Chapter 13: Luffy Cuts Through! Big Showdown in Las Noches!
"The last time that we battled together, I couldn't read any of your moves at all. I had to guess your attacks, defense, and speed. I couldn't read what was coming at me or from where. I felt like I was fighting against an emotionless statue or a machine." A smirk was formed on Ichigo's face. "So why am I able to read your move this time? Is it because I'm becoming more hollow like? Actually, I think it's because you've become more human."
Ulquiorra's eyes widen from Ichigo's statement and he stabbed his sword to the floor, making huge chucks of the floor from his strength. Ichigo, Orihime, and Chopper widen their eyes from the show of power. Ulquiorra glared at Ichigo and said, "Did you say that I've become more human?" Ichigo prepared himself for another round of this fight. "I see. You must feel very proud just being to keep up at this level. Let's see how long it will last you." Then Ulquiorra raised his spiritual pressure to its highest point. Ichigo's eyes widen as Ulquiorra appeared in front of him and swung his sword down, causing an explosion. Ichigo jumped out of the smoke and the espada appeared behind him.
Ichigo looked him and saw Ulquiorra. 'Not a chance.' Ichigo swung his sword to block what the espada was about to do but Ulquiorra disappeared and reappeared behind him in an instant.
"Gum-Gum…" a new voice shouted, getting everyone's attention.
"That voice…" Chopper said, recognizing it.
"…Rocket!" Then another hole was created on the floor and a new figure appeared jumping out of it. It was none other than the Straw Hats Captain, Luffy.
"Give Chopper back!" Luffy shouted.
Luffy landed on his feet, shocking everyone present and causing the action to stop.
"Who's that?" Orihime asked herself, never seeing Luffy before.
"Luffy!" Chopper shouted.
'So that's Luffy.' Orihime thought looking at Chopper's captain. Ichigo looked at Luffy as well, remembering that he saw him before back the Urahara Shop.
"Hey Chopper!" Luffy shouted, happy to see his friend is ok. Then he noticed Orihime next to him. "Who's that?"
"So you finally show yourself, Monkey D. Luffy." Ulquiorra said, getting the rubber boy's attention.
"It's you." Luffy said angrily. "You're the guy who took Chopper away at Sabaody."
(Flashback)
"LET HIM GO," Luffy yelled as he fired his jet pistol at Ulquiorra, but was blocked by the palm of Ulquiorra's hand. Then Luffy charged in trying to hit the espada in close range but was kicked in the face and send flying into a wall for his effort.
"It's time to go," Ulquiorra said as the garganta opens, "We wasted enough time here with these so called pirates."
"I SAID LET HIM GO!
Luffy charged towards the espada before the garganta closes but he was too late. The last words he heard from before the garganta closed was "LUFFY, HELP ME!" Luffy was pounding on the dirt in tears and yelling "CHOOOPPPPEEEERRR!"
(End of Flashback)
"I'm surprised you were able to make this far, considering what happened the time we met." Ulquiorra said.
"Last time was different." Luffy said. "This time, I'm ready to kick your ass!"
Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at the straw hat captain. "Is that so? I shall to deal with you quickly." He said, and then looked towards Ichigo. "Then, you're next Ichigo Kurosaki."
"Hold on, we're not done…" Ichigo said, ready to attack.
"Bring it on!" Luffy challenged, surprising Ichigo.
"Wait a minute, you can't just pop out of nowhere and steal someone's fight!" Ichigo shouted at Luffy.
Luffy looked at Ichigo with confused look on his face. "Hold on, I think I saw you before didn't I?" he said, trying to Ichigo's name. "Oh yeah, you're Itzago right?"
"It's Ichigo, you idiot!" Ichigo growled. "I-chi-go Ku-ro-sa-ki!" Then Ichigo regained his composure and said, "Listen, I was fighting this guy first. So it's best to let me take him down."
"I don't care." Luffy said. "Nobody takes a member of my crew and gets away with it." Luffy charged towards the espada. "I'm going to make him pay!" Luffy then stretched his arm behind him, much to the surprise of Ichigo and Orihime. "Gum-Gum…"
"What the hell?!" Ichigo said shocked.
"He can stretch?!" Orihime said shocked as well. Ulquiorra was unfazed by action due to him seeing it before.
"…Pistol!" Luffy fired his fist at the espada and the scene turned black.
