Chapter 5: The pain of a second loss

The Twelfth Grove had become an all-out war between one of the Pacifistas and the Straw Hat Pirate crew. Usopp, Chopper, Franky, Nami, Robin and Brook couldn't do much, except dodge as best as they possibly.

Zoro, Sanji and Luffy were the only ones who, despite everything, tried their hardest to take the cyborg down. The raven-haired captain found it hard to pull down his strength several notches so nothing went too far in the fight. But he knew of Zoro's bad condition and just wanted to go really all-out.

"Santoryuu…"

"Gomu gomu no…"

"Diablo…"

"Mouton Jet 36 poundo hou!"

All three combined attacks hit the target, sending the Pacifista flying. The rest of the crew shouted in delight as they approached carefully in case the thing stood up again.

"They did it!" Nami exclaimed.

"They're amazing!" Chopper added.

"The opponent's a Shichibukai, I don't think he'll go down that easily and you can tell by the others' faces," Robin said eloquently.

"Does he have a twin?" Sanji asked as he lighted a cigarette.

"Anyway, if he had been the real one, he'd be teleporting around to avoid our attacks. Most importantly…" Zoro took a deep breath, trying to regain control over his body. "He doesn't use those shockwaves and he doesn't have those paw-like things on his palm…"

"Which means that if this one's really a fake, that also implies that there may be more like this strong one," Sanji concluded.

As they were discussing this, one of the cyborg's hands was lifted and a beam was shoot. The three power-monsters barely dodged it and it scratched Zoro's abdomen.

"Oi! Zoro! Are you okay? Did it hit you so bad that you can't stand up?!"

"Luffy! Forget about that! Our priority is taking this guy out first!" Sanji warned him.

"Damn, you're right…" the Straw Hat captain said through gritted teeth.

Chopper moved fast as he put himself in front of the damn robot.

"Kokutei… Roseo Metel!" he shouted as his hooves landed a devastating blow against the Pacifista's torso, making it take a few steps back but his left hand was already charging the light beam. Franky moved faster and with his Strong Hammer deflected the aimed beam and continued his chain of attacks with his boxing skills. One of the robot's fists sent him flying and his fall was stopped by Robin's arm-like net.

"He can take us all in close combat!" Usopp shouted, half panicking.

"Watch out bellow there!" Everyone's eyes flew upwards as they saw Brook falling from the sky as he unsheathed his sword. "Here I come! Swallow Bond en Avant!" But the attack, instead of piercing… "Oh… I seem to have stopped?" As the skeleton said that, the Pacifista opened his mouth and the light of the beam appeared. "Wait… you don't mean to…"

"Hissatsu… Atlas Suisei!" Usopp shouted as he shot one of his weapon balls towards the cyborg. "What? He's acting strange…?"

"He's like me!" Franky shouted. "He may seem tough but he's just a modified human with implanted weaponry! One of your explosives went into its mouth!"

"Nami-san, watch out! He has you in his spotlight!" Sanji shouted.

"Wha- Oh, no!"

"Ochenta fleur: Cuatro Mano… Shock!" Robin's spawned arms shot down and made the mouth shut down, provoking him to swallow his own beam.

The explosion that followed made Usopp shout that he had autodestructed himself.

"Sorry to get you so late, big guy…" Nami said, "but I have a storm warning for you!" The navigator moved her Clima Tact and with an evil smirk shouted: "Thunder Lance Tempo!"

The lightning shot down onto the Pacifista. Although the robot began to shot his beams everywhere as if he had gone mad.

"He… he went berserk!" Chopper shouted as the whole crew tried to run for it, dodging as much as they possibly could.

"You lose your head… you lose the fucking fight!" Sanji said as he prepared his Diable Jamble once more.

"Oi! Pass him to me!" Zoro yelled as he put his bandana on.

"That damn stubborn marimo…" the cook mumbled as he ran towards the damn thing. "Diable Jamble… Flambage Shoot!"

"Kyuutoryuu…"

"Zoro… has become three…?!" Chopper said as he couldn't believe what his eyes were showing him.

"Ashura…" The Pacifista began to prepare for a beam. "Ma Kyuusen." But the shot didn't happen as Zoro practically passed him by with his own attack.

"Gear Third…" Luffy mumbled as he began to inflate his arm bone. "Here I go!"

"Get him Luffy!"

"Gomu Gomu no…"

"Smash him to pieces!" Usopp yelled.

"Giant… Rifle!"

"A rest would be good, but first we should hide in case someone else found us…" Someone pointed out.

"Rest sounds great… just gimme a break for a second," Luffy sighed.

"You guys piss me off!" They heard.

"Wha-?! Another enemy?" Usopp said as he looked everywhere.

"Huh?"

"Where's that voice coming from?"

"Up there!" Chopper shouted as he pointed at the sky.

