Chapter 11
Team Luffy
Bodies upon bodies of beaten, bruised, scarred and deceased pirates scattered the garden of Suzuki Mansion. Four fatigued figures stood amongst the carnage.
"Those guys…" Zoro paused to catch his breath. "Weren't half bad." He said with a pleasured smile.
A panting Luffy watched an irritated Takashi grit his teeth, turn and enter the mansion doors. "It's not over yet."
A single unnoticed hand twitched behind the Straw Hat captain.
The rubber man observed the state of his nakama and the Naruto shadow clone, the last survivor of the fake Mugiwaras. Relieved with their current health, Luffy clenched his fists.
"Let's finish this." He voiced, earning three synchronised nods.
The four took a step forward but were immediately startled upon a rustling noise from behind.
"Die Mugiwara!" One of Jagger's beaten willed himself to stand and raise his sword to cut Luffy in half.
The eyes of Robin, Zoro and Usopp rounded. "Luffy!"
The attacker's assault resulted with a poof of smoke and the disappearance of Naruto.
Even though he wasn't real, the sight of one of his nakama being hurt enraged the rubber man. Coating his hand with haki, Luffy delivered a massive right hook to the cheek of the attacker, sending his unconscious body flying in the opposite direction.
Reclaiming his composure, Luffy nodded to Zoro and Robin once again to follow the Jagger pirate's first mate.
Team Nami
Successfully entering the mansion compound undetected, Nami, Chopper, Sanji and Brook found themselves searching through every single room on the group floor of the gigantic house.
They sneaked in and searched throughout most rooms including the living room, kitchen and dining room, all the while listening to the violent and brutal scenes transpiring outside thanks to their crew mates and captain.
After constant failures of finding the door leading to the underground panic room, team Nami relocated to another room littered with books, luxurious furniture, paintings and a huge, excessively decorated fireplace.
"A library?" Sanji questioned out loud. "What kind of people builds a library in their own house?"
As the foursome inspected the beautifully decorated room, Nami stumbled across an old local newspaper laying on a small circular table.
Taking great interest, she read the headline on the front page. 'Paranoid millionaire couple flees Tesa due to astronomical reasons.'
Narrowing her eyes at the title, she tossed the paper to Sanji. "I think this pretty much sums up your question." She said before continuing her search.
Sanji took a good look at the paper and its contents. "I guess this answers why this place is on the outskirts of the island and this big empty mansion has a panic room in the first place."
Nami lifted a chair to move and shrugged her shoulders. "Are you just gonna stand there all day or are you gonna help?"
The cook grew hearts for eyes at the commanding side of the navigator. "Hai Nami-Swaannn!"
But their search was stopped by an ear shattering noise originating from above. Team Nami looked each other in the eyes before staring at the ceiling.
"It must be Naruto-san?" Brook voiced out.
"It seems that way." Chopper added. "I hope he's going to be alright?" He said with deep concern.
Sanji smiled warmly to the reindeer. "He'll be fine Chopper, he took on Enel on his own remember?"
Choppers and Nami's worries were slightly lifted from the cook's reassuring words and tiny smiles curved their faces.
"Now let's find this entrance so we can help him out as soon as possible." Sanji announced with energy and begun his search.
"You're absolutely right Sanji-san." The walking skeleton agreed. "But I must say, that loud bang almost gave me a heart attack- Oh wait, I don't have a heart, Yohohohoho! 45 degree angle!"
Brooks's skeletal cranium leaned in and accidentally pressed a square, camouflaged button on the wall sending his head stuck into the hollow hole.
Pulling his head free, team Nami experienced a collective gasp as one of the bookshelves next to the secret button creaked open on one side.
Gathering around the new discovery, Sanji slowly opened the door/book shelf to see a twirling staircase of stone illuminated by stakes attached to the walls with fire on its tips.
"How cliché?" The cook joked dryly.
Team Naruto
"The last time I'd lay a finger on you?" He repeated with mockery. "Don't you think your being a little overconfident?"
Jagger scoffed and folded his arms. "It's obvious that you are unaware of my capabilities, boy." He voiced with a smug look that Naruto despises.
"I obtain the ultimate defence system in the entire world, so I need not worry about whatever you may have in your arsenal." He taunted openly.
Naruto rolled his eyes at his arrogance. "Ultimate defence." He reiterated with disdain. "I think you and a 12 year old version of my friend Gaara would have a lot of disagreeing to do."
The bald man narrowed his eyes at the blond's vagueness.
"Never mind." Naruto dismissed under his breath with a small shake of his head.
Letting the moment slide, Jagger shaped his usual superior smirk. "If you don't believe in my words then why not test them out with action? In fact, I will reframe myself from leaving this exact spot and I will overcome anything you throw at me and kill you in the process." He taunted with so much self-confidence. "That ought to teach you a lesson about my power."
Naruto gritted his teeth with crushing power. "That overconfidence of yours is what's gonna kill ya." He growled with venom and readied his entire body.
Jagger grinned his arrogant grin. "Then prove it to me, young Straw Hat."
Naruto steadied his fists before taking a slow, single step. But before his second step connected with earth, the blond vanished with dazzling speeds, speeds that surprised even Jagger momentarily.
Dashing in zig zags then circling his opponent with equal speeds Rock Lee displayed in the chuunin exams, Naruto delivered a barrage of solid punches, elbows, and bone breaking kicks whilst rotating around the stationary pirate.
Right hook to the jaw, elbow to stomach, knee to back, foot to the back of the neck. Clean, successful hits but Jagger remained to look affected by Naruto's onslaught. The blond continued his assault completely mystified by the result of his attack. In all honesty, by judging from the burning pain in his fists, elbows, knees and feet, he was inflicting more damage to himself than Jagger.
Meanwhile, the bald man kept his arms cross and eyes closed entirely unharmed.
