A/N: There is going to be a Marine woman who has ice-like powers. Unlike Aokiji and Monet, she does not have the ability to turn into the ice or snow elements, merely create it. Therefore, her Devil Fruit is Paramecia. Although I love Frozen, I will not be putting any "Frozen" references.
So far, from what I can understand in the manga, Law hasn't been kicked out of the Shichibukai officially, but in this story it seems that he has lost his Shichibukai status…sorry, Law…
I'm finally off the IV meds. Yaaayyyy!
It has officially been a year since I started this fic! Seriously though, it only feels like yesterday! Thank you so much for sticking around! And thanks to those who are just joining.
Warnings: Some language and violence. Oh, and things are going to get rather morbid in future chapters. Ye be warned.
Chapter 27: The Floating Islands Part Four: Desperation to Survive and Improve; Toph, Katara, and Aang Charge into Battle!
**Countdown: Two Months, 11 days left**
Toph barely had any time to react as she dodged a hit from the oversized hammer. She gasped as she could hear the hammer pass just barely an inch from her face and that she could feel the sheer power from Travis' attack.
"Oh, oh, you dodged? How admirable, I must commend you, Beifong."
Toph send a fissure his way, but he swung his hammer at the fissure and Toph felt a strange sort of force vibrating through the ground as the hammer met and easily countered the attack.
"And my suspicions have been confirmed; I have to be touching the ground in order for you to be able to attack, don't I?"
Toph now sent an iron cord at him, and it wrapped around the handle of his hammer. She smirked, and planted her feet into the ground in order to rip the hammer from his grip. She yanked with all of her strength, and understandably there was resistance at first, and before she could send an attack that would force Travis to release his grip, the hammer flew towards her.
Travis quickly realized that the girl was trying to pull the hammer from his grip, so he simply lifted his hammer and allowed the strength Beifong was using to pull his hammer against her. He threw the hammer at her, and when Toph had gone somewhat off balance from the tension in the cords releasing, he flew at her with incredible speed, and Travis grabbed his hammer once again, twisting and spinning in order to make the blow all the more powerful, and he did not bother to put Haki into his attack, as he did not see the need for it. The girl did not have time to react as the hammer struck her.
"Iron Bell," his voice was calm as he spoke.
Toph was sent flying, and she rolled across the ground. Her ears were ringing, and even her seismic sense was spinning, causing her to feel sick. She could hear muffled shouting, and was unable to identify who any of the voices belonged to.
"Toph! Toph, get up!" Another voice joined in, sounding almost like strange and far away incoherent white noise. "Oh, Spirits, Toph are you okay?!"
Toph had no idea that it was even possible for her seismic sense to actually blur the way it did. Everything was fuzzy, and was much worse than the time she had been in the desert. Toph felt sore all over, along with a sudden vent of frustration. From her experience in the underground earthbending competitions, when opponents had gone up against her for the first time, seeing that she was a blind little girl, they had either held back because they did not want to hurt her, or they saw her as an easy win. Travis had been holding back when he struck her, and he knew what she was capable of. He was showing her that he could more than easily break her if he so desired. It was humiliating, and it was frightening.
"So, ready to surrender yet?" his voice was in an odd place as it drifted towards her somewhere from her right. As her seismic sense slowly cleared, she learned that the reason his voice was in an odd position was because he was resting atop his hammer. Toph punched the ground in frustration, creating two fist-sized craters.
"Is that the best you can do?!" Toph demanded, and she shot a few pillars at Travis which he easily broke.
"Oh, so you want me to break a bone or two? I must admit, I like you, Toph Beifong; you have more moxie than some of the Pirates who have high bounties on their heads. You aren't the type to scream, cry, and beg, now are you? I like that in an opponent."
Toph focused as he left her field of seismic sense once again. She breathed deeply and concentrated, as from experience, she knew that everyone made noise. Even Twinkle-toes, when he used his airbending. She focused and drowned out all the noises, focusing solely on Travis' smell, voice and sound. Then she heard it, the ruffle of his coat and the faint clicks of what were likely buttons hitting each other. She shot a pillar towards the sound, and came into contact with nothing, but she did hear the flapping of heavy material on the pillar she had just created.
"You can't use any type of Haki, can you?"
Toph was sent flying once again as his foot kicked her in the side.
"Ack!" Toph gasped and wheezed as the air had been knocked out of her. She lay on the ground, her body was almost numb.
"You showed a lot of promise, at first, Beifong. Is this all you are capable of? I'm disappointed."
Toph moved to get up and winced. It didn't take her long for her to realize that she had a cracked rib or two. Her body was begging her to stop moving and rest, and once again everything became blurry and faded in and out due to the intensity of the pain. For a moment, it was as if things had slowed down. Her thoughts drifted to her parents and her Metalbending students. Toph pushed herself to her feet.
I'm not going to lose here…what have I trained for?