"Who're you?!" Luffy said as he tried to see the new appearance.

"Oi, oi. Seriously, PX-4?"

"Oh, fuck! Another one? Is it the real one, now?!"

"Damn, how do I explain this to Vegapunk?" Sentomaru sighed.

"Whether is the real one or just another fake, is not the point here. We can't just fight another of these things right out of the blue," Sanji said through gritted teeth.

"And who the hell are you, Broadaxe bastard!?"

"Calling people by the weapons they carry, I see…"

"Who are you?"

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"Well, at least you could tell us your name!"

"I'm Sentomaru, the man with the tightest mouth in the whole world. And I didn't tell you this because you asked, I just felt like doing so. Now, get 'em, PX-1!"

"Beams. This makes the third strange-looking machine," Sanji pointed out as all of them avoided the damn attack.

"Rather than solving a damn puzzle, we should be thinking about saving our own lives," Zoro said as he sheathed his swords.

"Yeah. Time to run! Don't stick together! Split up!" Luffy shouted as he avoided another beam.

"Running sounds good!" Chopper agreed.

"The three of us should go different ways!" the Straw Hat captain told Zoro and Sanji.

"Right. Will you be alright?" the cook asked the swordsman.

"Oh, shaddup!" Zoro replied with annoyance.

Zoro, Usopp and Brook took off towards one point. Nami, Sanji and Franky went another way. While Luffy, Robin and Chopper went the other way.

"They're scattering and running for it! Don't let them escape Groove Twelve, PX-1! We don't want to lose them!"

"Everyone! We'll meet at the Sunny in three days!"

"Roger that!"

"Hissatsu… Choukemuriboshi!" Usopp shouted as he turned around to shoot a smoke bomb.

"That was very useful, yohohoho!"

The bridge exploded into thousand of pieces.

"Shit… they blew up the bridge!"

Luffy looked back as he saw the cyborg going after Sanji and his companions.

"He went that way… are they alright?" the captain mumbled.

"You have no time to be worrying about the others."

"Shit!"

"I don't have anything in particular against pirates, but…"

"Gomu gomu no… Gatling!" Luffy shouted as his fists began flying everywhere in front of him.

One of Sentomaru's attacks landed on him. Or almost. Damn, haki was kind of useful and he had to feign being 'blown away' by that attack.

"Ashigara Dokkoi." This time, though, Luffy couldn't even dodge it and that thing freaking hurt.

"Luffy!"

"How the hell? What did he do?"

"Just letting you know, I'm not a Fruit User!" Sentomaru shouted.

"This guy's strong too…" Chopper said.

"Zoro!"

"He got hit by a beam!"

"You… Stay away from Zoro!"

"So you finally show up, uncle Kizaru…" the man said with an annoyed sigh.

"Kizaru?" Robin muttered in horror.

"It's too late for you…"

"Watch out! He's an admiral!" Robin shouted.

"What?!"

"Defeating you with a single blow… Hm… you're probably already worn out. What a shame. Now… take a good, long rest…" Kizaru said as he prepared his beam to land the finishing blow on the Pirate Hunter.

"ZORO!"Luffy shouted.

Things seemed to come to a stop. Time seemed to freeze as Luffy saw what had happened twelve years ago, repeating itself in front of him… again. The efforts his nakama were doing to safe Zoro, the desperation that took a hold of his own body, the attacks that were going right through Kizaru's silhouette. Everything…

"ZORO!"

And, at the very last moment, when everyone had lost faith, Rayleigh appeared and stopped the Admiral's attack.

"So now's the time for you to enter the stage, isn't that so, 'Dark King' Rayleigh?"

"Don't go plunging new sprouts… It's only the beginning… of their era, that's it."

"Old man!" Luffy shouted as the one he considered his mentor appeared. "USOPP, BROOK, TAKE ZORO AND FLEE!" he yelled as he managed to regain control.

"Let's go, Brook!" Usopp said as he grabbed a hold of the green-haired swordsman.

"Right!"

"Everyone! Just focus on escaping! RIGHT NOW, WE'RE NO MATCH FOR THESE FELLOWS!"

"Coup de Vent!" Franky shouted as he blew PX-1 away, giving them a chance to run for it.

"Thank you, old man!" Luffy yelled.

"Take care!" Rayleigh replied as he watched them scattering to escape.

Things were looking horribly wrong. The whole crew, despite Luffy's orders to run for it and not look back, were turning around to try and help each other and he, himself, had his hands full with that axe-guy.

"Stop right there, Pacifista one."

That voice… Zoro made an effort to sit down, heaving to take a little oxygen into his lungs. This guy's… the real thing…

"So you actually lived, Roronoa."

"Thanks to your mercy," he replied.

"Woah! This isn't the time to sit around to have a small chit-chat!" Usopp panicked.