Outside of the tower, a hollow burst of the sand only for it to be killed easily as Renji stretched his shikai and drove the hollow to the ground. Chad punched the hollow in front him with his right arm, causing the hollow to crumbles to pieces. After the two were defeated, more hollow popped out of the sand.
"Damn!" Renji cursed. "New ones just keep showing up."
"Yeah." Chad said in agreement.
"Don't just stand there Chad. Let's move!" Renji charged towards the hollows and stretched his Zabimaru, defeating them easily. Then he noticed a large shadow hovering over him. Renji looked up at the sky and saw three hollows falling towards. Renji panicked and quickly dodged them but ended up getting buried in the sand after the third one landed, dead.
Chad stood triumph as Renji popped out the sand and glared. "Chad! Watch it, will you?!" Renji scolded.
"Sorry." Chad said. "They were attack us from the rear so I did what I had to do to keep you alive."
"Next time, warn me when you're going to get involved!" Renji barked. "That way, I don't get caught in the middle of all your help!"
Chad narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on his surroundings. "Wait, hold on." Renji said confused. "Is there a problem?"
Then out of nowhere, Chad fires his attack for his right, causing Renji to move out of the way as the attack hit the hollow coming toward them and killed it, burying Renji in the sand again.
"I told you to warn me first." Renji said, popping out of the sand.
"Sorry." Chad said. Then more hollow appeared out the sand and surrounded the two.
Renji got to his feet and got to ready to fight. "Okay, I should've known better after all this time." He said. "You really don't say a whole lot, do you Chad?"
"Yeah." Chad answered.
"What did you mean 'yeah'?! How could you not have noticed that before?!"
On the top of the wall near the entrance of the fifth tower, Rukia was staring the leader of the exequias, Rudobon. Behind Rukia were the exequias that she easily defeated.
"Well, it looks like all of your subordinates have fallen." She said to the arrancar.
Rudobon stuck his hand out with his zanpakuto in hand. "Grow, Arbol!" Then four lightning bolts covered purple aura with a skull on the end of each of them appeared on his right shoulder with roots on his right side of his body. "I can see that this small achievement has brought you satisfaction. But soon you will learn that defeating my men does not ensure victory against me."
Then Rukia widen her eyes as she heard a crash coming from inside the tower. "Ichigo…"
"Interesting." Rudobon said. "It appears that another source of spiritual pressure is inside the tower."
"What?!" Rukia said surprised, not knowing who the arrancar was talking about.
Meanwhile, Luffy was knocked into another pillar by Ulquiorra, who was unharmed despite Luffy's onslaught of attacks. Luffy got back to his feet as Ulquiorra appeared in front of him and jabbed his sword at the pirate multiple times. Luffy, on instinct, quickly dodged the sword and started to back up until his back hit one of the pillars. Ulquiorra swung his sword at the pirate who quickly ducked and cut the pillar in two.
"Gum-Gum…" Luffy stretched his leg back. "…Whip!" Luffy unleashed his rubber leg at the espada and Ulquiorra dodged it. "Gum-Gum…" Luffy fired a barrage of punches at Ulquiorra. "…Gatling!"
Ulquiorra, with no effort walked into the barrage of punches, dodging each punch, and stabbed Luffy in the shoulder with the tip of his blade. Luffy winched in pain, stopping his attack. Ulquiorra pointed his finger at Luffy and charged up a cero. Luffy widen his eyes as the espada fired the cero at him.
Outside, Chad looked behind his shoulder and saw the smoke coming out of the tower where Ichigo is. "Ichigo." Chad said. Then a hollow popped out of the sand, surprising Chad. Chad looked behind him and saw Renji's zanpakuto stretched and killed the hollow, knowing Chad back into the sand.
"Hey Chad, are you alright?!" Renji shouted.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Chad said.
"Come on, you have to start paying more attention."
"Got it." Chad said as he got back up and ran towards the hollows.
"Oh wow, this is getting rough." Renji said to himself as he watched Chad charging towards the hollows. 'I guess that's the way it is. Even though we had plenty of training together, we never had to work or fight together as a team. Fighting an opponent, like these hollows, shouldn't be that difficult.'
"Tatsu…" a new voice said, stopping Chad in his tracks. "…Maki!" A whirlwind of slashes capture several hollow and cut them down. The whirlwind disappeared and revealed Zoro.
"What the hell was that?!" Renji shouted surprised.
