They were all so obnoxious and disrespectful. She even spit at him, claiming he was not her perfect older brother. If she only knew he drank blood, too. Luffy would laugh right then and there if Katakuri bit into one of those annoying guys and sucked his blood right in front of their leader, the girl with a big butt.

Katakuri stood and took it all. He walked back wordlessly as the bratty girl continued to insult him and have them take photos. But the moment the camera den dens took the photos, they stopped working, too afraid of him. Animals were more sensitive to his kind, after all. "Hey, what's wrong with the camera den dens?" they demanded.

Everyone but Luffy and Katakuri were confused and shocked. They both knew of this from experience. He walked back to where he left Luffy, who was standing up, fine from the poison, or whatever it had been. Poison didn't work much on him, so it had to be some type of sedative. "My apologies. It was foolish of me not to notice the needle."

"A fight between pirates… there's no such thing as playing dirty. Not being able to dodge it was my mistake." The people on the side continued to be annoying and jeer at Katakuri, who they'd respected just fine until about five seconds ago because he had a different mouth.

"The spectators on the side are annoying," he said darkly.

Luffy agreed. "They can't handle what's gonna happen anyways."

Both of them immediately let off conqueror's haki, both tinged with the natural terror they exuded from being what they were. The force of it destroyed the area around them, shattering every mirror with the sound of endless amounts of breaking glass. The shards rained down on the ground, and Luffy knew he was probably going to get a lot of cuts in his foot with no sandal.

He'd lost so much of his clothes, but Katakuri hadn't until now, when he took off his vest and scarf.

Both covered in bruises and blood, Luffy more so since he was hit a lot more than the other, Katakuri said, "I no longer think of you as below me!" while bringing his hands up in a fighting gesture.

"Is that so? I'm glad to hear it. But I'm still gonna win," Luffy vowed, in the same stance. The conclusion of the fight would happen soon. They were both badly wounded and needed treatment, or at least blood to heal. There were people on the side lines, but if they both healed, the fight would never end, and Luffy wouldn't make the deadline.

Luffy fluidly dodged the first round of attacks from the many mochi fists, since Katakuri was being careful with his arms again, maybe not wanting to accidentally blow Luffy to bits with a punch. But then he got hit by one, and tried to block the others. His armament haki was still weaker than his enemy's, and the hits made his arm throb. Well, both, but only one hurt.

Both of them were fatiguing due to the length of battle, intensity, and stab wounds. Luffy still had to find Brulee and get outta there and to the right mirror. He couldn't win the fight only to lose mobility or consciousness on his way out. But Katakuri shot out a mochi fist, and Luffy barely dodged it before counter attacking and punching him in the face and then gut. But then Luffy was kicked in the gut and stepped on. He grunted at the pressure put on his wound. Luffy gasped and moved his arm, feeling it throb, and aimed it at Katakuri, who got out of the way immediately, with some of the ceiling falling directly onto Luffy from the blast.

"So, that's what it is?" Katakuri asked. "What are the limitations?"

Luffy stood up, on shaking legs. He didn't answer, and shot the other arm off. The enemy just barely dodged and the pillar behind him exploded, raining pieces down all around them. Katakuri lifted his own arm, and shot it off as Luffy dodged, eyes closed. It was ironic that both were learning new techniques from one another.

Not that Katakuri needed it in the first place. Luffy continued to get beat up, dodging here and there. But when a blast came from Katakuri at him, it affected both of them. It slammed Luffy into the wall, but also sent Katakuri shooting back a ways away. "I see… It's not easy to handle," he said, getting up but wincing at the damage to his side.

Luffy had stopped feeling much pain a bit ago, everything hurting too much to actually feel any new pain. It still was painful, but none of it was sharp and new. Just terrible and constant. Zoro was gonna be so angry with him. Luffy was still laying on the ground. "What's the matter Straw Hat?! Are you finished already?"

"Endure it… stand back up…" Luffy muttered to himself. "I'm going to end this… with this… if you…"

"I've already answered to you."

"This is the end," Luffy declared. The other man agreed. "Gear fourth… snake man!" He hoped this one worked, and it did. It came out how it had before, but he'd not used this one as much as bound man, which was the default gear fourth. Until he got turned into a toy, and then that changed. He was steaming, like he did with his gear second.

