Chapter 6
The boys were standing in a circle on the grass by the mast but they parted to let Hawke and Robin join before continuing their conversation.
"So I say we go in head-long," Sanji was saying, blowing out a small cloud of smoke, "He knows we're here, there's no point in a surprise attack."
"I agree," Franky nodded, "The meeting with all the other pirate's will be starting soon. That'll be the best time to attack since they'll all be in one place."
Zoro adjusted the swords at his side.
"We'll need some extra power to take care of all the weaker ones," he grunted and moved to stand beside Hawke, "You said there were a lot of other pirates here?"
He directed the last comment at Brook, who nodded.
"Yes," the skeleton confirmed, "There seem to be many pirates who wish to follow behind Shiki's strength."
There was a pause.
"Alright," Luffy's serious air attracted everyone's attention and held it, "It's time to go and take on Shiki and get Nami back."
A simultaneous nod was given by the crew.
"I've got some extra fire-power," Franky nodded towards some boxes placed on the deck, "We found these while asking around about Shiki's plans for the East Blue."
The boxes turned out to be full of guns and other firearms. Hawke watched as each member of the crew picked out their preferred weapons. When it was her turned, she peeked in and chose a nice set of dual pistols.
"I've never shot a gun before," she muttered as she inspected the weapons.
"It's as simple as point and shoot," Usopp said, resting his hand on her shoulder as he walked by, "And pistols are the easiest to reload."
He handed her a handful of extra cartridges and quickly showed her the method to load them into the gun.
"You're already good at aiming," the sniper smiled, "So all you need to do is take off the safety… here… and then once that's off, let her rip."
"Thanks," Hawke smiled and gave him a wink, "The Great Captain Usopp is a good teacher."
Usopp stared at her with wide eyes for a moment before grinning and bringing his fist to his chest, striking a pose.
"Of course!" he said in a macho voice, "I am the best teacher in the world! I've taught all the great snipers how to shoot!"
"Shut up, Usopp," Sanji snapped as he walked by, "Stop annoying Hawke-san."
Hawke laughed as the sniper shoulders slumped.
She put the cartridges in her pockets and watched Usopp move off. As he retreated, Luffy emerge from behind the mast and glanced her way before staring at his feet. Hawke frowned and quickly made her way over to her brother.
"Hey," she almost whispered as she came up beside him, "Are you okay?"
She saw Luffy's lips turn down under the shadow of his hat.
"Luffy?" Hawke's brow creased with worry and she bent down a little to look up under the brim, "What's wrong?"
Her brother's eyes focused on anything but her.
"I wasn't there to help you," his whisper quavered, all the determination from their previous discussion gone, "I wasn't there… and look what happened to you..."
Hawke felt her chest constrict and she reached out, taking Luffy's hand in hers.
"Don't make it out like that," she said reassuringly, "It had nothing to do with whether you were there or not. Shiki would have beaten us all one by one. But he's underestimated us and this time he's going down."
She felt Luffy's fingers clench around her hand. His eyes still had traces of fear and guilt in them.
"Luffy," Hawke breathed and pulled him in for a hug, "Don't blame yourself for things like this. As long as you kick his ass everything will turn out fine. Make him pay for using my own knives against me!"
She gave the rubber boy a squeeze and stepped back.
"We've got to get Nami back and save the East Blue too," she smiled, "You've got no time to be worrying about me."
A small smile flit over Luffy's lips as he met her gaze.
"But I always worry about you," he smiled.
Hawke stared at him for a few moments before returning the smile and letting out a small laugh.
"Well I'll have to make sure jerks like him don't get the better of me again," she gave Luffy another hug and then pulled away, seeing the light burst into her brother's eyes again, "Come on," she smiled as the rest of the crew gather behind her, "Let's go!"
Luffy gave them a wide grin.
"Franky!" he shouted, "Coup de Burst!"
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The walk to Shiki's meeting room was a bloody one. Hawke kept pace between Usopp and Robin and held her pistols at the ready, mowing down any of Shiki's supporters that tried to attack any of the crew in front of her while their backs were turned. Though she made sure to use her bullets sparingly; she was sure she would need them later.
As they reached the meeting room, Zoro cut one door down, send pieces exploding into the room. Usopp attempted to kick the other panel down, but only succeeded in getting his foot stuck through the paper. Sanji quickly finished their badass entrance by kicking the door down and Hawke took her place between Robin and Zoro as the crew entered the meeting room.
Her eyes moved over the two rows of pirate captains and up to Shiki in his place opposite them. Her wings rustled as a silence fell over the room.
"Oh, it's you guys," Shiki seemed to recover from the shock of their sudden entrance, "What a surprise."
As he broke the silence, the crew began moving forward through the rows of pirate captains.
"I heard you're going to attack the East Blue," Luffy's eyes were hidden under the brim of his hat.
"Well, yeah," Shiki looked displeased at their advance.
"Is Nami alright?"
Luffy's question brought an amused smile onto Shiki's face. Hawke felt her fists clench and her heart beat quicken.
"She's lively," the Gold Lion said dismissively as some evil chuckles were heard from around the room, "You look tough, but don't think you can make a difference with just eight people."
