Sorry I took so long....had trouble getting to a computer. But, I'm here and ready to go. So without further delay, let's get going with the FIRST MAJOR BATTLE of this story!
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Adventures of the Seagull Pirates
A One Piece Fan-crew story by Viewtiful Aryll
Chapter 6:
The Duty of a Man
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Hudson was whistling a merry tune as he began laying dynamite in one of the many mining tunnels that crisscrossed Spiral Mountain. This was going to be his easiest demolition job yet! The numerous tunnels in the mountain weakened its structural integrity, not to mention the fact that an explosion coming from within would better spread the rubble. "Ha ha ha HA! They'll never stand a CHANCE! Score another point for the mighty....HUDSON!" he said to himself. His voice echoed a few times throughout the tunnels, causing Hudson to jump slightly. "What a powerful ECHO! Good thing there is no one around to hear-" he began when suddenly a shower of rocks shot up from the ground beneath him. Suddenly, Roark shot out of the ground.
"Oy! You moron! Get the hell out of this mountain!" Roark shouted, pointing his right arm drill at Hudson.
Hudson backed away quickly. "Hey, who do you think you are telling me what to DO?" Hudson asked nervously, trying to find an escape route.
Roark smirked. "Well then, I'm about to tell you something important, so listen up! Whether it be building ships or fighting pirates, I am a man who will reach the pinnacle of all he does! The unbeatable drill, ever spinning forward, unable to be stopped! My name is Roark, demon leader of the Spiral Island Shipwrights! Who the hell do you think I am!?" he proclaimed. However, when he looked around, he realized that Hudson had left. "T-that moron! How unmanly to leave in the middle of a man's fiery introduction? I'll get him for that!" Roark shouted as he ran down the tunnels, hoping to find Hudson again.
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Hudson emerged from a tunnel, panting slightly. "Damn, I never figured I would run into SOMEONE! But...Captain Barbass will be furious if I don't finish my MISSION! Stupid drill MAN!" he grumbled.
Suddenly, Roark burst out of the ground in front of Hudson again. "Oy! You jerk! When a man introduces himself, it's unmanly to leave!" he yelled at Hudson.
Hudson fell over in shock. "How did you find me so FAST!?" he asked.
Roark sweatdropped. "You're always shouting at the end of your sentences you moron!" Roark sharply retorted.
Hudson got up and glared at Roark, "You're always shouting TOO!" was his response. Pulling out a small bundle, he tossed it at Roark, where it exploded right in front of him, filling the air with smoke. "Heh, that should finish YOU!" gloated the demolitions expert.
Suddenly, a slight breeze blew and cleared the smoke. As it blew away, Roark was standing there, a large flat drill sprouted from his left arm like a shield. "Like a lame attack like that would finish me off. A real man names his attacks. Like this! DRILL BOXING!" he said. Suddenly, Roark turned both his hands into drills and began to rapidly punch at Hudson, who ducked below the blows, then sprang up and began to run again. "GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!" he shouted, following Hudson.
"No...no WAY! You're much too strong for ME! If I stay away, I can hurl my bombs safely, while you can't hit me with your DRILLS!" Hudson said. He pulled out some more explosives and began to chuck them randomly over his shoulder. Roark rolled out of the way of the explosions and pointed his fist at Hudson.
"That's what you think. Drill Lancer!" Roark cried. Suddenly, a long thin drill extended from above his wrist, stretching towards Hudson. Hudson's eyes got wider as he dove to the ground.
"I'm not just a demolitions EXPERT! I'm also the number one person in my crew at dodging and running AWAY!" Hudson said as he threw a large explosive at Roark's feet, where its fuse began to burn down.
"Gah! Coward! How could I have gotten such an unmanly coward for an opponent? Just suck it in and face me like a man!" Roark screamed as he turned his finger into a small drill and used it to cut the burning fuse, disabling the bomb. By the time he looked back up, Hudson had already vanished. "Just you wait….I'll show you yet," Roark said as he turned his arm into a drill and dove into the ground.
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Back in the main part of town, the battle between the townspeople and the bulk of the pirate force was still going strong. While both sides had suffered numerous injuries, no one was ready to give up. In one corner of the town, a group of pirates had three girls surrounded.
"Hah, looks like some easy prey! Get them boys!" one of the pirates shouted.
"Looks like they're underestimating us, sisters. Let's show them what the Spiral Island Stone Siblings can do!" said one girl, who looked to be the eldest and had long light blue hair.
"You got it, Crystal! Pearl, let's do this!" another girl shouted, this one appearing to be the youngest and sporting long hair as well, only with a vibrant red color. She suddenly rushed the nearest pirate and smashed his face with a hammer.
"Don't be so impatient, Ruby!" the third girl, who was Pearl, said. She was the middle one of the three, and had glasses and pink hair that grew down to her chin. She pulled out a pair of carpenter's files and slashed at a pirate who had rushed her.
Suddenly, what looked to be the mast of a small ship crashed into most of the remaining pirates. "Oy, you don't think I would really let my cute little sisters get hurt, do you?" Brock said as he lifted the mast up and set it leaning against a building. Seeing this, the few remaining pirates tried to run, only to be taken out by some expertly tossed carpenter tools.