Accepting Guy's taijutsu teachings was futile, Naruto reappeared in a crouching position in front of his opponent. He unsheathed and layered his katana with wind chakra, leaped, spun in the air and used the momentum to target the nape of Jagger's neck.
The distinct noise of metal on metal caused Naruto's eyes to widen in disbelief.
He looks down to see the area that connect his blade with Jagger. The side of his neck now darkened with patches of all shades of black, grey and dark purple.
But Naruto couldn't analyse the development for very long as the back of Jagger's new coloured fists backhanded him with breath taking force. The connection was devastatingly powerful and sent the jinchuuriki far and high into the air.
Naruto backfilled and roughly landed on one knee. The shock from the speed and power of Jagger's hand caused him to lose the grip of his katana. The sharp airborne blade spun and spun until landing hilt up next to its wielder.
Wiping the blood from the edge of his mouth, Naruto gave a cold unforgiving stare to Jagger.
'Damn it! How did he take all those punches without so much as a scratch?' He took a moment to analyse the previous events.
'He must have used haki to predict my attacks and done something to protect himself… but what the hell is this guy made off anyway; metal?' The image of his blade being stopped by his skin resurface.
'It sure sounded and felt like it… but kind of metal looks like that and is strong enough to withstand a wind blade?!'
"Attempting to identify my abilities?" Naruto was brought back by the Jagger's question.
The son of the fourth Hokage took a stand and slowly begun to unwrapped his wrist seal.
"Maybe, but you know, I was stupid to ever underestimate you." Naruto confessed honestly, earning a curious eye brow from his opponent.
"I thought because you haven't received a day of shinobi training that this would be a quick fight. I was even careless enough to let me guard down just a bit." The unwrapping of the seal continued.
"Screwing up my transformation jutsu, thinking this fight was over with a single rasengan." He dropped the long bandage and the material was swept away by a strong evening breeze.
"It seems that three years of peace has made me forgetful and a little rusty, but it's all coming back to me now. I can't underestimate an opponent despite their training and I sure as hell can't underestimate you." His voice harden with every word.
Jagger was slightly confused hearing his nonsense about shinobi's, jutsu and years of peace, but he was more focused on Naruto's acceptance of his power.
"Indeed you were stupid to underestimate me, boy." He spoke with his usual air of arrogance.
"Oh don't worry, I wasn't planning on doing it again." Naruto replied, using his wrist seal to materialise two kunias.
The blond took one big breath and exhaled the accumulated wind chakra onto the kunias.
He threw the sharpened blades at lightning speed towards Jagger's chest followed by his signature hand seal.
The wind enhanced knifes bounced of the standing Chosen One like rubber to a wall, all the while three shadow clones came into existence.
The clones leaped into the air and completed their own individual set of hand signs.
"Wind Style – Wind Cutter Jutsu!"
"Water Style – Water Slicer Jutsu!"
"Lightning Style – Kuropansa!"
The trio of vicious jutsu soared through the air in perfect overwhelming harmony to reach its target. Jagger watched Naruto's attack with an impressed smirk on his lips and stood his ground devoid of fear.
The three clones landed with the original behind them anxiously inspecting the huge dust cloud gathered as a result of the attack.
Team Luffy
Bursting through the mansion doors, team Luffy was greeted with a confident first mate standing calmly on the further end of the room.
With Zoro and Robin to his right, Luffy steadied his fists. "We don't have time for this! Let us through!" He roared with authority.
"Oh I don't think so?" Takashi replied cool as ice. "You slaughtered my men like they were nothing, now it's time for you to pay the price."
The three Straw Hats shifted into their fighting stances.
"But I must say, I would like to express my gratitude to you three for showing me that none of those pieces of shits outside were ever worthy of the status of the Jagger pirates." Takashi announced seriously.
Zoro tighten his hold on his shaking katanas. "You little…"
"Leave him to me." Robin called out and crossed her arms.
"Mille Fleur!"
Two arms sprouted from Takashi's body and aimed for his head.
"Clu-"
Takashi countered by grabbing Robin's arms inches away from his head leaving a very wide eyed archaeologist.
"If you haven't noticed already, I've been watching you three fight for a while now that means I've learned all your skills and strengths. Therefore this annoying little trick isn't going to work on me." Takashi voiced with Robins arms struggling to free themselves from his clutches.
"I also know that since you three are the only real Straw Hats, the rest of your friends are probably trying to free our prisoners as we speak. But no matter, they won't get very far in the first place, Captain Jagger's golem will make sure of that."
The archaeologist yelled in pain and dropped to her knees as the first mate forced her arms to dispel. Zoro was knelt down beside her in seconds.
"Oi! Are you okay?" He asked worryingly.
Robin formed a tiny smile seeing his concerned face. "Y-yeah I'll be fine." She said attempting to stand.
"No you won't" The dark blue haired first mate announce coldly. "Your powers are going to be a nuisance for the fun I have in store for your friends, Nico Robin."
Takashi stared deep into her dark eyes.
"Sleep."
His voice sounded distorted, even hypnotic in the ears of the busty women. She quickly lost her equilibrium and vision before falling into a deep slumber.
Zoro caught her sleeping body in his arms with eyes of concern then growled at Takashi. "What did you to her!?" The swordsman exploded with venom. Luffy shared the exact expression of anger on his first mate's face.
Takashi smirked a sinister smirk. "I made that annoying bitch's body to shut it self-down to make sure her powers won't interrupt the fun you two are about to have."
Both first mate and captain of the Straw Hats now on the verge of shaking out of pure rage and hatred.
"What did you just call her?" Zoro voiced in his deepest most menacing voice, staring into the face of his sleeping, unconscious, secret lover.
"Ohh? Did I strike a nerve?" Takashi teased in an amused tone followed by a cold chuckle.
Zoro gently laid Robin on her back before placing a katana in his mouth. "You bastard. Don't you dare insult her again." His goose bump inducing words lowered the temperature of the room.
