Author: I'm back with a new chapter. Now, before I start, I will announce the result we have on the poll for the next arc. So far, we have four no's and three yes's. Two out of the three are for having the next arc be a standalone and one for having it to be with the whole story.
Aki: That's not enough votes, though, is it?
Author: *looks away from Aki* No comment.
Xion: She's still mad about what we did in the previous chapter, isn't she?
Aki: I guess so.
Author: Anyway, until this arc is at its end, the poll is still up. So readers, please take your votes. If you're lucky, Aki, maybe you will reunite with everyone else. Especially a 'certain' someone.
Aki: *blush* What are you talking about?
Author: *ignoring Aki* Anywho, partial credit of this story goes to EvanderAdvent.
Aki: Hey! Don't just ignore me!
Author: ON WITH THE STORY!
Last time:
"Hey, you guys! Hurry up! If you fall behind, you'll never be able to get out of this desert!" Nami told them.
"Quit joking around!" I heard Usopp protest.
"You want to die in this heat or don't you? Now move it!" I ordered.
"HOLD IT!" was what they said in reply to that. Looking behind me, I saw that they've picked up their pace.
'What a predicament this has become,' I thought in amusement.
It's been a few hours since we continued our way to Yuba. I lost sight of Nami, Vivi and the camel they were on. Currently, I'm with the guys, trying to catch up to them. Sure we would know if we're going the right way, but there weren't any hoof prints left by that camel for us to follow. Don't ask why there isn't; there just weren't any.
"So hot... Water..." Luffy complained. I gave him some cold water not even half an hour ago, and he's already begging for more. And by some, I mean a whole barrel. Why did I give him one whole damn barrel? I do not remember the reason for that. I'm just happy that I bought fifteen barrels before we began walking in this desert.
"Sorry, Xion-nee," Chopper-kun apologized. "The heat is too much. Even though you bought two small barrels of water for me."
"Don't worry about it, Chopper-kun. Besides, I'm used to carrying you, remember?" I assured him.
"Oh yeah. And also, I ran out of water in this barrel."
"Hold on a second." I took out Ace's card and another small barrel of water came out of it. Chopper-kun caught the barrel and handed me his empty one, only to have it go into the Dream Eater card instead.
"Oh! That's handy! When did you learn how to do that?" Usopp asked.
"Back in Drum Kingdom. When that avalanche occured, Luffy and Sanji both sacrificed themselves for me and Nami. I summoned my Dream Eaters out and they had winter clothes on while I was looking for them. That made me assumed that the cards actually provides a room for each Dream Eater. And it seemed that my assumption was right," I answered.
"Oi, Xion. Give me some more water..." Luffy ordered me.
"I already gave you a whole barrel Luffy. It's your fault for drinking it all Instead of drinking a little and saving the rest of it."
"But you have more water on you."
"With you, if I just keep giving you water, it will run out before we get to Yuba. Besides, I thought I already said that the water is for everyone; not just for you. So quit complaining and man up. If you can't stand the heat, it will be a wonder on how you'll be a Pirate King."
"Ahh..."
Some time later, not even an hour later, we're still looking for our navigator, princess and the camel.
"Nami-san~! Where have you gone~? Nami-san is wonderful even now~!" Ugh. Will he ever give up? It will be a miracle if he does find a girl that actually loves him and not bothered by him looking at other women.
"What's wrong, Luffy?" Usopp asked, bringing everyone's attention over to him and our whining captain.
He was looking at somewhere else. When he looked back at us, he was suddenly screaming. "A TSUNAMI! A TSUNAMI'S GOING TO HIT US!"
"What tsunami?" I asked.
"Oi, what's wrong, Luffy?" Zoro asked.
"I knew it. I just knew it was a bad idea. And Xion even warned us about it earlier, yet he ignored it anyway," our long-nose sniper said.
"What was?" Chopper-kun asked.
"I told him not to and repeated what your sister said eariler before we departed, but he said he couldn't stand the thirst and Xion was so mean to not give him another barrel, even though what she said about saving it is true, so he tore into some cacti he found along the way."
"Cacti?" Zoro and I repeated.
"Yeah. Over there. Those ball shaped ones." We all looked pass our crazy idiot to see the cacti he drank out of. Turns out, the ca- WHY DID HE DRINK OUT OF THOSE CACTI?!