"Big brother! What took you so long?" Crystal said as she picked up her tools.
Brock smirked. "Well, once those pirates realized who I was, they were practically lining up to fight me. I probably took down at least 500 enemies," he boasted.
"But big brother….there probably are barely over 100 pirates here," Pearl pointed out.
"And every pirate we've introduced ourselves to had never heard of the Stone Siblings," Ruby added.
"It's not good to tell lies, big brother," Crystal scolded.
Brock became depressed again. "I…I just wanted to look cool for my little sisters," he said under his breath as he huddled into a small ball and moped.
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Hudson was panting heavily now. "There….there's no way he can catch up to me NOW! I put so much distance between us that he'll never find ME!" he said to himself. He chuckled loudly. "Not to mention all of the my traps I left BEHIND!" he added. He began to head towards a tunnel when suddenly, a large rock crashed in front of entrance, blocking it off. When he looked up, Roark was standing on a cliff above the tunnel entrance, part of the rock wall dislodged and now laying on the ground below. "How…how did you get up there without me seeing YOU? How did you get past my TRAPS?" Hudson asked.
"I grew up here, you moron. I know all sorts of shortcuts and such. I dug a lot of these tunnels myself. Not to mention, you'd be surprised how quickly one can get around burrowing through the ground," Roark said as he jumped down to the ground.
"…..OH! I had forgotten you could BURROW!" Hudson suddenly blurted out just as Roark was about to say something.
A large angry vein appeared on Roark's forehead. "You…you….YOU FORGOT! GAH! WHAT KIND OF UNMANLY MORON DID I GET FOR AN OPPONENT!?" he shouted.
Suddenly, Hudson threw what looked like a cluster of tiny bombs that suddenly broke apart in midair, raining a whole bunch of small bombs on Roark. Roark quickly used his arm-drill to loosen up some ground, and then flung the earthen debris into the air, intercepting the explosives that would have hit him. "Just let one of my bombs hit you ALREADY! Or just give up and go HOME! The entire point of a battle is to get out ALIVE! It doesn't matter whether you win or lose, so long as you LIVE! If you just give up now, I'll let you GO!" Hudson shouted.
Roark suddenly got this strange look on his face, a unusual cross between anger and calm. "…the whole point of battle is to live? Is that why you're such a coward? Is that crap you're spewing the reason you won't face me like a man?" Roark said, his tone suddenly serious.
"Eh, what the heck are you talking ABOUT?" Hudson asked, Roark's new behavior unnerving him.
"You're wrong. Battle….is about fighting for what you believe in. It's about putting your life on the line, so you can protect not just your beliefs…but the beliefs of all the people you're fighting for! A great man once told me!" Roark began to rant as he suddenly pulled his goggles over his eyes. "A great man once told me what it really means to be a man!"
"I…I don't CARE!" Hudson shouted as he pulled out a huge bomb and threw it at Roark. There was a huge explosion and a giant cloud of smoke. "That…should finish HIM!" Hudson said as he sighed with relief.
Suddenly, Roark's voice seemed to boom out of the earth itself. "'Roark, do you know what the duty of a man is? It's to fight….not just for himself….but for all the people who can't fight…whether they be living or dead. A man's duty is to carry the dreams and beliefs of those who can't fight on into the future!' That's what he told me! That man….entrusted me with his dreams….with his beliefs….with the dreams of this entire island!" his rant continued.
"How…how did you survive THAT!?" Hudson shouted, looking around in a panic. At that moment, the smoke cloud cleared and where Roark had been standing was a large hole, dug into the ground. Suddenly, the ground began to vibrate slightly under Hudson's feet.
In a shower of rocks, Roark burst out of the ground right in front of Hudson, his right arm-drill thrusting upwards. His momentum carried him into the air, and his drill connected with Hudson. The force of the drill lifted Hudson into the air even as the threads began to cut into him. As Roark landed, Hudson flew even higher into the air, the entire front of his body covered in shallow cuts from Roark's drill. "This drill of mine….it won't be stopped! Not while I continue to fight! Because every time I fight, I'm putting my life on the line. Not just for my dreams…but for the dreams of this entire island, and for the dreams of all those who have died before me! Because that……IS THE DUTY OF A MAN!" Roark finished, as he turned his back to the falling Hudson. He began to walk away as Hudson hit the ground with a thud, bombs spilling everywhere.
"I….I….lost…." Hudson said as he drifted into unconsciousness.
"….Aniki." was all Roark said as he began to walk back down Spiral Mountain.
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And that's it for this chapter! Now for the next episode preview!
Milo: Hey Diego! Looks like we finally found them! And it looks like….Aryll is in a barrel?
Diego: ….does your sister often get into this kind of trouble?
Milo: All the time. You should have seen it when we were kids…man, the trouble we got into.
Aryll: Oh yeah! Remember that time I fell down the well? Or the time I somehow got stuck on the top of the windmill? Or that time those pigs attacked me?
Barbass: STOP ACTING LIKE WE'RE NOT EVEN HERE!
Nest time: It's All About Fighting Spirit!
Until then!
-Stay Viewtiful!-