Chapter 15: Jet Pistol of Anger! Luffy vs. Ulquiorra!

Back in the tower, Luffy was struggling to his feet after he was hit by Ulquiorra's cero. His clothes were torn up and blood came out his head, nose, and mouth.

"Luffy." Chopper said with tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed, ready to jump in and take over. Orihime looked at the straw hat boy worried with her hand covering her mouth.

Luffy got back to his feet, breathing heavily trying to stand up straight. Ulquiorra sonidoed in front of Luffy and kicked him in the face, sending him flying into a wall next to Ichigo. "Do you get it now?" Ulquiorra asked the pirate as Luffy tries to get back to his feet. "If you continue this pointless effort, you'll die."

"I don't care." Luffy said. "I'm not going to stop fighting until I get my friend. I can still beat not like this." Ichigo looked at Luffy confused, trying to figure out what he means by that. "I won't let you take any more of my friends." He bends his knees as his legs pumped his blood. Steam came out of Luffy's body and his skin turned a pinkish color. "Gear Second!"

Ichigo and Orihime looked at Luffy confused as Chopper got excited. "Alright, there's no way Luffy can lose now!" Chopper shouted excited. "Take him down, Luffy!"

Ichigo looked at the little doctor in question. 'What is he talking about?' he thought as he looks back at Luffy. 'How is imitating a steam engine help his chances?' Then Ichigo felt a sudden raise of spiritual pressure from the straw hat boy and widen his eyes. 'What?'

Ulquiorra was not fazed by Luffy's change since he saw it before back at Sabaody.

(Flashback)

As Robin falls to the ground, the espadas finally became clear for Luffy to see. Luffy looked and see his two friends down from the attacks, became enraged, activated his gear second.

"YOU BASTARDS!" Luffy yelled.

"Luffy," Chopper said weakly as he went back his chibi form.

"Who are you guys and what do you want?"

"Hey Ulquiorra," Yammy said, "This pipsqueak can finally see now."

"To what little good it will do him." Ulquiorra said as he picks Chopper up, "We got what we came for, now let's go."

"Hey, let me go!" Chopper demanded struggling out of Ulquiorra's grasp.

"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.

(End of Flashback)

Ulquiorra look at Luffy taking a stance, lifting his lead hand up as if he was aiming at the espada. "I'm sure you remember when you tried to use that maneuver last time." He said to the pirate. "What makes you think that now would make a difference?"

"I told you, last time was different." Luffy said. "This time you're no match for me anymore." Luffy disappeared and reappeared in front of Ulquiorra. "Gum-Gum…Jet Pistol!" At an unseen speed, Luffy punched Ulquiorra, causing him to skid back a few feet. Ulquiorra stopped and coughed up blood. Ichigo and Orihime were in shock at what they saw.

"What…was that?" Orihime said in shock. Ichigo was stunned as well, he had a hard time following Luffy's movement.

"Gum-Gum…" Luffy appeared behind the espada stretching his arms back. "…Jet Bazooka!" Ulquiorra turned around only to get struck by Luffy's high speed attack. Ulquiorra skidded back a few feet but still was able to stop himself. Blood came out of the espada's mouth. "Gum-Gum…Twin Jet Pistol!" Luffy fired another High speed attack at Ulquiorra, pushing him back even farther.

'He's faster than he was before.' Ichigo thought, seeing Luffy's speed and his attacks compared to earlier.

"Gum-Gum…" Luffy stretched his arms back, preparing to strike the espada again.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes knowing another attack was coming and pointed his finger at Luffy, charging up a cero and firing it Luffy.

"…Jet Gatling!" Luffy's hands disappeared as he fired a barrage of sound speed punches into the cero and caused it to disperse. Ichigo and Orihime widen their eyes, seeing what happened. Ulquiorra was surprised as well as Luffy's punches connected to him, pounding him with no mercy and smashing him through a pillar. Luffy stopped and breathed heavily as his gear second wore off. Ichigo and Orihime were still looking at Luffy, unsure of what they just saw. The smoke started to clear and it showed Ulquiorra still standing after taking the full force of Luffy's attacks. However his body showed the result of Luffy's attack. Luffy glared at the espada, still trying to catch his breath. His gear second zapped a lot of energy out of him.

"It appears that I've underestimated you, Monkey D. Luffy." Ulquiorra said. "I won't make that mistake again. You managed to keep up with this pace. But let's see how long can you keep up." Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure started to rise as he sonided in front of Luffy, trying to cut him down but his attack was stopped. Luffy looked up and saw Ichigo stopping Ulquiorra's sword with his own.

"Ichigo!" Chopper shouted.

Ichigo smirked and said, "I know you told me to stay out of this fight. But I told that he was fighting him first. So let me take care of the rest from here."

Ulquiorra disappeared from Ichigo's view and appeared behind both Ichigo and Luffy. The duo looked behind them as Ulquiorra was about to strike. Ulquiorra swung his sword at the two but his blade was stopped as it hit an orange barrier, shielding Ichigo and Luffy. A crack was made on the shield and it shattered into pieces. Ichigo and Ulquiorra looked at the one person who could've made that barrier. That person was Orihime.

To be continued…

Next Chapter: The Target is Orihime! The Looming Clutches of an Angry Arrancar

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for being late with this chapter. I'll try to update this story weekly as I could. I'm still looking for people for my OVA compilation of Straw Hats vs. Arrancars. So if you want to make an OVA, PM me and send me what you made through DocX. Later.