Chapter 8: Defeat...
We ran outside to find that it was sundown, I stopped her just before a corner to talk to Florina and Xiao.
"You and your families need to go somewhere safe okay?" I said trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.
"Mr Ellix, will you and Mrs Nami be okay?" Florina asked, biting her lip.
"I promise."
Their respective mothers took their hands. "Come on dear, Mr Ellix and Mrs Nami will be fine." Florina's mum told her daughter. She gave me a 'Be careful' look before leading her children away.
Me and Nami turned the corner, there we saw Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Chopper standing in a line...facing Shiki who stood above them on a rock altar.
"Ahhhh! There you are Baby Doll!" Shiki sneered.
"Shiki..." Nami whispered with wide eyes.
I stepped in front of her. "Leave her alone."
"Now, now boy, I just wanna talk." He sighed sadly. "I'm just ever so hurt that Baby Doll ran away without a single word!"
"Don't call Nami that!" I yelled at him.
He raised an eyebrow, but his twisted smile soon returned. "Ohhh...so that's how it is, eh Baby Doll? This boy has a thing for you?" I gritted my teeth in response.
"Don't think you can mess with my nakama and get away with it." Luffy growled.
Shiki smirked. "Oh? And what are you gonna do about it...Straw-Hat?"
Luffy dashed through the air towards him. "Kick your ass! Gum-Gum...Scythe!" Luffy tried to punch him, but he simply had to float over him to dodge.
"Jihahaha! If you want to fight then give it your best shot!" Shiki called mockingly.
"Guys! Stop!" Nami called desperately.
Usopp took aim with his Kabuto slingshot. "Certain Death...Firebird Star!" The shot transformed into a bird made entirely of flames, which Shiki dodged effortlessly again.
"INTERESTING ISN'T IT!?" A familiar loud voice came from behind me. I instinctively grabbed Nami and pulled her away, just in time to avoid a large metal claw. The claw was attached to a thick metal pole with multiple parts so it could stretch, bend and retract, with spikes sticking out everywhere. The metal arm was connected to a gauntlet, which was attached to Silver's arm!
"Silver!?" I yelled in surprise.
"WE MEET AGAIN STRAW-HAT PIRATES!" He screamed. "I BELIEVE YOU HAVE OUR NAVIGATOR!"
I placed an arm in front of Nami. "You stay away from her." I threatened.
"TRY TO STOP ME! WODOS T. ELLIX!" He shot one of his metal claws at me.
"Tekkai!" I stopped the attack from hitting Nami, then dashed at him with Soru, launching him into the air, where he stood thanks to his Devil Fruit. He swiped at me. "Geppo!" I jumped and dodged the slashes. "Shigan!" I tried to stab him, only to be blocked by the metal arm and thrown away.
"Gum-Gum Rocket!" Luffy launched himself into Shiki's back, launching him over Nami's head, he then jumped over to Silver. "Gum-Gum Bazooka!" He simply crossed his extra long metal arms across his chest to block Luffy's attack, then throw him away.
"Concasse!" Sanji spun in the air and slammed his leg onto Silver's metal arm, when really he was aiming for his head.
Meanwhile I dashed over to Shiki. "Rankyaku Gaichu!" I spun super fast like Sanji when using Diable Jambe, shooting a large silver wave in the shape of a bird at him. In retaliation he used his sword legs to send multiple yellow waves at it, cancelling it out with a huge explosion.
Zoro ran past me and through the smoke. "Ichi Gorilla!" His right bicep pumped up. "Ni Gorilla!" His left bicep pumped up. "Nigori-Zake!" He slashed at Shiki with his bulked up arms, as he came through the smoke the golden lion was taken by surprise, just barely dodging the attack while spinning.
I felt Chopper latch on to my pulled back arms. "Soru!" I threw Chopper towards Shiki with lightning speed.
"Kokutei Cross!" Chopper transformed into his Arm Point mid flight, his biceps matching Zoro's. The attack with added speed smashed Shiki into the ground. I suddenly felt something sharp slash my right side, I gritted my teeth in pain and spun around to see a silver claw, now covered in blood, retract to it's owner.
"Sticky Star!" Usopp called out as a little shot exploded on Silver's right claw, sticking it together.
"Rankakyu!" The air wave slammed into Silver, knocking him into the ground as well.