"Luffy, let's get him."
The fuming captain nodded. "Yeah!"
But as Luffy took a step to engage Takashi, his haki sensed one of Zoro's oncoming blade to dodge the steel with centimetres to spare. The captain watched several strands of black hair swaying in the air and Zoro's astonished face.
Team Nami
"Does this staircase ever end?" Sanji questioned as the groups footsteps echoes in the air.
"It has to end sometime soon, we've been walking for a while now?" Nami answered.
"I just hope we can free the prisoners without a experiencing some sort of problem." Chopper voiced hopefully.
The twirling staircase begun to straighten out and team Nami could see the tight staircase brightening up from the flame lit in the next room.
Sanji sees the opening to the next room and smiles. "We've gone this far without any trouble so I guess it's safe to say we're pretty much safe for now."
But the smiles on the four Straw Hats were quickly eradicated upon entering the empty colossal room illuminated by more flame lit stakes. The room was enormous. If Naruto could see it, he would probably compare it to the size of the room used in the chuunin exam to host the preliminary stage.
But what froze the souls of the pirates was not the room, but the thing that stood guarding the tall doors on the far side of said room.
"W-w-wh-wha-what i-is that thing?" stuttered the frightened Nami.
Her nakama mouths gaped wide open but were denied of speech thanks to the thing.
"Remember when I said it's safe to say we're safe now… yeah, well, I think I spoke too soon."
Team Naruto
Standing tall, patiently waiting for the end result of his elemental barrage, Naruto tensed as the cloud of dust begun to settle.
A second later, countless of thin projectiles emerged from the cloud and Naruto's three shadow clones disappeared into smoke in a blink of an eye.
The blond took evasive actions and back flipped several times to avoid the new set of senbon like missiles. The rain of black senbons were fast and accurate. Back flipping into the air, he finished a set of hand signs at alluring speeds.
"Ninpou – Hari Jizou!"
Naruto's hair extended exponentially and cocooned his entire body. Landing on his feet, he crouched to one knee as his hardened blond hair deflected the steam of endless senbons with ease.
Safely hidden in his yellow shell, Naruto found the opportunity to analyse the situation.
'I don't think I can beat him like this, his defence is too strong and these senbons are too fast.'
As a result, the jinchuuriki shaped a cross with his fingers as the bombardment of black needles stopped.
Naruto unwrapped himself from his protective hair just slightly to view his opponent.
A small gasp escaped his lips at the sight of the newly transformed Jagger. True to his word, he remained where he stood, but his darken skin glistened against the moonlight. Every muscular curve on his body took form of some sort of metal. Patches varying in shapes and sizes of all shades of black, grey and purple scattered his huge frame.
"Behold my true form, young Straw Hat. Quite magnificent don't you think?" Jagger announced with his proud arrogance.
Naruto gritted his teeth at the unharmed form of the giant man.
'He took three elemental jutsu head on but none of them even mad a single scratch! Just what the hell is this guy made of anyway!?'
"About now I bet you're wondering what my devil fruit abilities are, am I right?"
The blond was momentarily taken aback in his protective shell. "Something like that!" He yelled across the garden almost in a comical fashion.
Jagger released an amused chuckled at the scene. "Well wonder no more. Since very soon, the entire world will know my name and abilities, I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell a dead man walking like you." He ended with a sinister smile.
Naruto did his best to remain calm and composed but he hated his arrogance so much he was close to breaking focus.
"As you may have noticed that I have the ability to change my skin to metal at will. However, this isn't no ordinary metal, oh no, no." Jagger paused to catch his breath.
"Are you familiar with a theory that explains how the grand line came to be? No? Then let me enlighten you. Historians, philosophers, scholars and scientist alike all believe that before civilisation; the world was once an enormous continent, one big slab of earth spreading across thousands of miles."
"But that all changed when a single, man sized meteorite from outer space came crashing down upon this world and shattered the continent into thousands of little pieces. As time progressed, the smaller islands drifted apart, until eventually, shaping the world we know today. But imagine that, one small little meteorite had the density to be capable of restructuring an entire planet."
Naruto tensed in his shield of hair. I don't like where this is going.'
"Most consider this tale as no more than just that, a story. But I know its fact. How I know you may ask? Simple, because by some miracle of nature, a devil fruit was created with the exact properties of the outer space meteorite. And I ate it!" Jagger laughed a victorious laugh.
"You see it's not merely it's density that makes this metal specially, oh no, that's just the tip of the ice berg! In this form I don't conduct heat like other metals, I don't conduct electricity like other metals, I don't rust, weaken, crack or break! I don't have a weakness!" Jagger screamed with a manic, crazed expression.
"Don't you get it?! My metallic skin is flawless! My defence is un-penetrable! Not even my brother's diamond skin can match the height of my powers!" He screamed and laughed crazily.
Jagger let his manic laughter subsided then cleared his throat. "Now do you understand? Do you understand why you can't even possibly dream of defeating me?" The bald man questioned with his sanity and composure returning.
Naruto loosened his protective barrier further to show his face. "What I understand is you're a nut job!" He yelled once again.
Jagger shut his eyes and shook his head in disillusionment. "Cowering behind petty words and your ball of hair. Neither of those things will save you." His said before his entire upper multi-coloured half reshaped into a liquefied state and into hundreds of thin long spikes.
Simultaneously, those spikes launched off Jagger's body and headed towards Naruto.
The blond tightened his shield and formed another set of hand seals.
"Nipou – Hari jigoku!"
Naruto's harden shield reshaped and fired thin yellow senbons to counter Jagger's assault. Countless of black and yellow needles sparked off one another and deflected in a thousand different directions.
This exchanged occurred for another minute before Naruto became agitated.
"This is useless Jagger! We aren't going anywhere if we keep this up!"