Katakuri asked, "Snake man? You do look different from before."

Luffy wheezed and said, "Yeah! Compared to earlier, I'm much faster!" and he shot an arm out. It seemed he missed the first time, which Katakuri assumed until it came springing back from behind, nailing him in the back of the head. Snakeman was hard to control, and so Luffy had long ago forgone control just to take over instinct. He didn't think of where the arms would bend and change course, they did that based on his senses and where the target was.

This was his most animistic attack, because he paid little attention as to where things would do what, as long as they hit where he desired. The arms bounced off of nothing and converged on the man, pummeling him some of the time, with him just barely avoiding it others. Luffy saw the very end of a blast to the right, and Katakuri was thrown to the side with one coming from his right arm, with Luffy's hand converging on his face.

By now he was forced to use his real arms out of exhaustion and needed to be fast and react. Luffy thought he was doing well, confusing him, until his arm that had just released a blast that had knocked him over thickened in the middle and grew spikes, all hardened by haki. It slammed into Luffy, stabbing him and also being very sticky. "Damn it! Stop it, god, it's sticky!" he complained.

He was swung over and over until Katakuri slammed it down into the ground, crushing Luffy and sending him tunneling through the ground in a massive hole. He wondered what was outside of this hole, or the walls. Deep in the crater, Luffy huffed. "Damn it, that hurt! I'm so hungry…" and thirsty. Just a little more to go! Then he could get somebody from that pile of annoying people and heal up that way, and escape energized!

He had to, because if there were any enemies outside, then he didn't want to be dead on his feet too much. Win a huge battle only to fall from people weaker than the ultimate opponent. He heard a burst, and the sounds of something heavy hitting the ground with a grunt. Luffy knew how frustrating that was, to be unable to control it and thrown around.

Knowing he had the upper hand at that, Luffy rocketed to the surface and attacked. He was motivated by the thought of getting some blood, some relief from the pain. He wouldn't need to heal over the days that would follow. Sleep, yes, eat, definitely. But not heal. He was happy with that aspect of what he was.

They beat each other desperately, and Luffy was sure Katakuri wanted relief, too. He wasn't exactly having a good time, bloody just like Luffy, but not as bad. And tired. Both had bled a lot already from their dual stab wounds. But both were perhaps foolishly resilient and stubborn. Anyone else would have long ago succumbed to their wounds or exhaustion.

"Fall, Katakuri!" Luffy shouted as he punched and was punched. Katakuri wasn't good at dodging attacks anymore, and neither was Luffy, both just using up their remaining strength. Luffy was punted back when he went back to using snakeman, even faster than before, screaming at the effort as he shot them about randomly.

Many of the hits missed without Katakuri dodging, but many of them hit him. But most he avoided with his observation haki. It was annoying. "That ability again!" Luffy countered him having that ability to Luffy shooting a blast at him. He wanted them, so they were coming faster. It was convenient.

"I'll put you to rest! This is the end, Straw Hat!" he shouted, and turned into a mochi donut with spikes, coming speeding at him.

"I don't need you to!" Luffy shouted. As he used his strongest snake attack, King Cobra, the enemy used his previous attack, Diced Mochi, where the spiked bat arm was made and both were nearly hit until their exhaustion hit at the same time. Luffy stumbled back and into the hole, mouth steaming as gear fourth was stopped. He heard Katakuri's huge body hit the ground, too.

Luffy took a good five minutes to compose himself before he pulled himself out of the hole. "What… time is it?" he moaned, crawling to his knees until he saw the huge figure standing above him, looking down at him, covered in blood with his eyes half lidded in tiredness. "Damn… it," Luffy hissed, knowing he couldn't fight right now anymore.

"Will… you come back someday… to defeat Big Mom?" the hulking man asked.

"Of course! I am the man who will become the Pirate King!" Luffy declared, not a trace of exhaustion in his firm voice.

"You're… looking pretty far into the future," and he fell to the ground. Luffy didn't think he was unconscious, but just unable to move. But he was finally on his back.

Luffy stood next to him, so much smaller. He placed the hat on top of his Straw Hat over Katakuri's mouth. "The blasts… never force them... to stay inside. You'll… get severe… nerve damage," he wheezed. Katakuri may have been asleep, who knows. He went to the pile of people, and drank from someone fully until his wounds healed.