"Do you rookies really think you can beat me!?" I heard Shiki call out from behind us. "Shishi Odoshi: Chimaki!"
The ground started trembling, causing pebbles to fly up and land everywhere. "What the hell's going on?" Luffy asked no-one in particular.
Suddenly the ground around us began to rise, the debris quickly reforming into multiple giant lion heads that quickly surrounded us, causing Usopp to scream in terror.
"I've got this! Gum-Gum...!" Luffy began throwing his arms into thin air, building up speed and power until it looked like he had multiple arms. "...Cannon!" His arms suddenly shot forward with the power and speed he'd been building up, obliterating one of the lion heads.
"Rokuogan!" I yelled, releasing a powerful blast from my fists, destroying another one, but they still kept piling up on us. "Damnit! Everyone! Grab onto me!" The straw-hat members clutched firmly onto me. "Geppo Bakuhatsu!" I shot myself up towards the slowly closing hole.
We weren't gonna make it with all of us, when suddenly Zoro and Sanji let go! "Zoro! Sanji!" Luffy called out.
"Get ready Crap Cook!" Zoro yelled as he leapt onto Sanji's leg.
"Armée de L'Air Power Shoot!" Sanji shouted as he threw Zoro at Shiki using his leg.
It was then that Usopp jumped off. "Usopp! What are you doing!?" I called after him.
"Certain Death...Atlas Comet!" Four Gunpowder Stars shot at Shiki, who simply ducked, dropping him into Zoro's attack range.
"Gyuki: Yuzume!" Zoro aimed his swords and slashed at Shiki, making him dodge AGAIN!
"You're not even worth killing." Shiki scoffed as he smashed Zoro with his fist, throwing him back down into the slowly forming earth grave.
"Zoro! You bastard!" Luffy glared at Shiki, stretching his arms down to grab the three fallen straw-hat members.
Silver however anticipated this and appeared above us. "GOING SOMEWHERE STRAW-HATS!?" The spikes in his metal gauntlet arms detatched, revealing themselves to be small missiles. "SILVER NEEDLES!" He roared as the spikes rained down on us.
"Tekkai Sou!" My chest bulked up into tense stronger-then-iron muscles, shattering the attack on impact before returning to normal. Unfortunately I only covered Chopper, Luffy was hit full on and shot back down. "LUFFY!" Me and Chopper called in horror.
"PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR SHOOTING YOU MONKEY D. LUFFY!" He shouted sarcastically. He then extended his metal arm out to stab me in my left side.
"Sorry Ellix..." As soon as the words left Chopper's mouth he transformed into his Guard Point, blocking Silver's attack and shooting me out of the debris in the process.
"CHOPPER! NO!" I called as I slid down the side of the rising soil, trying to scramble back up and pull them all out.
"Gear Thi-" Luffy's voice was cut off by the sound of falling stone. I finally tumbled down to the bottom, and when I looked up, my eyes widened. The earth had molded into a giant spiral that shot up into the sky. My nakama were trapped inside, their mouths opened in horror and their eyes rolled into the back of their heads.
"LUFFYYYYYY!" Nami cried.
"L..." I fell to my hands and knees. "Luffyyyy! Zoro! Usopp! Sanji! Chopper!"
"Jihahahahaha!" Shiki boomed, noticing me. "I could tell you were the stubborn one. Where's your crew now?"
I glared at him with pure rage. "Let...them GO!" I roared charging him, I was intercepted by Silver. "Stop getting in my way! Shiga-" I went to stab him with my finger, when suddenly a familiar face appeared in his claw. "N-Nami!?" I immediately grabbed my own arm to stop the attack, giving Silver the chance to smash my head into the rock pilar.
"Ellix!" Nami yelled.
"YOU WOULDN'T DARE ATTACK HER WOULD YOU WODOS T. ELLIX!?" Silver shouted.
"You...Fight me fairly! Rankyaku!" I sent the attack at him, to which he held up his ginger shield again. I just barely dashed in front of her to take the force of my own attack, slamming me into the ground. I then felt a metal claw tighten around me, and lift me up to Silver's eye level.
"YOU REALLY CARE FOR HER DON'T YOU!?" He then brought up his other, stuck together claw and slammed it down on my head, like cracking an egg.