Taking a moment to process the idea, Jagger agreed by ending his rain of senbons. Naruto obliged also by releasing his jutsu and thus returning his hair to its original form.
The blond mentally sighed in relieve. 'That was a close one, his attack almost broke through my defences.'
'He's one interesting kid. Speed, power, abilities I never knew were even possible.' An impressed Jagger thought to himself.
'He can make clones of himself and take shape of others, that strange ball of energy he used against me earlier, create wind, water and lightning out of nothing and even manipulate his hair. It's as if he has multiple devil fruit abilities? But that's impossible because that would have killed him? This boy is interesting, very interesting indeed. Let's see what else the kids got.'
"Let's take this old school!" Naruto shouted, performing his signature seal. "Multi shadow clone jutsu!"
Hundreds of combat ready Naruto's suddenly came into existence, shocking Jagger by the sheer overwhelming numbers. The metallic captain took a second to observe his surroundings, endless copies of his opposition littered the battlefield from every direction.
'Impressive, seems like I'm surrounded.'
All Naruto's shifted into a fighting stance and prepared themselves. "Let's take him down!"
The clones rushed into action, charging at the metallic opponent.
Jagger watched his enemies as they closed into to his personal space, no sense of concern etched on his face.
Soon as the clones were close, Jagger utilised his powers to surround himself with multiple, thick Vinamantium spears to eradicate Naruto's clone.
Once the spears make contact their targets, they would quickly return back down to earth, only to be replaced by another spear to counter Naruto's numbers.
Jagger's defence was a difficult one to penetrate, no clones from any direction could get very close to the pirate captain. It was as if Jagger's spears moved like another living thing, automatically protecting Jagger from any incoming threats. It reminded Naruto a little of Gaara's sand defence in the chuunin exams.
Though handling Naruto's clones was a simple task, their sheer numbers made them a nuisance. Jagger's concentration on the blond opposition on ground had momentarily distracted him from the multiple clones that leaped high into the air.
Before Jagger could react, tens of wind chakra enforced shurikens, kunais and demon wind shurikens had slip through his defences and made clean contact with the bald captain.
The sound of metal on metal vibrated violently through the air, Naruto's wind enhanced shinobi tools uselessly reflected off Jagger's skin, leaving not even a scratch.
The results left Naruto a little agitated while Jagger smirked with superiority. As a sign of retaliation, Jagger ejected hundreds of senbons from his body and target the airborne Naruto's with lightning fast speeds.
With the airborne threat dealt disappearing in smoke, Jagger focused on the endless number of threats on the ground. However, the original Naruto and his clones all recognised a flaw in his opponent's defensive system.
'He can't handle the numbers of my shadow clones, if I attack from every angle all at the same time…'
Hundreds of Narutos clones suddenly sprang into action, leaping high into the air, some even using the nearby trees as a platform to jump from. All clones, both on land and air readied for the simultaneous attack. Some using shinobi tools, others using their katana's or preparing hand signs for a jutsu.
Jagger scanned his environment and knew his situation was troublesome. Hundreds of clones on the ground and air, all in different heights and directions.
Just as the Naruto's was about to launch their savage onslaughts of attacks, Jagger quickly dropped to one knee and smashed the grassy surface with his right fist. As soon as the fist made contact, hundreds of Vinamantium spikes erupted from the floor, spearing all the clones in their chests. However, these spears begun to branch out addition spears from its main body like branches from a tree.
These sharp branches target the airborne clones and travelled fast. Soon as Jagger found himself on his own two feet, the entire battlefield was decorated by his metal. Countless of Vinamantium spears branching off one another, piercing Naruto's clones to extinction.
While the clones departed in a cloud of smoke, Jagger's metallic spear branches slowly retracted back down to earth, leaving the captain alone with no blond in sight.
"There's no point in hiding, Naruto! I know you're still out there!" Jagger yelled loudly. "Show yourself!"
Gladly obeying his command, Naruto used Lee's enhanced speed to manifest himself some distance away over Jagger's right shoulder. The captain's skilled observational Haki managed to track the blonde's location in a heartbeat.
With his hands intertwined into a seal, Naruto inhaled a small gust of air.
"Wind style – Wind bullet jutsu!"
Naruto's attack torn the air in its path with no mercy, landing a clean, direct hit on Jagger's back, leaving Naruto wide eyed in disbelieve. The wind bullet that would have cut a perfectly shape whole in any normal piece of metal was dispersed like an insignificant puff of wind against Jagger's meteorite skin.
Naruto didn't have the luxury of time to be in disbelieve that a high ranking wind ninjutsu was useless against his opponent as he maintained Lee's speed to evade another one of Jagger's spears.
This time reappearing at Jagger's eleven o'clock, Naruto repeated the process, landing a clean hit on Jagger's chest.
Frustratingly, the results remained the same. Naruto continued to circle the captain in an irregular pattern, landing wind bullets on all areas of his opponent's body in hopes to find a weak spot, evading deadly Vinamantium spikes at the last second.
Standing tall and unaffected, Jagger eyes couldn't deny the degree of difficulty to track the blond's movements.
'He's fast I give him that, but I think I'm beginning to adapt to his speed.'
Although his attacks were futile, Naruto's analysis taught him two things.
'His observation Haki can't keep up with Bushy Brows speed. Also, wind chakra won't work with him, I'll have to try something else.'
Ending his stream off wind bullets, Naruto reappeared to face Jagger for a fraction of a second, he dug his feet hard on the ground to launch himself towards his advisory.
Sensing his opponent's frontal attack, Jagger focused his devil fruit abilities on his right arm, liquefying the limb, transforming it into the shape of a katana blade.
Naruto continued his charge with no weapons or jutsu prepared as Jagger withdrew his new arm for one colossal slash.
Now within Jagger's reach, Naruto watched the bladed arm come crashing down as if it was in slow motion. Metal and flesh, separated by inches of air, until Naruto utilised his enhanced speeds to suddenly vanished from sight.