He contemplated bringing one of them to Katakuri, but pity from an enemy is humiliating, even if it wouldn't have been pity to Luffy. He was exhausted, but most of his worse wounds were gone. Even if he had no more holes or gashes in his body, he was still covered in burning blood. He caught the scent of someone watching nearby, and could hear the sniffling.

Luffy shot out an arm and grabbed Brulee by her nose, snapping her back. "Big Brother! How could you do this?!"

"After… I escape, he's hurt," Luffy said, and in desperation for the time, he wrapped his arm around her neck long enough for her to pass out, where he then followed the voice of the mirror that was leading to the meeting place. The only mirror, which meant there had to be a lot of people guarding it.

So, Luffy rested for another ten minutes, hoping he wasn't off time. Once he felt rested enough to not be killed on the spot, Luffy dragged Brulee through the parts of the mirror world not in shambles, and left the mirror.

He saw a ton of people out there, and they were all shocked into silence when they saw Luffy there, looking sleepy and covered in blood, but sporting no obvious wounds.

He smelled his nakama behind him, and let Sanji rescue him, him falling to sleep at the realization the fight was over, and all that was left was to escape. He'd both taught and been taught a lesson in power. Hopefully Katakuri could handle the blasts and not die. Out of all of his opponents so far, he respected that man the most out of all of them.

A lot was going on around him, but he was fast asleep.

When he woke up, he was on the Sunny. Resting against the railing with Chopper checking him over. Back on the Sunny, with everyone there, including Jinbei! They'd saved Sanji and Luffy defeated the enemy. The Sunny was badly wounded, but Big Mom had chased after all of them after all. They probably all had quite the tale to tell.

There were enemy ships advancing behind them. Luffy went to get up, but Zoro said, "Don't you dare try to fight anymore. Understand?" His voice was cold. He was still grumpy with Luffy leaving them for ten hours, unable to contact them. Luffy nodded, and leaned back against the railing.

"How wounded were you?! You're covered in blood!"

"Bad," Luffy said. "Hey, I met another monster, Chopper. I wish I coulda' asked some stuff, but I had to leave." He didn't feel guilt that he'd killed three people by drinking from them. Well, they may be alive if they got proper treatment, but Luffy doubted anyone but the Big Mom family got any treatment.

While they were followed from the back, Germa's kingdom pulled up alongside them. Luffy let his senses relax. He didn't listen in on anything, straining his sense of sound and smell. He started to doze again before he was awoken by someone else. Looking up, he saw Sanji's dad glaring down at them.

"Why do you care so much about him, Straw Hat Luffy?!" Judge shouted angrily. Ugh. "You're in a place where escape is impossible once you enter, the middle of the yonko, Big Mom's territory! Did you really risk your life just for that one person?! Sanji is Germa's failure!" Zoro's eyes narrowed and Sanji's were shadowed. When Judge began to list things he thought were wrong about Sanji, Luffy interrupted.

"All of my nakama are strong and weak in their own ways. I wouldn't have it any different. Thanks for helping us out, see ya!" Luffy called. Zoro smirked in approval and walked away a bit. Jinbei was smiling lightly in satisfaction, too. Nobody was upset with his reply. Sanji did look bothered, though.

He said, "I'm sorry to cause everyone so much trouble. I thought going with them would be for the best."

"You underestimated Luffy's capacity as a captain, then. And if you ever beat him up like you did again-"

"Zoro. We're all past that," Luffy interrupted.

"Shut up, stop arguing! We're boxed in!" Nami shouted. "Jinbei, they're in front of us!" Luffy stood, and Chopper told him to rest. But how could he rest when there's screaming on the ship and the whole crew was in danger? He wished these ships were all driven by animals so he could scare them away, like the snail he had.

He didn't have much he could do, though. He wasn't good at distance fighting, and none of these people were close enough to be affected by his haki. Cannons were fired, and that genie from the tea party that fought Sanji came up from behind them. "How dare you shame brother Katakuri?!"