"Oh no! Not those!" Chopper-kun shouted.
"That idiot drank Mezcal Cacti, which cause hallucinations!" I explained.
"WHAT?!"
"OH NO! IT'S TOO LATE!" the idiot continued to scream. "WE'RE DONE FOR! YOSH! I'M GONNA PUMMEL IT!" He took his stick and began to wave it around like a crazy idiot. Oh, wait, HE IS A CRAZY IDIOT RIGHT NOW! "I'M GONNA BEAT THE HELL OUT OF IT!"
"This ain't good!" Zoro exclaimed.
"GOMU GOMU NO-"
Before he could begin his attack, Chopper-kun jumped out of my arms and took out a needle from his bag and quickly injected a small amount of liquid in him. This liquid just knocked him out cold.
"Tranquilizer!" he said.
"Good work, Chopper!" Sanji congratulated.
With Zoro dragging the rubber boy around and Chopper-kun back in my arms, we continued looking for the girls and the camel.
"Shit. We're totally lost," Usopp complained.
"Those hoof prints are gone, too," Sanji added.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Ace in a while, too," Zoro reminded.
"Now that you mentioned it, we did run after Nami, Vivi and Eyelashes. He probably got seperated from us somehow along the way," I said.
'And if I remember correctly, wasn't that suppose to be Zoro's job?' I mentally added, recalling what happened to Carue back in Drum Kingdom.
"And just how did he separate from us?" Usopp asked.
"He probably got himself lost," came a voice we never wanted to hear at the moment. We all turned to the person who spoke, glaring at him. "Man, what a troublesome brother."
"We're the ones who are lost!" Usopp corrected, as he, Sanji, Zoro and my Dream Eaters were beating the living shit out of him.
"And it's your fault!" Sanji added.
After beating him up, I called back my Dream Eaters, seeing that they were at least a little satisfied with the beating they gave the rubber idiot.
"What's wrong, Usopp?" Zoro asked. We all faced Usopp to see him looking around.
"Do you guys hear that?" he asked us.
"Hear what?" I asked back.
Instead of answering my question, he went on higher grounds to see what he heard. We all followed him, curious to see what he heard. Imagine our surprise when the thing he heard was actually a-
"A PIRATE SHIP!?"
"B-B-But wait! This has to be a hallucination! There's no way there can be a pirate ship sailing out here in the middle of a desert! Even though this is the Grand Line..." I said, muttering the last sentence to myself.
"You say that, but Nami and Vivi and that camel are on that ship!" Usopp told us.
"What?!" Just when we gasped at that, Luffy went in and charged towards the ship.
"Oi, Luffy!" our sniper called.
"Wait!" our chef also called.
"Shit, we'll have to go to!" Zoro said.
"There's no other choice," I agreed, as we all charged after him. Before we knew it, our idiot captain just had to use his Devil's Fruit power and rocketed himself onto the ship, destroying the main mast. Of course we should've seen that coming, yet we all tripped due to his idiocity.
"What is he thinking of accomplishing by doing that?" I wondered out loud.
Time later, the rest of us got on the ship. It turns out, they were really good pirates. Proof of that is that they apologized to Luffy about the rough treatment the captain and his crewmates gave to Nami and Vivi. Not only that, they all have umbrellas on their head. Luffy, being the heartless, carefree idiot he is, just shrugged it off like they just took something that Luffy got hundreds off. Nami, who was angered for whatever reason, wacked him in the head.
"Oh? And this is 'Starlight Blade' Xion, huh? I've heard of you. In fact, we all have heard of you! Right, men?!" the captain, whose name was Barbarosa of the Barbaro Sand Pirates, spoke. His crewmates all cheered in reply to his question. "You beat up pirates with the combined bounty of B50,000,000 in the East Blue, they say. And for that, you got the highest starting bounty in all of East Blue! Hahahah! You must be really strong for someone from the east!"
"Um... Captain... We don't have any planks left on the ship to repair the main mast," a member of his crew told him. "And without the main mast, we won't have enough propulsion to sail."
"He's right! He's right! What should we do?!" the rest of the crew asked.
"At this rate, we're going ot die meaninglessly out here in the desert!" he continued, much to the rest of the crew's disappointment.