Angered that his attack connecting with air, Jagger frantically searched for his opponent. "That bastard, is he trying to mock me?!"
The screeching sounds of metal wires immediately grabbed the captain's attention, he saw two leads of wires from both his sides erupting from the grassy surface. On the end of those wires were smirking Naruto's, hiding behind a tree and pulling on the metal threads with all their strength.
"He still had a clone left?!" Layers and layers of wires circling Jagger's feet shot up from beneath.
Before he could react, his body was wrapped and constricted by these metal wires.
He looked down, studying his predicament, noticing many pieces of white, rectangular shaped papers were attached to these wires.
"When did he have time to set this up?!"
Then it hit him, the first time his shadows clones went airborne.
'I took my eyes off him for one second and he managed to set this up?'
"A paper bomb chain." The clone on the right explained victoriously.
"Boom." Said the Naruto on the left, the original Naruto.
The paper bombs started to ignite, causing a colossal explosion that shook the air itself with Jagger at the epicentre. The grass beneath the captain's feet were scorched to a crisp, dark fumes concealed his body like a black, poisonous mist.
As the seconds ticked by, this dark cloud surrounding Jagger started to disperse. Incredibly, the captain stood tall, removing the last stands of wires from his body.
"Not bad, boy-" He said out loud to an empty garden with no Naruto in view, "You actually surprised me a lit-"
The ground below Jagger's feet suddenly cracked.
Naruto exploded from below, launching himself from underground and delivered a nasty uppercut to Jagger's unexpected chin, lifting the captain off his feet.
Jagger couldn't hide the shock in his face when Naruto from below disappeared in a puff of smoke. Another Naruto, the original, rushed through the clone's smoke and smashed the bottom of his chakra enhanced foot to Jagger's chin, sending him flying high above.
Naruto then dropped to one knee, both hands planted on the floor. Then vanished, reappearing right behind Jagger.
"What is this?" Jagger whispered, soaring through the air.
Naruto activities his wrist seal, summoning a long strand of bandage and wrapped his opponent's body with it.
"Dancing Leaf Shadow."
Naruto held on to Jagger as they reached optimal height and started to plummet.
The two begun to spin, faster and faster until they both looked like a raging tornado striking down to earth. Then came the catastrophic impact, almost shattering the ground itself into a million pieces like a broken mirror.
Jagger laid face first, still as a statue with no Naruto in sight. The dust clouds from the impact already starting to disappear.
The blond hid in the protection of the shadows, carefully observing the results of his technique.
Jagger remained motionless, it looked like he was truly unconscious until his hand gave a twitch. Slowly but surely, the bald captain found his way to his feet with no sign of injury.
"Again with this hit and run strategy." He called out to the open air, "How many more times are you planning to use the same move on me?"
Like a blur, two Naruto's materialised in front and the back of Jagger with their attacking hands wide open.
"Just this last time!"
Rasengans formed in their hands and rapidly grew to an exponential size in an instant.
"Two Point Odama Rasengan!"
An immense hit on Jagger once again with him being the epicentre of the brutal explosion. The floor erupted, cracking violently, looking like pieces of a puzzle.
Naruto watched the end result a good distance away, trying to catch his breath as he waited for the dust cloud surrounding his opponent to disappear.
'That had to do it. Surviving dancing leaf shadow is one thing, but no one can survive two Odama rasengans head on like that.'
He then noticed the tightness in his muscles, 'I've been careless with Lee's enhanced taijutsu speed. I forgot just how much strain it puts on the body and the huge amount of chakra it needs to maintain.'
He kept his eyes solely on the dust cloud ahead of him. Patiently waiting.
"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to defeat me, boy."
Naruto's eyes expanded from the sound of Jagger's voice.
A strong gust of wind blew the cloud surrounding Jagger away, revealing an arrogant smile on his metal lips.
Naruto's hands curled into fists, his teeth grinding in frustration.
Team Luffy
The young captain leapt backwards to create distance from his first mate. "Oi! What the hell Zoro!"
The swordsman face looked conflicted, his body tensed and shook like a leaf in the wind.
"I, I don't know what's happening to me!" He said with maximum effort. "It's like I have no control over my body." His arm slowly but surely raised itself.
A satisfied smirk curved Takashi's lips. "It's all thanks to my Hyp Hyp fruit's abilities. I can control the bodies of those who I please. How do you think we managed to take so many men overnight without causing a mess?"
"S-so you're behind this." Zoro struggled to fight his body's involuntary movements.
But his struggles were in vain as his arm performed a powerful downward slash. '108 calibre!?'
"Luffy watch out!"
The rubber man dodged the oncoming attack with relative ease. Landing on his feet, Luffy focused on Takashi. "Oi you! Let him go!"
The first mate developed a sarcastic saddened expression. "But why? The fun has just begun." He smiled sadistically. "I was planning on controlling you both and torture the pair of you nice and slowly, but it seems that your swordsman friend here is more difficult to control than I originally anticipated. But I guess one will have to do."
Zoro's struggles over dominance on his body continued. "L-Luffy - you gotta- you gotta stop me!"
"B-But how?!" A clueless Luffy quizzed.
He noticed the pattern of movements his body was forcing and realised the oncoming technique.
"I don't c-care just do s-something!" Zoro sensed some sort of trigger released in his body. 'Onigiri?!'
"Here it comes watch out!"
Zoro closed their distance at a mesmerising rate and followed through with the attack. Luffy's haki certified evasion by summersaulting over the swordsman's blade at the precise moment.
The duo met each other in the eyes once again.
A small, thin cut opened on Luffy's right cheek and leaked a lone tear of blood. Feeling the wet substance, Luffy wiped the red of his check, inspected his blood stained hand then stared at his first mate once again.
"I'm not gonna hurt you, Zoro." Luffy said with a stern, solid voice.