Luffy glared at him. "There was no shame in our fight!" he shouted. Zoro let out a slice that cut through the genie, which seemed to kill it for about five seconds before it reformed like nothing had happened. Turning in the other direction, every ship in front of them was a paddle boat, and they were all coming directly to the Sunny.

"Jinbei!"

"It looks like this is as far as we could go. It's a miracle we made it this far…" the fishman resigned. Was there really no way out? Luffy would blast a way forward. He hadn't gotten much, though. It wouldn't help much to get them out. It might get the first one in front of them, but there were too many.

Luffy got his arms ready, standing on Sunny's head. "Luffy, no! You're too exhausted!" Chopper shouted in worry. Luffy was indeed feeling tired just standing. But before he actually did anything, something in the water started to swell, underneath the enemy ships. Then that giant fishman from fishman island appeared!

"It's that guy!" Luffy exclaimed. Jinbei was just as shocked. Chopper ordered Luffy to come down, and Luffy did so. He didn't like people being worried over him, but the worst of it had to be over. He thought. They would worry about all of them collectively, not just their captain. He was glad he was so distracted during his fight that he didn't worry endlessly about his crew's safety.

They could see the mass of fishmen and merfolk below the water, and Wadatsume declared they were there to see him off. Looked like Jinbei took him in after the Fishman Island war with Hordy. The fishmen pirates easily cleared the area of ships, leaving open a path that Luffy could never have a powerful enough blast to clear himself.

"Go Jinbei!" the fishmen all called, sounding happy for him.

"Neehee, Jinbei had a good crew," Luffy said. He was tired. He sat against the cabin, feeling things would work out. Jinbei thanked everybody, and realized that they were responsible for getting them to Cacao Island safely and undetected. Luffy had no idea what they were talking about now. Their journey while being chased by Big Mom.

"Thank you so much everyone! They helped us till the very end…"

"Take care of Jinbei, Straw Hat!" they called, grinning. Luffy nodded, though he was sure many couldn't see him, so he replied with, "Yeah!" But then the sea began to boil, and Luffy could smell the burning scent from a ship behind them. That was the source.

"Zoro. Slash that ship to pieces," Luffy ordered, pointing at the ship directly behind them. Zoro wordlessly nodded, and let out an onigiri, cutting the mast off of the ship and then one more that sliced into the hull. Luffy heard angry shouts. "Good job."

Zoro smirked. "You better repay me for all that stressful time later." He said it more quietly, and walked past Luffy, copping a feel, making Luffy jump, not expecting it. The water stopped boiling with Oven distracted. He could hear the enraged shouts at Zoro for trying to sink their ship. But there were still attacks being made, and they were still surrounded.

"Hold on!" Jinbei said as Wadatsume swallowed the Sunny. The inside of his mouth reeked, to be honest. Luffy plugged his nose, but then they suddenly surfaced, popping out of the water and throwing everyone around. Luffy barely caught Chopper before he was thrown over the side. He did a head count, everyone there on the ship.

"Everyone, get far away from here!" Wadatsume shouted, harmed someway that Luffy couldn't tell what happened. "Straw Hat! I did bad things at Fishman Island, I'm sorry! But then I was taken in by boss Jinbei, and I'm so thankful for that!" the huge fishman said sincerely. "The moment we decided to come help boss Jinbei leave, we decided…" He didn't finish his sentence before he passed out and sank below.

A fishman named Aladine surfaced with all the others, who were shouting at them to get away while they stayed behind as decoys. Jinbei told them to fix the ship, as it was damaged in many ways and slowing down. The sail was torn and burnt, and there were holes in the hull that were taking on some water.

"It'll take a few more hours to get out of Big Mom's territory! Go as fast as possible! Luffy-"

"I can't leave them behind." Luffy's head filled with words that hadn't been said yet. It was the first time he'd heard in advance. This should be helpful later on.

"I understand! Go help them! But you better come back alive!" Jinbei looked at him in surprise, and Luffy gave him a thumbs up before turning serious. "But remember, I'm your captain now. We'll escape, and then meet you in Wano! You must come!" the captain said sternly.

Jinbei smiled and bowed slightly, thanking him. Luffy ordered him not to die. "Aye, captain." He then jumped off. Nami directed the ship as they patched her up as best as they could. The only way they got out of the area was due to the currents changing with the fishmen's help, allowing them to flee the area.