"AHH! We're going to die meaninglessly! We're going to die meaninglessly in the middle of the desert!"
"We, the Sand Pirates, are born on our Sand Pirate Ship! And so, we die on our ship!" Barbarosa spoke. "Who could even think of throwing away our ship?"
"Yes! Yes! We'll die on this ship! We'll die meaninglessly on our ship!"
'Take about a change in personality,' I thought, sweat dropping at the sight. And here my bad habit was about to activate.
"Yes, that is destiny and so is this!" Barbarosa continued. "We, the Sand Pirates, shall not defy the flow of the sands! But if we make the trek to the Melias Oasis, we can resupply our timber."
"Where is that place? I'll make a run," Luffy insisted. And what happened to him being very thirsty?
"Eh? Well, you see, the flow of the sands has been strange lately. It would be too dangerous for an outsider!"
"It's my responsibility. I'll do it!"
'Wasn't he complaining about how thirsty he was? He can't possibly be telling me that being on a ship or a little sleep is enough to cool him down,' I thought, feeling a little headache coming up.
"Hahahaha! I see! You'll do it!"
We all got off their ship and coming down from their ship is a rowboat.
"Bring the timber back in these sand sleds," Barbarosa said.
"They look more like rowboats than sleds," Nami stated.
"Zaba and Rasa will show you the way to Melias." The guy who was talking logic earlier, Zaba, stepped up.
"Rasa?" Luffy asked.
"Yeah. Rasa's the best sand sled navigator on our ship. Who will you be tandem with?"
"I'll be fine by myself!"
"DON'T!" most of our crew shouted.
"Xion will be going with him!" Nami sa- Wait, WHAT?!
"Yeah, yeah! Who knows what Luffy will do while taking him over there?! Xion is our ship's first mate, despite not being the first one to join our crew, and she's really reliable! Enough to watch over him and get him out of trouble!" Usopp agreed.
"WAIT A SECOND!" I yelled, probably loud enough to ruin their ear drums. "Why the hell do I have to go with Luffy?! Even I have my limits with that idiot, you know! Pick someone else!" Just when I said that, I thought I saw something strike Vivi. I looked over at where the said princess is at and saw that she's okay. I heard something cutting the air and tackled Vivi down. A weapon struck the ship, almost at the spot where Vivi was at.
We all looked up and saw a girl on the broken main mast. Like the rest of her crew, she also has an umbrella, but in her hair. She jumped down and flipped all the way to Vivi and me.
"That was great! Rasa!" Barbarosa complimented her.
'Where? Her strike or her landing?' I mentally asked.
"The others seem to be outsiders, but you are from this kingdom," Rasa said.
"You're pretty sharp," Luffy complimented.
"You seem to know a little about how to use a sand sled. How about you go instead of the one in black?"
"Vivi-chan can't do such a dangerous thing!" Sanji immediately disagreed.
"Yeah! That's too much!" Nami agreed with him.
"Very well. I'll go with you," the princess said instead.
"You sure, Vivi?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Okay, then." I walked back to where everyone else is.
"So this thing glides on top of sand? How the hell do you use it?" I heard Luffy ask.
"I'll handle the steering. I've done this before," Vivi said. I honestly don't care about what they would be doing at the moment, as long as I get to train a little more in my DTH.
"It's not much different from a ship, right?" Luffy then ask. The moment he pulled up the sail, wind came. Before we knew it, HE AND THE SLED JUST TOOK OFF AT FULL SPEED! With him screaming, of course.
We were all speechless at the event that took place. The next thing you know, Luffy came back, pushing the sled as he returned.
"I... I'm back!" he panted before he collapsed.
"DON'T WASTE YOUR ENERGY DOING STUPID THINGS!" most of us scolded.
"Xion! Water!" he demanded.
"Only because you have a good reason for wanting it!" I replied, getting a barrel out of Ace's card. Luffy instantly took the lid off and drank probably a third of the water in that barrel.
"EHH?! A magician! A magician has appeared before us!" most of the Sand Pirates shouted.
"No, no. I'm not a magician," I corrected.
We got Luffy and the barrel of water on the sled.
"Luffy-san, you just rest there," Vivi said. She then went to take control of the sled, only to just suddenly take off like Luffy did earlier. Just how light are those sleds?