"Dammit Luffy we don't have time for this! Knock me already so you can help Naruto with Jagger!"
"I won't! I won't hurt one of my friends when they've done nothing wrong!"
"Tsch." Zoro rolled his eyes to the amused Takashi. "Wait a second! Take him out! If you do I should have full control over my body again!"
Luffy's face brightened at the idea. "Good thinking Zoro!"
The captain face Takashi, crouched and stomp the floor. "Gear, Second!"
Team Naruto
Jagger stared at his opponent with great interest and a peculiar smirk.
The bald man lightly stomped his foot onto the ground erupting a line of thick meteorite spikes from the earth towards Naruto.
The blond saw the fast incoming spikes and crossed his fingers into a T once again.
A motionless Naruto clone hidden behind a tree disappeared with a fog of smoke.
Successfully accessing sage mode, Naruto performed a series of backflips to evade Jagger's large continuous spikes with centimetres to spare. Sage modes enhancement of threat perception allowed evasion with relative ease.
Sensing the end of Jagger's assault, Naruto landed on his feet but was instantly faced with a short burst of excruciating pain deep in his abdomen.
Naruto grinned his teeth together and dropped to a knee from the indescribable, unexplainable agony. He rubbed the source of the pain with a free hand and anticipated for blood. But much to his confusion, not a drop of red escaped his skin.
The unforgiving Jagger's curiosity peaked and tapped his foot onto the ground. Naruto was brought out of his stupor by sensing an incoming threat.
Two metallic spears erupted in front and behind the preoccupied blond. He willed a shunshin to evade to sharp spikes from striking his vital organs.
Reappearing nearby, Naruto took hold of his newly slashed arm that's pouring with blood as Jagger's spikes slowly receded down to earth. Although his arm is now cut open, Naruto was relieved nonetheless that the piercing sting in his abdomen had now dissipated.
The jinchuuriki grew a look of misunderstanding. 'What the hell was that weird pain just now? I've never felt anything like that before?'
"You're not tired already are you?" Jagger questioned with slight mockery and interest.
Naruto chuckled sarcastically. "Nahh, I'm just warming up." He replied back. "But I have to admit, your last moved took me by surprised." The blond confessed honestly.
"Let me guess… You can turn anything into whatever metal you're made of, even the ground itself." Naruto voiced confidently.
Jagger grew a satisfied smirk. "You're quite the observant one aren't you?" He retorted, impressed. "Vinamantium." He paused as Naruto listened intensively.
"My Vin Vin devil fruit abilities allows me to turn any object I please into the strongest material ever known, and yes, that includes the ground itself." Jagger answered proudly. "Unfortunately I cannot turn living beings into Vinamantium, which is a shame, I would have loved to present the rest of the Straw Hats a metallic version you."
Naruto scrunched his brows. "Bastard, why are telling me your weaknesses?"
Jagger's smirk disappeared but his face hardened. "Because I can, remember, you're a dead man walking. And besides, it doesn't matter that my powers are limited to objects when I can do this!"
Another incoming Vinamantium spike aimed straight for Naruto's heart.
The blond shifted his body at the last second and used his speed to close the distance between Jagger and himself. Naruto was forced to dash in zig zags as more of the captain's dark spikes attempted to spear him.
Gaining proximity, Naruto dodged yet another spike with a summersault. But his immediately widened to the dozens of senbons at his direction. He shifted his body position mid-air to avoid all but two senbons now embedded below his collarbone.
Ignoring the initial pain, Naruto landed and dashed straight for Jagger.
The tall bald man's frustration but also fascination amplified at Naruto's evasive skills. He stomped his foot with once more with greater force than the previous time.
Naruto's senses kicked in. He knew something big and bad was about to happen.
He tensed his body and utilised Lee's speed to get airborne as hundreds of Vinamantium spikes erupted from every inch of the garden.
The blond reappeared face to face with his adversary and readied himself to use a set close quarter lightning jutsu. But Naruto's next set of words was lodged in his throat by Jagger's unbelievably agile hand choked the young man's neck.
In one, swift movement, Jagger smashed Naruto's body onto the ground with earth shattering force. The ground beneath the bond's body caved in from the impact, but the sound of the earth smashing was the most gruelling factor.
Team Nami
"Remember when I said it's safe to say we're safe now… yeah, well, I think I spoke too soon."
"YOU THINK!?" Nami and Chopper screamed in return.
Guarding the entrance to the panic room, a gigantic, dark, Vinamantium creature roared an ear drum splitting roar to the four intruders. If Sanji had to compare it to something, he would say the creature was equal to the size of Chopper's monster point.
The pirates took an involuntary backward step.
"Brook." The blond cook voiced seriously.
The skeleton nodded in understanding and unsheathed his blade.
"Nami-san, Chopper, stay here for a second while Brook and I take care whatever the hell that thing is." Sanji ordered as the golem like creature prepared itself for battle.
The doctor and navigator hummed in agreement.
The cook and skeleton utilised their maximum speed to close the distance between them and the boulder monster. Sanji stiffened his legs and Brook readied his blade. The two leaped in the air and aimed for the creature's stomach.
"Mutton Shot!" "Hanauta Sancho – Yahazu Giri!"
Both powerful attacks made clean, successful contact simultaneously. But what shocked the two Straw Hats the most was the lack of results. The monster did not move in an intimidating fashion. It even failed to show signs of damage.
But Brook was most surprised. In all his life, never had that moved failed to cut an opponent's. But the steel on steel noise that rang at contact did allow him to learn that this creature was in fact metallic.
Brook leaped backwards to retreat while Sanji used his attacking foot as a platform to jumped high in the air. Reaching his peak flight, Sanji executed countless amounts of front flips in mind racing speeds. Using the summersaults as momentum, Sanji came crashing down and extended one of his legs.
"Concasser!"
Sanji's aimed for the monsters head but was shocked to see his foot connecting with the back of its gigantic hand.