The blow drove my feet into the ground, causing them to get stuck completely. "Ungh..d-damn!" I tried to pull them out with no luck.
Then the claw tightened around me again, and the other came crashing down again, going on and on, hammering me into the ground like a nail, until only my head remained. My head hurt way more then even the after-affects of Daydream, the whole world was very fuzzy and spinning, and blood was staining my vision.
Nami rushed over and knelt beside me, covering her mouth with her hands. "Oh god...Ellix..." She whispered.
"You kids were really annoying." Shiki stated. "If you'd have known the full situation, you wouldn't have tried anything."
A long pause came, far too long. My head hurt and I just wanted it to end. Nami suddenly stood up. "Nami...?" I mumbled.
"The attacks on East Blue...They were you're doing...weren't they?" Nami said quietly.
Shiki's wicked smile returned. "You got it."
I instantly began thrashing my head around. "YOU!? Nami! Help get me out! I'm gonna beat this guy!" She didn't answer, she just stood with clenched fists. "huff...Nami...huff."
She turned to Shiki. "Please..." She said sadly. "Don't hurt Ellix anymore. Don't hurt my captain anymore. Don't hurt my friends anymore. Don't hurt my home island anymore! Please!"
"Ah-ah-ahhhh." Shiki sang tapping ashes from his cigar. "You can't do that Baby Doll, you can only ask for something like that from YOUR captain...am I right Silver?"
"Correct, Captain Shiki..." He whispered.
"That cyclone is the only problem I face." Shiki continued. "In the Grand Line, I need a skilled navigator such as yourself."
I heard Nami gasp, and I began thrashing around again. "Stop it! You can't ask Nami to do something like that! Let me and our captain and our nakama go!"
He frowned at me. "You're beginning to bore me brat." He turned to his first mate. "Silver?"
"Yes Captain Shiki..." He murmured. He then dashed over to me and held his claw against my throat.
"WAIT!" We all turned to Nami, she was hanging her head so no-one could see her expression. She looked at our unconcious nakama, then at Shiki, then at me and Silver, then at Nojiko's bracelet.
"What's that?" Shiki questioned. "Some sort of mirror?"
"It's a bracelet my sister gave me before I left." She firmly corrected him. "If...I join you Shiki...will you spare East Blue?"
"But of course! The wishes of my crewmates are of my highest value! I won't lay a finger on your homeland."
"Nami stop!" I called, Silver tried to silence me by squeezing my throat. "Don't join Shiki! You can't! What about your nakama!?"
"Nami..." Another voice called, we all turned our attention to the massive spiral to see that Usopp was still conscious and very out of breath.
"Usopp..." Me and Nami gasped.
"D-Don't be stupid!" He cried. "You think that...giving yourself up...will make Shiki...leave East Blue alone!? What about Luffy? What about Ellix?!"
"Usopp stay out of this!" Nami yelled at him.
"You think Baby Doll cares about two little brats? Don't you even understand the situation your in?" Shiki retorted.
The whole area was suddenly shadowed, I looked up and gasped in horror as a gigantic rock floated over the spiral, ready to crush it and everyone inside!
"STOP IT! LEAVE NAMI AND MY NAKAMA ALONE!" I desperately cried.
"Oh don't worry brat, you'll be joining them." Shiki cackled.
"NO!" Nami had managed to pause everything again, her whole body trembling. "I understand...just let them go..."
Shiki smiled. "In that case, I think you know what you need to do." She swallowed a large lump in her throat. "C'mon, let your bratty friend hear it too...Baby Doll."
"Ellix...Usopp..." She said with a shaky voice. "I have to do this...for you...for East Blue...for everyone."
"No..." Me and Usopp whispered weakly.
"I'll be fine...no matter where I go."
"JUST STOP IT NAMI!" Usopp shouted. "Do you even realise what your doi-"
He was cut short by a large rock that smashed into his face, knocking him unconscious. "USOPP!" I cried, being cut short by Silver's foot slamming down on my already aching head.
"IT IS RUDE TO INTERRUPT SOMEONE WHEN THEY ARE TALKING!" He shouted at me.
"Your all nothing but annoying brats." Shiki muttered with heavy annoyance. "So...what's your answer Baby Doll?"
She hesitated before speaking. "You win...I'll be your navigator."