"Brochet!" A new voice shouted and a figure fell from the sky and hit a hollow in the middle of its mask, driving it to the ground. The figure jumped from the mask and landed on the sand on his feet. The figure is the Straw Hats' cook, Sanji.
"Cien Fleur…" A hundred hands appeared on one of the hollows' body and grabbed it. "…Clutch!" The hands turned the hollow's body until it snapped. The hollow collapses as a figure walked pass the falling body. The figure was revealed to be the archaeologist, Robin.
"Coup de Vent!" Another voice shouted as a large burst of air was released and knocked several hollows out. The attacker was the Straw Hats' shipwright, Franky.
"Special Attack…" Another voice shouted. "…Fire Bird Star!" The figure shot a fire ball in the shape of a bird and engulfed a hollow in flames. The attacker was revealed to be the Straw Hats' sniper, Usopp.
A figure appeared and ran the hollow then slowed down. "Three Verses Humming…" The figure said, sheathing his sword in his cane. The figure was revealed as the Straw Hats' musician, Brook. "…Yahazugiri!" Once the sword was completely sheathed, the hollows behind Brook were slashed and they collapsed.
"Who are these guys?" Renji answered looking the Straw Hats and a little freaked out when he saw Brook.
"These must be the pirates Kisuke was talking about." Chad answered.
"Oh yeah, now I remember after seeing that blond guy beat Syzael Aporro." Renji said, looking at Sanji and remembered how Sanji defeated the espada.
"Wait a minute." Sanji said, noticing someone missing. "Hey moss head, what happened to Nami?!"
"How should I know?" Zoro said annoyed. "The last time I saw her, she ran off somewhere."
"What?!" Sanji shouted in anger. "You left my Nami-swan all alone?!"
"Will you calm down?!" Zoro barked. "She can take care of herself! She's probably with Luffy, so she's fine!"
"You don't know if that's true! She's could be dead right now and it'll your fault!" Then the two started to exchange blow and got into another one of their fights.
"Do they always fight like that?" Chad asked.
"You have no idea." Usopp said. Then the group suddenly felt the ground starting to shake, causing all action to stop.
"What's that?" Renji asked as a mountain of sand of came up behind him and subsiding. It revealed the same sand guarding that Ichigo and the others fought on the way to Las Noches. Usopp and Brook screamed in terror and the other straw hats widen their eyes since it's the first time they've seen this monster.
"What is that thing?!" Usopp shouted scared.
Back inside the tower, Luffy was breathing heavily after narrowly avoiding the cero.
"That was close!" Luffy shouted as Ulquiorra appeared and swung his sword at him. Luffy jumped back a few feet to avoid the blade. Then Ulquiorra appeared in front of Luffy jabbed the blade at his head. Luffy kicked at Ulquiorra's hand but the tip of the blade cut Luffy's check.
"Gum-Gum…" Luffy stretched his arm back and twisted it. "…Rifle!" Luffy fired his attack the espada. Ulquiorra easily dodged the attack and kicked Luffy in the face, sending him back a few feet.
"Damn it!" Luffy cursed, wiping the blood from his lip. "He moves faster than the admiral. I couldn't keep up with him."
"Do you understand now?" Ulquiorra asked. "You can't win. It's pointless to even continue to fight a losing battle."
"So what if it's pointless." Luffy said. "I'm not going to stop fighting until I got my friend. Either I would have to fight you or Aizen, it doesn't matter. I won't stop until my crew is back together again."
"Very well then…" Ulquiorra said, narrowing his eyes at Luffy. "You shall die." Ulquiorra sonidoed in front of the pirate and attacked, causing an explosion.
"Luffy!" Chopper shouted. Luffy jumped out of the smoke, slightly from Ulquiorra's attack, skidded back a few feet.
Luffy quickly recovered and charged towards the espada. "Gum-Gum…" Luffy then started to fire a barrage at Ulquiorra. "…Gatling!" Ulquiorra sonidoed out of the way of Luffy's attack, and appeared behind the captain swiftly. As Ulquiorra was about to strike, Luffy turned around and punched the espada in the face, putting him through one of the columns. Ichigo and Orihime widen their eyes, seeing the pirate attack Ulquiorra and did damage to him. Ulquiorra got up to one knee and saw his blood on the ground and his clothes. He returned to his feet and glared at the straw hat boy.
To be continued…
Next Chapter: History's Strongest Crew vs. Hollow of the Sand