"Well, I'm going to train. Chopper-kun, watch over my body," I told my little brother-figure.
"Okay, Xion-nee," he replied.
"You sure know when to find time for this, don't you?" Voice asked me.
"It's not that hard. Besides, if Luffy is involve in anything, it will take a while for things to get done," I said.
"Heh. Is that so? Then again, it does sound like your captain, of what I see and hear so far."
"Then let's stop talking and start my training."
"Very well. Now then, do you want to continue your training or begin a different training?"
"Continue from where we left off. Don't you remember? The last training was interrupted."
"Ah yes. I seem to have forgotten about that. Well then, without further ado, let's begin." Voice changed the arena and brought us to the desert. Heartless that fits in the desert appeared around me.
"Time to get back to where we left off," I muttered, taking out Ace's and Torpedo's card. "Summon: Fin Fatale, Iceguin Ace, Juggle Pup." The two Dream Eaters appeared and we went on with our training.
I avoided all the Heartless attacks and struck them whenever I see my chance to do so. I cut and jabbed them as I avoided them, powering up my Command Style and Shotlocks. I heard the melody for both of them, signaling that they're both charged up. I turned to Ace and called him.
"ACE! COME HERE!" He slid on his belly towards me as I reached my hand out to him. The moment we came in contact, we began our link. "Link Style: Diamond Dust!" Ace was absorbed inside of me and an icy blue aura appeared around me, as well as particles of ice are emitting from my body.
I began my attack and was really surprised at the speed I was going in. I was probably twice as fast as I once was in this link. And as I strike, the ice particles struck with me. After striking the Heartless four times, I summoned three ice pillars that were spinning at a rapid speed. After taking out half of the Heartless, I summoned a huge glacier. It bursted around me and struck near-by Heartless. I didn't have my chance of using my Shotlock, for my link was canceled out. I returned Ace back in its card and I went over to Torpedo.
He seemed to understand my next plan, for he floated his way towards me. The two of us made came in contact and I started a different link. "Link Action: Water Blaster!" I held onto Torpedo like how I would with a gun. The next thing you know, he fired a stream of water from his mouth, striking all Heartless that came in our way. Just seeing this action gave me an idea with my Shotlock.
I held out Miraculous Blossom and had my eyes lock onto my targets. I blinked and my pupils got smaller, signalizing that my Keyblade is fully charged up.
"Now to end this! Bubble Blaster!" I declared, launching bubbles at the Heartless, which exploded when they came in contact with them. Combining it with Water Blaster makes it a devastating water strike onto the Heartless. "This is the end!" I suddenly shouted. I then threw Torpedo like a boomerang and was trapped in a bubble, shooting out more bubbles from within it. When the attack ended, I was out and there weren't a single Heartless in sight. Satisfied with this, I returned Torpedo back into its card. Gamble hopped his way towards me.
"You have completed your training perfectly, Xion," I heard Voice say.
"Yeah. Though, I wasn't able to get out my Limit Break. Then again, those Heartless didn't land a single hit on me," I said.
"So you want to take the training to the next level?"
"Not right now. I want to get out of here and relax in the real world."
"Very well, then. You may leave."
'Since when do I need permission?' I asked myself, returning Gamble to his card and leaving my DTH.
When I returned back, I noticed that the sun was setting. Seeing the sunset reminds me of Tanoshi Island and a few of my memories of Axel and Roxas. I still have yet to know many things about those two. Well, maybe not Axel, but Roxas... I don't remember much about him. Speaking of him, I remember talking to Axel about his powers. If only I know why I talked to him about that and what he meant when he said that when I get stronger, Roxas gets weaker. Would that mean that... if I get stronger, someone close to me will lose their powers? If that's true, then what would happen to Luffy and the others? Will they be unable to achieve their dream because of me? No, it's too soon to say.
"SOMEONE HELP US!" came Usopp's voice. I ran over to the source and gasped at the sight before me.
The bandit Heartless was all over the ship. The Sand Pirates managed to protect themselves from the attacks. As for my crewmates... Usopp, Nami and Chopper-kun are cowering behind Zoro and Sanji, so to say. The latter two were managing to protect themselves and the former three.
"Damn it. Out of all times, why did they have to attack now?!" I heard Zoro ask.
"How should I know, shitty swordsman?!" Sanji asked.
