Rocky vs Woody

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.

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In a heavily wooded area just outside of Mock Town, the leader of the Death Root mercenaries and the Captain of the Axe-Head pirates were having one hell of a smackdown. Leader and Axe exchanged punches and kicks, and sent one another flying at points. However, as mad as Axe was this mercenary who had the balls to kidnap his nakama, he was holding back. Due to this, while Leader only recieved a few bruises, Axe sustained more bruises and scrapes which bled slightly. His weapon sat in the ground a small distance away.

Dodging another kick, Leader jumped away and landed on a nearby tree branch. He began picking his nose as he stared at Axe, "You know...I thought that this would be a little bit harder," he mused as he dug his finger into his nostril.

Axe glared at him, "That's because I'm not trying to kill you, baka Root!" he shouted.

"Why?" the merc leader asked, pulling his finger out of his nose, blood running down his upper lip from picking too much.

"Because, you have a member of my family, and it seems you're the only one around here who knows where she is!" Axe yelled before kicking off a Rankyaku blade, which made the merc leader jump away from his safe spot.

"Finally," Leader breathed as he landed behind Axe, "We can start using our real abilities! All we've done so far is trading punches,"

Axe cracked his neck, "Boy, you don't even want to know what my real abilities are!" he growled, turning to face him, "Last chance, tell me where she is or I'll kick your head clean off!"

Leader squinted at him, looking down at his legs, "Yeah, yeah, in a minute. Where'd you learn that kick thing?"

He must mean my Rankyaku... Axe grinned, "I learned it from a man who is way stronger than you!"

The enemy teen scratched his head and kept looking at his legs until he looked up at Axe's face, "Is that man's name Rayo?"

Axe nearly fell over. He stared at the teen and blinked in confusion as he raised a finger at him, "How do you...know Rayo?"

This time, Leader picked his ear, "We fought each other awhile back...it ended in a draw," he flicked the contents of his ear off his finger and pointed it to his opponent, "Do you know where he is? I need a favor...,"

The huge stone axe, which had been previously thrust into the ground, flew straight at Leader, who barely dodged it. Axe glared at him, "Are you frickin' kiddin' me?! First, you kidnap my nakama, challenge me to a fight, and after picking about every disgusting orifice on your face, you ask me if I know where Rayo-aniki is?!" he shouted, a large vein popping in his head, "Where the hell is your brain at the moment, because it sure as hell ain't in this fight!! Why the hell would Rayo be in the same area as a mercenary like you?!"

"I was a pirate when I met him, not a mercenary," Leader said with a smirk as his body began to turn brown and crack. Axe tensed as his opponent not only began to change, but large spikes came out of his arms and back, The hell...? he thought as Leader's eyes glinted a golden-red color.

"Now, Axe...," Leader stepped back as the spikes rose further and further out of his body, "...you are one of the few people ever to see me take this form!"

Axe held his glare, "What fruit did you eat?"

"A Logia Fruit known as Uddo Uddo no Mi...," Leader began to chuckle, "I'm a Woodman!"

A Woodman Axe frowned, Why does that sound familiar...? his eyes widenedWait a minute! Can this guy be-?

"Uddo Uddo Spider!"

Axe watched as Leader rose at least ten feet above his head, eight long wooden legs sprouting from his back. He facefaulted, Just glad Devon ain't here to see this...he'd probably piss himself...

"Now, Axe, since the warmups are over, let the real fighting begin!"

The young treasure hunter cursed and darted to the side, grabbed his weapon and began slicing at the wooden legs of the lumber spider. But, as soon as one of the legs was hacked off, the missing piece just grew back. Axe stared at the regenerating limb and failed to see another wooden leg come flying at him until it was too late. With a loud smack, he flew across the battlefield, plowing through some of the trees around him.

As he lay on the ground, Axe stared up at the sky, an annoyed look on his face, "I wonder if this is how Shidyk felt back at Drum Island," he murmured.

"COME AT ME WITH ALL YOU GOT AXE, AND PROTECT YOUR FAMILY!" Leader roared as he stomped his way over to him.

Axe rose to his feet and looked right up into Leader's eyes, smiling widely as he did. Leader smiled as well, and the air became thick and quiet. There seemed to be a stillness, a calm in the air...much like it would right before a big storm hit the island.

"How much longer do you think you got in you, Axe?"

"Oh, I'd say about half an hour," Axe lied, "How about you, Root?"

"Same, so come on, we're wasting time!"

I couldn't agree more... Axe thought as he dropped his stone weapon, "Soru!"

He disappeared from sight and Leader's face was covered with surprise. The merc leader looked around, confused, "Where the...?"