"Be?" Shiki laughed. "Your gonna have to do better then that!"
Another pause. I then watched with wide eyes as Nami KNELT before him! "Please...let me be your navigator..." She BEGGED!
"Now that's more like it." Shiki said with his evil smile.
"SHIKIIIIIII!" I screamed, throwing Sliver's foot off with just my head and thrashing around like a madman. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE NAMI BOW TO YOU!?"
Silver stamped on me again. "PERHAPS YOU SHOULD RESPECT HER DECISION!" He yelled into my ear.
"Baby Doll has made her choice brat, don't think you can change that by wriggling around." Shiki chuckled.
Shiki had defeated my nakama, attacked East Blue, and made Nami beg him to let her on his crew! I hated him with every fibre of my being!
It was then that the golden Tone Dial from a week ago floated down beside Nami. "Here...I'm not a kidnapper, give your friends a heartfelt farewell." Shiki said.
Nami took the Tone Dial in her hands, she then looked at me and walked further away, out of my earshot. I saw her press the top and begin to speak. All the while I tried to strain from underneath Silver's black shoe to try to hear her. After what seemed like ages she finally finished and set the Tone Dial down.
"Good speech Baby Doll." Shiki said, clapping his hands. "We're leaving Silver." He called over.
"Yes Captain Shiki..." He whispered, walking over to join them.
"NAMI!" I yelled. "STOP! I know you don't wanna do this! Just...just help get me out!"
This made her stop in her walk away from the Straw-Hat Pirates. She took a deep breath before speaking next. "Ellix...this is the only way...we'll never see each other again."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT NAMI!? I CAN STILL FIGHT! HELP ME OUT!"
She turned to me, and to my horror there was no emotion on her face. "Anything you thought might have been between us...forget about it."
I gasped. "DON'T TALK LIKE THAT! IT'S NOT JUST ME! WHAT ABOUT LUFFY AND USOPP AND THE REST OF OUR NAKAMA!? DON'T THROW ALL THAT AWAY! PLEASE NAMI! HELP GET ME OUT! PLEASE!"
"I hate you, leave me alone."
I stopped.
Had I heard her correctly?
It sunk in.
Tears started streaming down my face. In that single moment, if you had gathered every possible insult in the world and thrown them all at me, they wouldn't have come CLOSE to how much that single sentence shattered my will and determination. "Y...You...don't...mean that." I sobbed, I looked utterly pathetic, stuck in the ground with tears running down my face. "I know...you don't." My whole head was shuddering and shaking. "Please...please don't say...that..."
"It's such a shame you have to leave on such a negative note, but perhaps it's for the best brat." Shiki lectured me.
Then Shiki TOOK NAMI'S HAND! And they all floated away, leaving me all alone. I couldn't do anything, Iwas completely stuck there, tears streaming in a continuous flow, dripping down onto the ground which encased my body.
I sobbed again and again, my head trembling because the rest of my body couldn't. Then I raised my head as high as it could go.
"DAMN IT!"
I smashed my head into the ground, tears still streaming from my face. I lifted my head again.
"DAMN IT!"
I slammed my head against the stone and soil again.
"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!"
I kept bashing my head again and again, not hesitating for even a second.
"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IIIIIIIIT! NAAAAAAAMIIIIIIIII!"
I screamed. I screamed as long and loud as I could while still crying, until my throat felt raw, but the tears continued.
Because I hadn't kept my promise.
I had failed to protect her.
And now she hated me.
xxxStrongxWorldxxx
Concasse: Crush
Gaichu: Victory Bird
Ichi: One
Ni: Two
Nigori-Zake: Two-Arm Strength Slash
Kokutei: Hoofprint
Shishi Odoshi Chimaki: Menacing Lion Ground Winding
Bakuhatsu: Explosion
Gyuki Yuzume: Cattle Demon Brave Hoof
Sou: Strength
Finally! This is the chapter I've been waiting to do! Those of you who've watched the movie will notice the changes I've made with Ellix and Silver, I hope you still enjoyed it though!
To TheRealEvanSG, Iknow right!? It is such an awesome movie! I'm still struggling to find out if I like 'Strong World' or 'Z' more! One Piece has such epic movies! Thank you for your review!
One Piece belongs to Oda, Ellix, Florina and her family and Silver all belong to me.