"Why are you giving me that attitude, you shitty cook?!"
"What was that?!"
"You two! Now is not the time to fight!" Nami shouted at them.
"She's right! Right now, PROTECT US!" Usopp agreed.
"It's too late!" Chopper-kun told his scared nakamas, for some of the Heartless were coming in to attack them.
Out of habit, I jumped off the ship and blocked off all their attacks. When I see an opening, I quickly cut them down.
"Xion(-nee)!" the scared trio shouted, happy to see another fighter protecting them.
"Xion-swan~! You're so lovely when you cut down those bandits~!" Really, love-sickness-boy?
"Ero-cook," Zoro muttered.
"What was that?!"
"You asking for a challenge?!"
"YOU TWO, KNOCK IT OFF!" I shouted, cuasing them to lose their balance a little. "You want to die or you want to survive?! If you want to survive, pick a fight on the Heartless, not each other!"
"Yes, Xion-swan~!"
'Huh? Guess being a ladies' man does have its use,' I thought. With that, the three of us charged into the group of Heartless. I got out some back up, due to the amount of Heartless there are and the fact that the Sand Pirates needed back-up of their own.
I cut through the Heartless as I ran passed them. Whenever I was near one of my Dream Eaters, I Link Actioned with them and ended it after a few seconds, just to save their strength for later battle. It's a bit tiring for me when I did, but I kept fighting anyway. Once I heard the two melodies, I stopped in my track.
"Oi! Xion! What are you doing?!" I heard Nami question.
"Keep fighting or we'll end up like these monsters!" Usopp demanded.
"Xion-nee!" my little brother shouted to cheer me on.
I smirked when I saw that all of the Heartless have surrounded me. "Let's go!" I charged up all my strength into my Keyblade. "Bladecharge!" Miraculous Blossom got brighter and bigger, almost twice its own size. Even though this isn't the first time I've used this style, I'm not used to the extra weight it gave my Keyblade. That said, I held my Keyblade with both hands on the handle and took a hard step forward. "I hope you're ready!" I exclaimed, as the group charged towards me.
"Xion(-nee)(-san)!" my nakamas called.
When they were all in perfect distance, I spun and swung my sword around, easily cutting all my opponents in half, therefore eliminating them. I then charged towards the rest of the Heartless, giving the Sand Pirates and my Dream Eaters more back-up. Since my Keyblade is now made of light, even if I did strike them by accident, they won't get hurt.
When all the Heartless were wiped out, the Sand Pirates began cheering for their victory. The feeling was short-lived, when a big Heartless came out from the sand below us. It was a big mechanical Heartless with rotating rings as the body. Each rings are white and is lined by steel blue pillars. Its neck is black and gold, compared to its small roughly spherical and white head. Its head sports glowing yellow eyes, a large, jagged mouth, and two short 'horns'. It also has two large, steel blue and gold mandibles on the sides of its head.
"Wha-Wha-What is that thing?!" Usopp cried out in fear.
"Just another one of those Heartless," Zoro simply answered. "Like all the rest, we just have to kill it. Let's go!"
"Oi! Marimo! You don't take the lead or give orders!" Sanji said. Despite that, he followed our swordsman's lead anyway.
I just stood my ground, getting a horrible feeling about the Heartless before us. It looks exactly like the one from my dream the other night.
'If that Heartless is exactly like the one from my dream- No, my memory... Then I should be the only one to destroy it!' I thought.
"AHHH! Captain! It's that thing! That thing that destroyed one of our villages!" a Sand Pirate shouted.
"Yeah. I can see that," Barbarosa answered.
"You know that thing?" I asked.
"Yeah. We've been hunting that thing down for weeks. It's because of it that there were so many sandstorms lately on this side. And because of it... THE PEOPLE WE HELD DEAR TO US DIED!"
We, the Straw Hat Pirates, stared in shock to what he had just said. To think that a Heartless would go this far...
'I can't turn my back on them,' I thought.
"Zoro! Sanji! You two are with me and Torpedo and Ace!" I began to order. "We're going to finish him off as quick as possible! If what the Barbarosa said is true, we can't let it continue to do what it wants! Everyone else, cover us!"
"Sand Pirates! You heard the girl! Cover her and her nakama!" Barbarosa ordered his men. "For all we know, of what we all have seen, 'Starlight Blade' Xion is most likely and undoubtfully the only one who can put an end to that sandstorm dweller!"