"Up here, mercenary!"

Leader snapped his head up and facefaulted at the sight of Axe practically floating above him, one of his feet raised above, the smile still on his face.

"Kachi Kachi no Crush!"

Axe came crashing down and slammed his boot down onto Leader's back hard enough to send the mercenary downward, his wooden legs breaking apart from under the pressure. A large crater was formed as soon as Root landed on the ground, a deep boot imprint on his back.

While his opponent lay in the crater, Axe landed a few feet away from the crater's rim and scraped his boot along the ground, "Best way to beat a spider is with your shoe...," he muttered.

"Aw man...," Leader slowly climbed to his feet and dusted himself off, "Now I'm gonna have a boot print on my back for weeks!" he moaned as a golden liquid oozed from his mouth.

Axe pointed at the ooze, "You're a Logia, and you're bleeding?"

Leader reached up, wiped a bit of it off and licked it, "Nope, not blood, but sap. I am made out of wood," he reminded his enemy.

Axe sweatdropped, "You bleed sap after that, but you actually bleed blood after picking your nose?" he asked, unsure if he was understanding this right, "There's something very messed up here,". With that, he grabbed his weapon again and hefted it in his hands, "So, Death Root Leader...let's begin Round Two, shall we?"

Again, the two of them shared identical smiles.

-----

After gathering her supplies, Kirsty and her captors landed on the deck of a ship that rivaled the size of a navy warship. Kirsty looked around to see tiny and large spikes jutting out of the boat's exterior, and a huge dome-like room in the middle of the ship, lined with gold.

Death waved her hands to show her captive the boat, "White Dragon Kirsty, welcome to theGoshou Musubi! Most of your friends are three floors down, locked up tight, so don't even bother looking," she warned before turning to Prophet, "Where is Kuma?"

The blind fighter sighed and tapped his staff on the deck of the large ship, "He's with Heart and Mariachi two floors down in the med bay," he reported in a bored tone, "Iron Shark and Sunshine are in the Dome Room,"

Kirsty looked towards the dome and saw the shadowed forms of the large merman from before, and a much smaller figure. Death shoved her towards some nearby stairs, "Let's go, Dragon,". After an awkward, silent trip down, Kirsty finally came to the medical bay. The first thing she saw there was a young man at least seven feet tall leaning against the wall in the hallway.

"Hey, Prophet," Kuma looked at the blind man, "Screw the codenames, she's gonna find out who we really are in the near future anyway,"

As she stood there, watching the mercs, Kirsty learned that the ones who they were fighting turned out to be people who were testing them for some odd reason. After witnessing two of the members share a rather passionate kiss, she entered the medical bay, face red. When she entered, she recognized Shan, who was currently working on a blonde man she didn't recognize. Shan's gloves were stained with his blood.

On the floor a tall, thin man in black lay, asleep while his guitar lay against the nearby wall. On a nearby bed, Devon lay quietly, his shirt and jacket cut and completely stained with his blood, as well as the blood of his enemy. Shan finally noticed her and smiled, "Kirsty, glad you could make it," she greeted.

Giving a half-hearted smile, Kirsty looked at Devon, "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing too bad," Shan shrugged casually, "For a major port town, this place has crappy as hell medical stores and I'm out of supplies now. Your friend's just suffering from deep stabs, cuts, and severe bloodloss,"

Kirsty walked over to her nakama and dropped her medical supplies. Taking a breath, she placed both of her hands on the most severe looking wounds of her friend. Almost immediately, a light glow appeared between her hands and her friend and as she stood there, the people around her watched in silent amazement as the wounds closed up.

A sharp breath made Kirsty open her eyes to see Devon was now awake and looking around.

"W-Where am I?" he gasped before his eyes fell onto his doctor, "Kirsty?"

She nodded and he looked around to see Crow asleep on the bed next to him. Almost immediately, Devon began to rise from his cot, but before he even had a chance to get off, the large teen of Death Root appeared before him and shoved him back down, pinning him to his bed.

"Let me at that sonofabitch!" Devon yelled, "I'm not done with him yet!"

Kirsty sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Devon, relax. These people aren't bad people...,"

Devon stared at her like she had grown a second head, "They tried to kill us!"

"Um...yeah, sorry about that," Shan apologized from the sidelines, "Two of our nakama wanted to test you guys and Endo-kun wanted to see how strong Axe's crew was," she explained.

Devon frowned, "Endo?"

"Long story," Kirsty muttered, shaking her head as the tall teen holding Devon down suddenly yelled. A small panda wearing an orange hoody and covered in bandages was picked up by Shan and the two pirates sweatdropped as she cooed over him.