'This thing is hell of a lot faster than it looks.' The cook thought as he jumped down next to Brook.
The two stared at the frightening metal beast. "Do you have any idea what that thing is or what it's made of?" Sanji questioned the musician.
"Your guess is as good as mine Sanji-san. But I think it's safe to say it's made from some type of metal." Brook reply sceptically as he has never seen or heard of a metal that quite looked like this before.
The cook nodded slightly. "I was thinking the same thing." Sanji said as the Vinamantium golem widely opened its mouth. "But whatever it is, let's turn it into rubble."
The two shifted into action as the golem mouth ejected endless numbers of senbons at the two Straw Hats. Sanji's and Brook's excellent speeds however made avoiding the sharp projectiles seem like child's play. They rushed towards the monster once again, quickly arriving beneath it, Sanji sky walked to tower the beast. Brook dodged a massive metallic punch aimed at the two and used its arm to jump up to reach the monsters neck.
Up high in the air once again, Sanji spun like a spinning top to ignite his legs. He readied himself and aimed for its head.
"Poele a frire spectre!"
A barrage of beautifully lit kicks sparked in the air like a firework show.
As Sanji's rain of fiery attacks assaulted the golems head, Brook leaped high enough to level the monsters neck. In an attempt to decapitate his foe, Brook layered the sinful blade of Soul Solid with a sharp, thick layer of ice.
In an instant, the coat of ice shattered from the blade. Brook slowly sheathed his sword in his slow dramatic fashion as he dropped back down to earth. Convinced his job was done, Brook enjoyed his trip back down to the ground. But if he had eyes, they would have widen to the incredibly fast, metallic incoming hand.
The golem backhanded Brook with astonishing strength, sending the musician crashing in the opposite direction into concrete side walls.
"Brook!" Nami and Chopper screamed out in terror.
Sanji grinded his teeth at the sight on the metal golem. "You ugly bastard!"
He prepared himself for another earth breaking attack but was abruptly stopped as the golem's deceptively fast hand wrapped itself around his body.
Its constrictive power was insane. Sanji screamed in agony as the monster squeezed his figure unimaginably tight. With no mercy, the golem created a huge crater on the floor by smashing his Sanji filled hand into the ground. Then again, and again, and again.
The semi-conscious cook could do nothing but endure the burning anguish.
The golem stopped his fun and brought his hand up to his face to take a good glance at the wounded Sanji. The monster released a small grunt of displeasure and lazily threw the cook to the wall opposite the one where Brook was embedded like a speeding bullet.
"Sanji!" "Sanji-kun!" The doctor and navigator called out in a frightful panic.
Team Luffy
The glowing and steaming captain adjusted his footing to aim for Jagger's first mate.
A surprisingly cool Takashi raised an index finger. "Ah, let me tell why targeting me isn't such a good idea." He announced playfully.
But the angered Luffy couldn't care less in what he had to say. The captain vanished leaving a puff of smoke in his place.
He reappeared a feet away to the side of Takashi, Luffy withdrew his arms but hesitated thanks to the first mate's unusually calm expression. He noticed Takashi's eyes fixed on Zoro's direction.
Luffy stopped his premature assault to look at the green haired swordsman and instantly froze at his predicament. Zoro's body placed a one of his katana's against his throat while his face displayed his continuous struggle to break free.
The rubber man tried to say something but could only stutter certain letters. He was far too shocked but also couldn't believe that if he pulled the trigger, Takashi would have made Zoro slice his own throat.
"I thought I told you that we were going to have some fun before I dispose the two of you." Takashi said cockily.
Zoro felt the cold steel pressing against his neck. "Th-this power of yours i-is despicable. C-controlling your enemy's t-to kill themselves, wh-where's your honour, coward?"
"Despicable you say?" Takashi replied. "I admit that some may find my ways of killing cowardice. But, I'm not the one attacking my captain."
"Oh shit." Was Zoro's last words before dashing to Luffy.
In a split second, the captain was on the defensive. Swaying, ducking, dodging, utilising everything in his evasive prowess. But with his body in second gear, eluding those blades was relatively easy.
But Zoro was just warming up, he closed their distance once again, slashed his blades on a downward diagonal motion but connected with steam.
But this attack felt different compared to the previous ones. Zoro body made a 180 to view his opponent. "L-Luffy, i-I don't think I can last much longer. I-in any second now he'll have f-full control over me and he'll be a-able to use all me strength and speed. You n-need to do s-something about me so y-you can he-help N-Naruto.
His comment angered Luffy even more, he clenched his fists tightly. "Like hell am I going to do that! I'm not going to hurt one of my nakamas Zoro and that's that! I'll find a way to kick Takashi's ass and save you as well!" He screamed with burning passion.
"We don't have time for this Luffy! How many times do I have to tell you!?" Zoro roared back. "I'm doing everything I can to stop him from fully controlling me, but all we're doing is chit chatting and wasting time! Knock me out now or you'll have some real troubles to deal with!"
Luffy's frustration grew at the difficult situation. He steadied his arms as he contemplated Zoro's proposal. But his thoughts came to a sudden stop as he sees his first mates body move at incredible speeds.
Zoro's blade came crashing down with unbelievable power and accuracy. Luffy repositioned his body just enough to avoid steel by a hair. Safe for a millisecond, Luffy used his speed to create some distance and evade Zoro's second katana.
But as Luffy reappeared, Zoro was already closing and unleashed a chain of quick slashes that prevented Luffy to escape. As the captain maintained his backward retreat and dodged every one of Zoro's blades, he spotted his first mate's emotionless face but most importantly his fast and fluid motion.
Takashi grew a sadistic smile from watching his work. "He's under my full control now which means that even if you knock your friend unconscious, I can still control his body like a lifeless puppet. Therefore it's only a matter of time before you make a mistake and he slices you in half." He said confidently.
