactly hard to remember. Dressed as odd as hell, with a pink feathery...thing, that clashed horribly with his blond hair. But as Zoro recalled, it was the man's devil fruit ability that was the annoying thing about him.

"Where is he hiding?" Shanks continued to ask, realising that the man was starting to turn as cold as ice, his breathing getting even shallower.

"Why..would I tell you?"

"I can still make you suffer." Shanks growled.

"Go ahead." The Ripper challenged, his face unafraid.

Raising his eyebrow so that the three scars over them rippled slightly, Shanks obliged by shoving his hand as a fist inside the gaping wound on the Ripper's body so that the killer gasped in pain before quickly splaying his hand out in a casual stretch which made him scream several times in pain before his voice started to short out, having to wet his bloodied lips to get the words out properly. "The little p-pub on the edge of Whitechapel! The Puppet's Strings! He's c-cooped up in there whilst 'e does et all behind the scenes. 'E's got lackeys, like me but not as good." He cried, pain washing over him as he felt himself slipping. "But if you's go after 'im...he'll g-get...y..."

His words faded as his eyes clouded over in a misty haze to signal the passing of Jack the Ripper. Zoro resisted the urge to spit on him. "And may he take the fucking highway to hell where he can burn in its furthermost pits." He snarled, Thatch nodding in agreement as Shanks started the gruesome to gather all of the scattered pieces of the body so that hey could find a bag and retrieve his pieces later.

Meanwhile, Nami was up even further on the tracks, searching frantically for any sign of the hyperactive D. brother. "Luffy? Luffy? Come on you fucking idiot, where are you? This isn't a game of hide and seek!" She called, her voice starting to sound more and more panicked as she became hysterically frantic. Zoro sighed heavily and made his way up to her as she kept calling for him. "Luffy? Luffy?! LUFFY PLEASE! DAMN IT I LOVE YOU. PLEASE. LUFFY!"

On the last scream, Zoro reached her and grabbed her so that for a moment she fought against him with desperate screams of 'NO' into his muscled chest. He didn't say anything, but just held his little sister as she cried into his chest for the loss of their nakama.

"Guys...We'll have to look again when it's lighter. We'll never find him like this." Thatch said tiredly, barely able to stay awake.

Nodding, Zoro towed Nami back over to Thatch and Shanks, who had cleared up the mess as quickly as possible. The walk back to HQ was quiet, and the rain falling upon the cobblestones were like claps of thunder in the silence.

As Zoro, Thatch and Nami walked into the common room to see Ace, Ussop, Chopper and Sabo sitting by the fire and laughing as they told jokes whilst playing a game of poker. Grinning, they looked up to see the returning three and waved with greetings.

"Hey there! Where's Luffy?" Chopper asked cutely.

Nami trembled at the question, took one look at Ace and broke down into a fresh set of tears, startling them as they looked up only to see Nami take off and run down the corridor and into her room, slamming the door behind her.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ussop asked, scratching at his bushy afro in confusion. Sharing a glance with his leader, Thatch breathed out heavily through his nose and went after Nami, quietly knocking on her door and talking to her soothingly.

Zoro looked at the floor for a moment as the other four turned to him, wanting an explanation. Raising his eyes back up to look at them, he locked eyes with the remaining D. brother. "Ace..." He started, swallowing once to clear his throat. "Luffy's dead."

The warmth of the room seemed to vanish. Ace himself looked like he'd had a bucket of ice thrown over him. "What?" He asked, offering Zoro a weak smile in the hope that Zoro would grin back and claim that it was all a joke.

He got no such response.

Ace stood up, stumbling backwards a little before lurching forwards and grabbing Zoro by the shirt in mounting anger. "Where's Luffy? What-...How?" He questioned, his voice rising. "WHERE'S LUFFY? WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY LITTLE BROTHER?!" Ace hollered, steam rising from his body as his logia fruit started to inadvertently react to his emotions.

"He saved Nami, when Jack the Ripper suddenly tackled him out through the window of Whitechapel railway shack into an oncoming train." Zoro explained. As he recounted and explained exactly what happened, Ace's iron grip loosened further until his arm came back down to his side and his head drooped so that his shaggy black hair hung down and covered his face. By the end of it, small tears ran down the Ace's nose and chin and silently dripped onto the carpet, his shoulders shaking with uncontrollable grief.

"D-D-Damn it Luffy." Ace hiccuped, his voice sounding angry with sadness as he clenched his fists.