They shared glances,This looks famliar...

The sound of a guitar string being plucked made everyone turn to Mariachi, who was now awake, but holding onto his guitar.

"Vhy don't ve 'ust release the prisoners now...?" he mumbled quietly as he tossed a key to Kirsty, " 'hey are in the giant 'ell at the end of the hall, one 'loor down,"

Kirsty caught the key and nodded as Devon slid off the bed, still bleeding but not as much. She left the infirmary and Devon followed her closely.

"What do you think?" she whispered.

"I think we wait until Axe is back, before we decide whether or not we kick their lousy asses," he whispered back, following her down another flight of stairs.

-----

"Kachi Kachi no Bazooka!"

"Uddo Uddo no Guard!"

Axe's fist collided with Leader's arms, "Dammit!"

The two of them had been fighting for about an hour now and they both had bruises, scratches and were pretty tired now.

Leader smirked, "What're you trying to do, tickle me?" he taunted.

"Trying to kick your ass!" Axe shouted, kicking the smaller teen high into the air and further back into the woods. He groaned, "That wasn't a good idea...now, I gotta go look for him!". He grabbed his axe and was about to enter the woods to look for him when a huge, wooden monster appeared from within the treeline.

"Oh yeah...thatdefinitely wasn't a good idea," he muttered under his breath as a huge, wooden fist came crashing down onto him. The giant fist hit the ground, sending chunks of rock and dirt everywhere, but when Leader pulled his Titan Fist back, Axe was nowhere to be seen...again.

"Missed me, big guy...,"

Leader turned his now massive head to see Axe standing on one of his huge shoulders, flexing his hands.

"Kachi Kachi no Bazooka!" Axe rammed his fist into the wooden giants face so hard, the monster fell onto it's side, tearing more and more trees out from the ground.

"Uddo Uddo no Hands!"

Axe watched as hundreds of tiny, wooden hands sprouted up from Leader's wooden body. He stared, Now he's pulling a Nico Robin...?! he thought as the hands began to cling to him, "What the hell?! Get off, you freaky little creeps!".

As soon as he broke free from the hands, Axe suddenly fell and landed in a huge pile of logs, chips, and splinters. He shot up from the pile, shaking the broken lumber from his hair and looked around, "Great, now where's Root?". Axe looked around the woods, but couldn't find a trace of him, "Root, you bastard, come out and show your face!" he shouted, "Let's finish this!"

"No thanks, Axe, I'm quite comfy where I am now," Leader's voice echoed around him.

Growling and cursing to himself, the treasure hunter picked up his axe and slowly made his way through the forest, senses on full alert. His enemy was hiding around here somewhere...but where? As he searched, Axe suddenly tripped over something in the dirt and fell flat on his face.

"Okay, that better not be Azu," Axe lifted his head and turned to see nothing in the area that would've made him trip, "Huh...weird,". As he climbed to his feet, Axe suddenly felt something smack himself upside the back of his head.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Axe rubbed his head and looked around, "Using guerrilla tactics to fight, eh Root? Alright, fine. Hide if you want, but I can cut this whole place down and there won't be any place for you to hide!". He started to prepare for his Rankyaku "Halo de Ange" when numerous roots suddenly shot out of the soil and wrapped themselves around him tightly, holding him in place.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

An amused chuckle and a slow clapping sound reached his ears, "Axe, my friend, I say we're around the same strength, and I'd love to keep this up, but I have to get going. You know where to find me,"

Axe tried to turn his head but was unable to, "No, I don't!" he snapped, "I don't know where to find you!"

Another chuckle came, "Yeah, you do, actually. This morning, your ship almost crashed into mine, right before you came to Mock Town. Well," a loud cracking sound echoed around him, "See ya later, Stone Head!"

A large vein appeared on Axe's foerhead, "Stone Head?! STONE HEAD?! COME BACK HERE AND FIGHT ME YOU BLONDE WOOD BRAIN!" he screamed.

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After what seemed like an eternity, Axe managed to free himself from the roots that held him place and now, he had tracked Leader to a large, ancient looking ship in the harbor. As he jumped to the railing, he could hear people's voices from ontop of the deck.

"Shan!"

"Hi, Endo-kun!"

I knew it...it is him! Axe landed on and stepped off the railing, seeing a large group of people on the ship's deck. He found Leader, or rather, Endo hugging a violet-haired girl.

"So...your real name is Endo, huh?" he greeted, making them all turn to him, "That wouldn't be 'Death Tree' Endo by any chance?"