"If you were to go on a trip, where would you want to go?"

"Zoro, ru-!"

"ZORO!"

"Chopper, don't overdo it!" Robin begged as they avoided another berserk attack from the reindeer.

"Usopp, watch out!"

"Do not interfere" Kuma said as he sent PX-1 flying.

"You three, run for it!" Luffy shouted.

"Luffy…"

"Oh, shit. Watch out!" Sanji said as Usopp helped him up.

"You two, go. I'll protect you even if it costs my own life!" Brook said as he got in the way of the Shichibukai.

"Brook!"

"What the fuck am I doing? I've lost two friends right in front of my eyes… And that's how I was supposed to protect Nami-san and Robin-san?" the cook mumbled as he got on his own feet. Barely able to stand up.

"What are you talking about?! Let's go together!" Usopp argued, trying to grab a hold of him.

"Sanji! You have to run!" Luffy shouted as he watched the blond launching himself forward to try to take a kick on the Shichibukai which was deflected by the paws on its palms and sent him flying.

"Sanji!" Usopp shouted in alarm but had no time to react much as Kuma went after him. "Aah! He's coming this way! Somebody help-! Ah…"

"Usopp!" the love-cook shouted as he watched the sniper evaporate. "You fucking bastard!" the blond said as he launched back against the half cyborg but before he could do a thing he also disappeared.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami yelled. "They've all disappeared. Zoro, Brook, Usopp, Sanji-kun…" the Navigator said as if she was lost, as if everything in her had come crashing down.

Guys… oh, shit… I'm… I'm so sorry! This is… this is a nightmare… The bad dream is coming back to life when I had sworn that I would never let something like this happen again and yet… I can't change this! I CAN'T FIX THIS! Luffy's heart was being crushed in a vice. His whole body was yelling at him to stop Kuma, his mind was shrieking with the need to stop the Shichibukai from taking any more of his nakama and his body was frozen still, letting him just watch, as if none of this was his own responsibility.

But it was getting harder and harder to be just another spectator, to just stand by and see everything unfold. "You bastard! Gear Second!"

Kuma disappeared from in front of Rayleigh and Kizaru to reappear right in front of Nami and Franky.

"Get the hell outta our way! Strong Right!"

"Franky, don't-!" Nami yelled as she tried to stop her partner.

"Franky!"

"Wait, Luffy!" Robin shouted right behind the captain. "You're doing what he wants you to do!"

"Gomu gomu no Jet Pistol!"

The paws on Kuma's palm deflected the attack and sent him flying as the Shichibukai turned his attention back on Franky, making him disappear right in front of Nami's eyes.

"No!" the navigator was terrified. She saw Kuma's hand approaching her. "Luffy! Help-!"

"NAMI!" But the orange-haired woman was already gone. "Wooooo~!"

Robin's escaping route was cut short as the black-haired semi-giant appeared in front of her out of nowhere.

"Chopper, Robin!" Luffy panted. "STOP THIS AT ONCE!"

The transformed reindeer disappeared in a puff.

"Please! Stop it!" The raven-haired captain was beginning to feel the helplessness he'd felt twelve years ago. If he had reacted sooner, if he had unleashed all his powers, all those powers he knew he couldn't use as of yet… "ROBIN, RUN FOR IT!"

But it was useless, Kuma was already on her toes. "Lu-"

Luffy let his legs give away, coughing as he felt his throat dry, as if he had swallowed down a piece of sandpaper.

"Are you also going to get rid of him and get it done with, Lord Kuma? I hope you have a good explanation for your behavior…" Sentomaru said with a sarcastic tone on his voice.

"This is quiet a problem…" Kizaru sighed.

"We will not see each other again."

"Thank you" Luffy said so only Kuma could hear him. "I owe you." The Shichibukai nodded in an unnoticeable way as he made the Straw Hat captain disappear as well.

"Farewell."

Phew! This has been hard! Hope this ending is of your liking! I had to make Luffy thank Kuma. *Grins*

And now things are about to begin. Next chapter will be Luffy's arrival to Amazon Lily and we'll see another glimpse of Sabo. Hell yes! We're getting definitely there!

Now to answer those lovely reviews!

MidnightMirror: Me too, but having the manga pages in hand is helpful! Here's the update! Enjoy!

Ace Portgas D: Here's the new chapter! Ace-sama, bouncing is a good sign! *winks*

DoubleM7: Sorry for the late update! As I said in the previous chapter, work had me enslaved! And tomorrow I begin again D: And yes! A few changes, specially on Luffy's mindset. Eneru? No, thanks. I hated the Skypiea arc with a passion XD. And Amazon Lily won't take too much. You guys will see just WHY.

Lightningblade49: We'll see. He won't have attraction so he won't react to her beauty. I don't want him to get stoned D:

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See y'all in the next update!