"Unless of course, you're man enough to kill your own, innocent friend? But are you strong enough? Are you captain enough to make that decision to take the life of someone who's precious to you in order to defeat an enemy?" Takashi taunted harshly.
The man's words affected Luffy more than the captain had anticipated. The new batch of hatred for Takashi became a distraction that opened a small window of vulnerability.
A window that the swordsman took full advantage of by inflicting several moderately deep cuts in Luffy's arms, thigh and chest. Quickly recovering from the cuts, Luffy ducked under a slash that would have sliced him in half and used his speed to gain distance.
Materialising several meters away, the steaming rubber man reluctantly withdrew his arm causing Takashi's eyes to expand slightly. Instead of countering Luffy's incoming attack, Takashi immobilised Zoro's body.
'I wonder if he's got the balls to pull that trigger.'
Luffy watched his dear friend's emotionless face with great emotional conflict. His fist shook violently and thoughts raced like a speeding bullet. The contradictions between what his mind and heart was telling him was ripping the captain apart.
After a deep and long moment of decision making, Luffy slowly lowered his readied arm and hung his head low as his body returned to its original form.
Takashi shrugged minutely. 'He's weak. This world doesn't need people who are weak.'
"Ha! I knew you couldn't do it!" He yelled over to the frozen Luffy.
"You value your friend's wellbeing before your ultimate goal. That's the value of a weakling, Straw Hat. You won't survive for much longer in the New World with that kind of attitude, as your friend here is about to demonstrate." Takashi voiced with pleasure.
Zoro's emotionless body slowly strolled towards Luffy with his katanas at the ready. He stopped his stride a couple of yards away from the mentally defeated man.
Takashi ordered Zoro's arm up high in preparation for the death of the Straw Hat captain.
"Zoro…" A whispered from Luffy stopped Takashi in his tracks.
Luffy lifted his head to meet his friend's lifeless eyes. "I know your still in there somewhere Zoro, listen to me." He stated with solid resolve as blood continued to pour from his wounds.
"I told you before that I won't hurt any one of my nakama unless they've done something wrong, and right now… you haven't. I can't hurt you but I- I." He stuttered solemnly.
"The thing is, I just can't, I'm sorry Zoro but I can't. The only way to stop you is by killing you or Takashi, but if I hurt him I'm guaranteeing your death anyway."
Unknown to the two, Zoro's hand twitched ever so lightly.
"I need you to break free from his control Zoro, that's the only way we can beat him! I know you're stronger than this so just snap out of it already!" Luffy yelled violently in an attempt to reach his first mate.
But Zoro's body remained still and ready to slash the rubber man. Takashi smirked and shook his head. "Trying to persuade a puppet is futile, Straw Hat. There's nothing you can do once you've fallen to my powers. And to prove my point, I'm going to have your friend here cut you into tiny little pieces. Goodbye Straw Hat Luffy."
Luffy stood still with full confidence in his nakama strength.
A big mistake, Zoro's blade came crashing down slashing the rubber man from his left shoulder all the way down to the left side of his hip. Blood sprayed like a firework as Luffy dropped to his back in pure disbelief.
Dropping with a thud, Luffy screamed out in agony from the deep open wound on his left side. He continued to lose more blood and gradually begun to lose consciousness.
On the other hand, Takashi developed a look of dissatisfaction and confusion. 'I ordered him to remove his head but I got this instead?' He questioned dubiously. 'It looks like this guy still has some fight in him. But no matter, the next one should do it.'
"Not bad, it seems like your friend's still fighting for control. But his attempts are redundant nonetheless." He voiced and moved Zoro to tower Luffy with his blades ready to deliver the final stroke.
"Because it's time for you to die!"
Luffy's heart raced as he failed to move his beaten body to evade Zoro's killing move. He was ready to accept his fate when a single voice, the most important voice broke Jagger's first mate concentration thus stopping Zoro's attack in the process.
"TAKASHI!"
Team Naruto
After smashing Naruto's body to the ground, Jagger stood and awaited for the small dust cloud beneath his feet to settle. When it did, the bald captain eyes rounded in shock to see a large piece of his office table snapped into several pieces instead of his blond opponent. Another impressed smile curved his mouth.
Leaning behind one of many fruit trees on the edge of the garden, a panting Naruto ripped the two senbons out of his body and dropped them on the floor. The injury in his arm he sustained earlier had stopped bleeding due to Kurama's influence.
The young man mentally sighed in relieve as he caught his breath. 'That was way too close for comfort. If I hadn't use the substitution jutsu I would have been a goner.'
After several deep breaths, his breathing returned to normal. 'I'm sure if I wasn't using sage mode I'd already be on the end of one of his spikes. I need to be careful since he can use anything around him into a weapon. But do I even have a jutsu that could hurt this guy? Rasengan didn't work and all my elemental jutsu were useless. I can't even use rasenshuriken or biju rasengan without blowing this whole place to bits and leaving Luffy and the rest as collateral damage…'
An eye popping idea sprung to his mind. 'But I could try that?'
"You're just full of surprises aren't you, Naruto Namikaze." Jagger voiced into the air.
The blond stayed hidden behind a tree.
"But you can stop hiding now." The captain closed his eyes and focused. "I may not be able to see you but… I can still… sense you!"
Naruto released a small gasp and swayed his head time to dodge another Vinamantium spear originating a foot in front of him. He followed it by a quick duck to avoid a second spike and shunshined to a tree branch to safety.
Jagger sensed the living presence of Naruto and presumed he avoided his sneaky assault.
"You've gain my attention and interest kid, you are one fascinating individual I give you that." He complimented highly and honestly.
"So let us end this confrontation momentarily and allow me to offer you a proposal." Jagger paused to scan around the area. He sensed Naruto's moving presence up high to the tree branches which made detection difficult, especially with the light evening breeze, darkness for cover and the blonde's swift speed.
"Join me, Naruto."