Endo smiled, "You're right, Axe, I was the Death Tree...but not anymore. That ended when-,"

"AXE-KUN!" a yellow blur shot past them and attached itself to Axe's waist. Surprised, Axe looked down and he felt his heart skip a few beats when he saw a face he thought he would never see again. A smile crossed his face as he bent down and hugged her close, "Penny, you little twerp, you're alive!"

"AXE!" an angry and familiar voice shouted from the other side of the ship, "YOU'RE HUGGING THE ENEMY?!"

Axe looked up to see not only Niri, but every other member of his crew, save Chizuru, Azu, and Pingu, standing just behind the Death Root mercenaries. His sharpshooter friend ran up and slugged him upside the head, creating a large lump on his skull.

"Niri...," Axe started calmly, "You don't understand,"

"No, you don't understand!" Niri opened her mouth for another scolding when a pair of large, gray hands landed on her shoulders.

"Calm down, Guppy, I asked them to do it,"

Niri's eyes widened as she stiffened at the voice. She slowly looked over her shoulder and up to see...

"Captain Siamon!" she spun around and a huge smile broke out on her face.

The merman smiled, "Hello, little one," he greeted and looked around, "I see that your friends here passed their tests,"

"Really? Ho-,"

A loud clapping interrupted the joyous reunions. Everyone from both groups turned to see a trio of people standing at the very front of the huge boat.

One of them was a tall man, almost seven feet tall, with white hair, dressed in a white cloak as a large, cross-shaped sword hung at his hip.

The second person was another male, but this one even taller! He was about nine feet tall, and looked very odd, given that his body was round and fat, while his head was thin and tall. His eyes were hidden by a pair of glasses and a set of sharp teeth were revealed as he grinned at them all. He wore an ascot around his neck, a large, buttoned up black coat, a tall top hat, and a pair of shiny, fancy shoes.

Finally, the last member of the trio was a girl about fifteen years old with dark blue hair and violet eyes surrounded by black mascara. She wore a tight, black leather jacket, a frill white shirt and red scarf, stockings, platform shoes, and a black and white miniskirt. Her skin was so pale, she looked like a ghost.

"Well, what a joyful reunion!" the man with white hair praised mockingly.

Both Axe and Siamon grew tense and Axe grabbed his weapon, glaring daggers at all three of them. His eyes rested on the white-haired man, "Jeremiah Cross, what's a man of your reputation and bounty doing at Jaya?"

Kirsty pointed at the taller man and the girl, "Who are these two?"

Siamon pointed at the girl, "She's 'Redo' Road Cross. Only fifteen years old and she already has a bounty of 600,000,000 beli!" he pointed at the fat man, "Duke 'Dark Portal' Cross, a man with a 740,000,000 beli bounty!"

Niri was shocked at what her former superior had just told them, but she gulped down her surprise and pointed at the first man, "Who's he?"

A growl escaped Axe's throat, "Jeremiah 'Shinigami' Cross...bounty of 800,000,000 beli!"

"What do you want?" Endo demanded, stepping forward, "You got a lot of nerve coming onto this ship uninvited!"

Shinigam Cross sighed and shook his head, "I just wanted to meet two of the three points in the Kindachi Goten Sankaku, but I thought you guys would be strong...,"

Axe frowned, Kindachi Goten Sankaku? Points? What the hell is he yammering about?!

The girl called "Re-Do" let out a whine, "Jere-kun, can Uncle Duke and I have our fun now?"

Jeremiah nodded and waved to the two groups, "Yes, you may, my dear!"

Duke Cross smiled, showing off his teeth again as light danced off his sunglasses. Axe caught a glimpse of his real eyes from behind those eyes and he knew only one thing when he saw them. Something he had seen from time to time...

Pure evil.

"Let's begin, Little Road," Duke Cross cackled, "Give them a taste of what Hell really is!"

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Kilnorc: Wow! Axe and the merc leader finally fought and apparently, it came to a draw. His crew his is safe, but it seems that something new has popped up. Three very dangerous outlaws have come and they're here to party...but what is this Kindachi Goten Sankaku? Stay tuned to find out!

On the next chapter of Homeland...

Duke: i'd like you to meet my blade...Unholy!

Road: Uncle Duke, stop showing off!

Endo and Axe: How do you know Madro?!

Jeremiah: Axe, don't you know? Endo must know who he is...

The Prophecy

Duke: I will break you...the both of you!

P.S. The Crosses and the Kindachi thingy is something Dude of Doom thought up,and both Rayo Verrani/Shidyk D. Shade and I have decided to use it. Mwahaha...