Sabo's jaw dropped at the tale, and Ussop and Chopper both had their arms over their eyes to cover the fact that they were crying. "When...When are you going out again to find his body?" He asked.

"We have to finish the mission first." Zoro stated. "Once we find Doflamingo and kick the shit out of him and bring him back so that he can be tortured and as Mihawk put it 'made an example of', then we can use the daylight to bring Luffy's body back."

"We're going now." Ace said, his voice flat and cold. "We know where he is. We're gonna find that bastard and make him pay for having that..Ripper kill my brother."

Knowing that there would be no reasoning with him, Zoro nodded. "I'll have Shanks tell Mihawk that we're going for Doflamingo." Turning to the corridor, he called down to the cook. "Thatch. We're going. Get Nami." He ordered shortly as the others collected themselves and started to suit up and grab their weapons. "The Mugiwara's are moving out."

The Puppet's Strings was alive with the horrendous singing of loud and completely drunk men despite the pitch black night outside. But underlying the harsh laughter of thugs was the sound of hissing metal as two katanas were unsheathed. People sat at tables and barstools in the early morning turned towards the door as three lines appeared in it a clear Z shape, which stayed there for a few precious seconds before the wooden door was cleaved by the Z making the door collapse into pieces to reveal Mugiwara leader Zoro with a katana in each hand, Ace and Thatch stood directly behind him, and finally Nami, Ussop, Sabo and Chopper in his fully grown deer form made up the rear.

Immediately, large men in baggy clothes stood up, their size and show of muscles intimidating to anyone but the seven that were stood at the doorway of the pub, who were so incensed that that couldn't care.

"Wha' the 'ell d'ya fink yer doin'?" One burly man with a short black stubble beard asked as he strode up to them and barred to doorway. "Tha' door was a bloody good door. I'll kill ya fer' tha'!" He shouted angrily.

Zoro walked right up to him and sliced Sandai Kitetsu straight across the man's neck, the body falling lifelessly to the floor. "Kill me?" He snorted. "You couldn't even kill my boredom."

Some of them stepped back as they realised who had entered the pub, whispers catching on like wildfire around them. "Oi, oi. Et's Sir Roronoa Zoro, tha' kid who used 'ter be a gang leader 'oo then wen' good and got 'nighted by the king 'isself."

"You shure we shuld be takin' 'im on? Betcha 'e's mighty strong."

"I 'eard 'e was the one wot killed Blackleg Sanji."

"I don't want 'ter take 'im on then...not if tha's true."

Deciding to move things on, Ace's voice roared out across the pub. "WHERE'S THAT BASTARD DONQUIXOTE DOFLAMINGO?"

At once all the talking ceased, and the sound of a pair of shoes clicking drew everyone's attention to the stairs in the corner of the room, to where Doflamingo himself was descending the stairs with his usual insane grin on his face. "Hey, hey, hey! I'm right here...There's no need to shout."

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU LIKE LUFFY KILLED THE RIPPER!" Ace thundered, struggling as Thatch, Ussop and Sabo tried to hold him back.

Doflamingo raised an eyebrow. "Ohh? You killed Jacky?" He questioned. "That's a shame...I liked him."

"You know what I'd like to see?" Nami asked darkly, lightning crackling around her Climatact. "I'd like to see your head on a spike like they did in France at Bastille."

Doflamingo grinned wickedly as his gaze settled on the enraged orange haired girl, his eyes hidden by his sunglasses. "Ohhhhh...fiery little bitch eh? Let me guess...That boy's lover?" He asked, making Nami stiffen and tremble with grief at the fact that she had only realised her love at Luffy's death. "Oh, of course. How insensitive of me...the boy's death is most regrettable."

"Watch it you son of a bitch. I'm not afraid to give you a bloody good gob full of claret." Zoro snarled.

"TO HELL WITH THAT." Ussop roared unexpectedly, firing an explosive pellet in Doflamingo's direction.

With a wave of his hands, Doflamingo managed to attach his puppet strings to nearly every lackey in the room, dragging them to him forcefully so that they took the impact of the explosion. From there, he sent them forwards as they yelled out a battle cry and took out the weapons nearest to them.

The Mugiwara gang found themselves set upon by the thugs. Thatch and Sabo stayed side by side as they started what would have looked like to anyone else like a huge brawling match, only with an addition of a heavy metal pipe that Sabo wielded expertly. Whereas Ussop teamed up with Chopper, whose antlers speared anyone who dared to run into his path, butting them out the way as though they were nothing but pieces of cotton candy laying around whilst Ussop fired pellet after pellet into their midsts to try and reduce their numbers, even when they got up again. But on some occasions on the other side of the bar, Zoro made sure that a few of them didn't as he dealt out death with Shusui and Sandai Kitetsu, having deemed that the scum he was dealing with were not worthy of meeting death at Wado Ichimonji's blade.