"AYE!" they all replied.
"We'll back you up from back here!" Usopp yelled, from the ship of course. That said, we all went into formation and went to attack the Antlion.
"Let's go, Torpedo, Ace!" I ordered two of my Dream Eaters, as I charged after the Heartless. "The rest of you cover us!" My Dream Eaters followed my order and followed me. To my surprise, the Sand Pirates are also giving me back-up, all saying that it's to return the favor. I would've denied their kindness, but it's better to have more allies than to have little.
After a little while of fighting the Antlion, with me using my magic and doing my links with my Water and Ice Dream Eaters, it finally went down. However, since I remember what happens next, I warned the others.
"Don't let your guard down yet!" I shouted, having them all to stop cheering.
The next thing that happened was exactly like how it was before. The Antlion came out of the ground and the rings started to spin, causing it to be protected by a wind barrier. The wind was strong enough to carry things off from the Sand Pirates' ship.
"First we need to get it down! The only way to do that is to knock anything it throws at us back at it! That will be for most of you! Those who are good at long range fighting, fire whatever you have at it!" I ordered.
"AYE!"
After some time of fighting, we were close to taking it down. However, just before we can deal the finishing blow, it got back up and floated far away from us.
"Oi! It's escaping!" one of the Sand Pirates said.
"Did we scare it off?" another Sand Pirate asked.
"We did it!" another assumed. Of course, I was the only one who knew what it would be doing.
Not wanting it to destroy the ship from the distance it was at, I charged towards it. I had Terra and Rex follow me so we can take it out in one shot before it can fire.
"Let's go, Terra! Rex!" They both roared in agreement. "Gamble! Ace! You two weaken it as best as possible!" My ice-type Dream Eaters both nodded and attacked it with their attacks. "The rest of you! Try and take me as high up as possible!" The rest of my allies also raored in agreement.
'I've never tried this yet, but it's better than nothing!' I thought. "Dual Style..." My two dinosaurs fused with my Keyblade.
Hiluluk went under me, giving me a ride towards Torpedo. He then started to jump over the Fish Dream Eater and it blasted water from under him, carrying us up. Fang and Lapin came in, the latter being carried by the former. When Hiluluk and I were at our limit, Lapin used his ears to grab Hiluluk and, with Fang's support, tossed us higher up. Wyvern swooped in and headbutted us higher up. I was surprised that Hiluluk didn't mind the damage inflicted onto him. When we were just up to Antlion's beam, I jumped off of Hiluluk and raised my Keyblade, covered in bright gold aura.
"CRITICAL IMPACT!" I yelled, as I swung it down and cut the Heartless and its beam in half. The moment Miraculous Blossom touched the ground, a huge shockwave came and blew the Heartless back a few inches.
I breathed heavily as I kneeled down and my Dinosaur Dream Eaters canceled our link, both lying down in exhaustion. Raising my head, I saw that the Heartless wasn't moving, which confused me even more.
'Why isn't it disappearing?' I wondered.
"She took it down!" I heard one of the Sand Pirates shouted.
"That sandstorm-casting monster is finally dead!"
"We avenged the deaths of our dear ones!"
"Banzai!"
Getting up, I decided to return my Dream Eaters and go back to my nakama, since it seemed that the Heartless gave up. Just when I turned my back, I had a horrible feeling crawling up my spine. I turned and saw that the Heartless moved its head.
"Not yet!" I shouted.
"What?! It's still moving!" I heard one of the Sand Pirates question me.
As if to answer his question, the Heartless rose up into the air again. I noticed that it seemed to be struggling, for it couldn't 'stand' up straight. The next thing that happened, it summoned a sandstorm, and a powerful one. Everyone held on to whatever was near them to prevent being sucked in. I stabbed my Keyblade down in an attempt to do the same. However, being so close to the Heartless, my attempt failed and I was carried into the storm.
"Xion(-san)(-nee)!" I heard my nakama call. I tried to find a way to get down or get closer to the Heartless. However, the moment I looked at the Heartless, I noticed that, like a robot close to its destruction, electricity came out of it and its body was violently shaking. Before I knew it, it exploded, taking me and whatever was caught in its storm with it.