There was a crashing sound and the walls fell forwards, revealing all the crews of the pirates forming an alliance with Shiki. Hawke didn't blink an eye, they'd known how many pirates were here and it didn't matter anyways.
"A stupid woman who believed that if she sacrificed herself, she would be able to protect her hometown…" Shiki's voice was mocking, "Together with a reckless suicide squad."
Hawke's eyes moved from him to the clown and gorilla standing behind.
Is he their scientist? She frowned at the lab coat the clown was wearing and felt a shiver run down her back, I'm staying away from him.
"Are you stupid?" Luffy's question brought her attention back to Shiki, "Nami didn't sacrifice herself. She came here as the vanguard!"
That was the signal. The crew lifted their weapons. Hawke cocked her pistols and held them up, waiting for the captain's word.
"Brace yourself, Golden Lion," the rubberboy's voice was deadly serious, "We're the main battalion!"
The crew let loose their gunfire. Hawke rained bullets over the huge group of pirates that surrounded them. It didn't take long for them to run out of ammunition, but by that time, they'd thinned the ranks of their enemies pretty well.
"We're out of ammo," Hawke heard Franky scoff through the smoke behind her.
"There's still a bunch of the left," Sanji let his gun drop to the floor.
"Sounds about right," Zoro grunted and Hawke heard the ring of metal as he withdrew his swords, "We were just saying hi."
"Usopp! Chopper!"Luffy orders were loud and clear, "Find Nami!"
The sniper and doctor immediately ran off to do his bidding.
Hawke turned her attention to the group of pirates emerging from the smoke, their weapons raised. She tucked her pistols into the waist band of her skirt and drew out her knives.
"This'll be a piece of cake!" Franky shouted over her shoulder as he shot a hard right at a group of men and sent them flying.
Hawke looked over her shoulder to see Luffy take on Shiki and Zoro and Sanji occupy themselves with his henchmen.
"Get him, Luffy," she whispered as he disappeared down the hall.
She spun around, her wings creating a large buffer area between her and her attackers.
"Ow!" Franky was suddenly behind her and they squared off, back-to-back, with the remaining pirates, "Let's get 'em, Hawke!"
The scout smiled as she felt Franky charge forwards, and she did the same. As she moved through the enemy ranks, she found that fighting with her wings out was easier than she thought it'd be. She could maintain her balance, fly at a moment's notice and even use them as weapons, slapping men out of the way before they could even reach her.
She finished off the group that had been giving her trouble and turned to see the room almost empty. Robin and Brook must have gone off into the halls of Shiki's palace because only Franky remained. The cyborg was currently fighting off five men at once and looked a little frustrated. Hawke quickly ran over and leapt up to sit on his shoulders, throwing her knives out and striking down two of the men. This gave Franky enough room to move and he easily shot down the rest with his fist-gun.
"Great work!" he smirked up at Hawke when the dust had settled, "I didn't even notice you were up there."
Hawke smiled down, her legs straddling the cyborg's neck.
"Wow, it's a whole new world up here," she laughed before beating her wings, though flying was still painful, and retrieving her knives.
"Alright," Franky cracked his knuckles, "Let's go see where those guys have run off too."
The pair of them headed for the door, when all of a sudden the building began to shake and tremble.
"W-what's going on!?" Hawke stumbled and Franky caught her arm before she fell.
There was a tremendous crashing sound and animalistic roars came through the walls. Said walls trembled and exploded as huge animals began rampaging into the palace.
"Oh my god!" Hawke cried out as a giant squid with insect legs ran straight for her.
Franky stepped out in front of her, giving his body as a shield, and fired a canon blast at the beast.
"Come on!" the cyborg scooped up Hawke and sat her on his shoulder, "Do you have any ammo left?"
Hawke dug through her pockets and pulled out her remaining cartridges.
"I've got your back," she said as Franky ran down the hall.
A strange, scorpion-like creature began tearing after them. Hawke aimed her pistols and managed to disable the animal by shooting at its legs.
"Nice shot!" Franky sprinted down the hall, running after a giant cicada.
The insect let out a hiss and one of its legs came around and struck Hawke, launching her off the cyborg's shoulder. She fell towards the floor, but managed to catch herself and fly upwards.
"Watch out Franky!" she shouted as another of the cicadas legs thrashed across the hall and hit the shipwright.
Both beings careened down the hall and crashed into the end wall.
Hawke followed, beating her wings awkwardly in the small space, and arrived to see Franky hanging upside down, in the creatures grip.
"Watch out, Hawke," the cyborg called and the scout saw him ready his fist.
She tried to find a place where she'd be safe from the blast, but there was nowhere to hide in this small hallway. Just then an explosion erupted and she was blasted, along with the cicada and Franky, all the way down to the opposite end of the hall.
"Franky!" she shouted as the dust settled and the cicada was knocked out, "Warn me sooner! That hurt!"
The cyborg laughed and helped Hawke to her feet.
"You were super anyways," he chuckled, then his face grew serious, "But all these huge animals around makes me worry about the Sunny."
Hawke's eyes widened and she nodded.
"Well, I still have some shots left," she lifted her pistols, "I can go back and guard Sunny."
Franky smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
"I'd appreciate it," he said, "Be careful out there."
Hawke smiled and ran down the hall, quickly finding going back the way they had come.