Ace on the other hand, had been quickly set upon by a large amount of the thugs. They crowded him even as he knocked them back with powerful punches and kicks that easily broke bones on the receiving end. Under the pressure of so many, Ace stumbled, to which one of them managed to get in and bodily flip the elder D. brother to the floor with a cruel laugh despite his size.

"Now look at ya, eh? What did ya honestly fink we wuld do?" The skinny twerp sneered at him.

"Die." Ace stated icily, his body erupting into flame and giving those who had been crowding and holding him down horrible burns from the flames that caught onto their clothes, also cutting off Doflamingo's puppet strings that were on them so that they were free to flee the pub with dying screams as they became human torches in the night that ran for the Thames.

Meanwhile, Nami had slipped past her opponents, having electrocuted a few with a couple of thunder tempos from her Climatact.

At that moment, Doflamingo focused his attention on a giant of a man whom he had just attached his puppet master skills to, making the man pick up a large meat cleaving knife from behind the pub's counter. Making the man turn, the both of them laughed as they used it to start hacking away at Nami, who fell back under the furious onslaught. She gasped in terror as her beloved weapon was knocked out of her hands, leaving her defenceless and with no-one around to help her out.

As the cleaving knife fell towards her neck, Nami closed her eyes and braced herself.

For a deathblow that never fell.

Luffy, broken and bleeding in many places, was stood in front of Nami so that he was shielding her with his body. The man with the cleaving knife was dead to the world, the conqueror's Haki having been used so forcefully that it had killed him right there and then, the knife falling to the floor with a metallic clatter.

"Don't you dare...hurt my nakama." Luffy growled.

Everyone stared at him, their own fights forgotten as they all stared at the newcomer. The Mugiwara gang in particular had their eyes riveted on the younger D. brother. Nami felt tears trail down her face in relief, as did Ace whose tears were full of joy as he finished off his opponent and started to make his way over to his brother, crying his name out happily.

Doflamingo scowled as Nami turned Luffy to face her and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him and cried in relief simultaneously. Luffy froze for a moment, not understanding what to do before realising and kissing Nami back, allowing her to explore his mouth with her tongue as he replied in kind.

Deciding enough was enough, Doflamingo started to raise his hand towards Nami, intending to make her his next puppet. But before he could, Chopper burst out of a group of thugs and pranced his way swiftly over to Doflamingo, catching the puppeteer in the chest and flinging him backwards into the wall with an almighty crash.

As he went to stand up once more, Ussop let loose a green pellet that exploded on Doflamingo and sprouted into thick green vines that wrapped around his body tightly and mummified him except for the head. Zoro walked over to him alongside Thatch and Ace and at Ace's inquisitive glance, he nodded. Cracking his knuckles, Ace brought his arm up and smashed it back down on Doflamingo's head, knocking him out like a stone.

Nami finally detached herself from Luffy's mouth, the both of them still in each other's embrace. "Are you ok?" Luffy asked, his eyes full of concern as Nami brushed a piece of his blood matted hair out of the way.

"Are you?" She asked in return. "You're the one that got hit by a train!"

He grinned at her, laughing even though it hurt him to do so. "Shishishishi...Oi Nami. You forgot something."

Nami frowned as he tucked a piece of her orange hair back behind her ear. "What?"

"I'm a rubber man." Luffy laughed, pressing his forehead against hers reassuringly.

Unable to help herself, Nami smiled back, aware of the gang watching them. "You're my rubber man." She corrected, softly kissing his lips once more as Zoro and Ace grabbed Doflamingo's body, Zoro having given the order to return to the MI5 headquarters.

The nightmare was over.

I was VERY tempted to kill Luffy off guys. VERY tempted. I was listening to Nickelback - Photograph and Evanescence - Imaginary whilst doing it, and I was fully aware that I was killing Luffy in front of Nami, a huge OTP.

Well, I'm off to New York now, so I'll write the next chapter in my notepad on the way over and back, and you'll hopefully get your next chapter soon! =)

PLEASE REVIEW GUYS! THEY'RE REALLY INSPIRATIONAL AND THEY ENCOURAGE ME TO WRITE MORE (and better for that matter). xD

Kai XxxXxxX