She had trained the Avatar, learned metalbending, escaped from those two idiots who had tried to kidnap her and return her to her parents, she had fought in the war, and she had metalbending students…she had faced off against bounty hunters, and she had trained with everyone on the ship, and sparring against the likes of Law and Luffy and forced her to step up her game.
… I'm going to beat up this idiot.
"I'm the greatest Earthbender in the World…" she whispered to herself. I have a reputation to uphold.
"I'm going to win. I can't lose here, I won't lose here." She mumbled these words to herself.
Defeating Travis only meant that she had to improve right here, right now in order to survive. She took a stance, readying herself for the next attack, and took a deep breath.
"Oh? You aren't done? But you look like you can barely stand, much less fight. Is this really fair?"
"Shut up and come at me!" Toph challenged.
"As you wish," he swung his hammer into the ground and used the handle as a pivot to swing himself around and strike her. She could feel him using his hammer as a pivot, and quickly adjusted her stance to defend herself. She blocked his kick with her arm, and the metal cuffs on her arms thankfully offered some defense, but she still winced at the impact. She then used earthbending to push herself away from him and widen the distance while she thought up some sort of plan.
Travis had to smirk at what he considered to be Beifong's futile attempts at dodging and fighting back. When his kick had been blocked, he quickly adjusted himself without even stepping down to the ground even once and easily lifted the hammer and flipped forwards, bringing the hammer down on Beifong from above.
As he did so, Toph quickly spun to the side and sent an earth pillar his way, hitting the hammer and successfully knocking him balance for a mere second, but that was all the time she needed. She was now able to tell where Travis was, and she sent a wire at him and wrapped it around his leg. Before he had a chance to react, Toph tried to toss him away from his hammer, but he kept a vice-like grip and the thing, and Toph realized she would have to send a projectile his way to force him to let go.
Just as Toph was about to kick the ground and send a rock in Travis' direction, she heard a *click* and immediately recognized the sound of a pistol. Immediately remembering that night at the tavern, she quickly raised a wall to defend herself. The bullet went through the wall, but it slowed down just enough so that Toph could dodge.
Acting quickly, she sent a few projectiles Travis' way, and when he started to weave his way around them, she yanked the cord that was still attached to his leg, pulling him off balance and used another cord to grab the flintlock and pull it to her. She metalbended the gun and threw it at Travis, hitting him on the head. Toph was then able to pull him away from the hammer spinning as she did so to build up momentum, and she slammed him against the ground as hard as she could, but making sure it was not hard enough to kill him. He didn't move right away, and for a moment, Toph thought that she had won.
"Ow…Well, that wasn't very nice…" he complained, rubbing his head. He quickly moved, removing the cord from his leg and ran straight for his hammer, but he was considerably slower this time. He was able to grab hold of it before Toph could react, and she felt him swinging the hammer at her. Toph raised a wall to defend and was blown back as the hammer went straight through the wall. Thinking quickly, and not wanting to take a direct hit from the hammer, she sucked herself into the ground. The earth around her was only about five feet or more deep, and had been tightly packed into the bowl-shaped disk that made up the island. She moved quickly as the hammer came down right where she had gone under, and taking advantage of the situation, she popped up waist-high and tossed a large rock at Travis, and while he was dodging, she sucked the hammer into the earth as far as it would go.
"Soru," Toph flinched as barely even a second had passed after she had taken away the hammer that Travis had grabbed her, pulled her out of the ground, and slammed her face into the earth. Toph managed to twist out of his grip, causing her hair to come lose and she used her earthbending to pull herself away from him. She winced in pain as he had unwittingly pulled out a fairly decent amount of hair from her scalp.
"I like you, Beifong," Travis started. He grinned. "I'm smiling and it's rare that I ever do such a thing. You'd make for a great Marine – it's too bad you've joined in with the ranks of Pirates."
Toph walked backwards carefully as she kept her defenses up. "I've never been someone who upholds the law, and I highly doubt I ever will be." Toph's mind was scrambling through strategies to force Travis to go down and stay down. "Besides, there's quite a bit of freedom and adventure that comes with being a Pirate, you know?"
Toph then had a plan, and hoped it would work. Unconventional tactics seemed to be her only option at winning. As Travis rushed at her again, she burrowed into the ground once more, and in her rather desperate attempt to widen the distance between her and Travis she had hit the Seastone that housed all of the earth, and she focused as she sensed Travis hesitantly stepping around the area in which she had buried herself. She quickly moved through earth without disturbing the ground above her as Travis punched the ground where she had gone under, leaving a decent-sized hole. Toph kept her distance, and threw a rock at him from behind, as he turned, she rushed through the earth to the other side.
"I can sense you." He grinned as he turned to counter the rock she had thrown at him. Toph shot out of the ground towards him, but made sure that she went over his head. As she did so, she calculated where she hoped his feet still would be.
"Too slow," Travis had leapt into the air after her, but his voice gave her the directions she needed as she shot an iron cord around his feet and they both landed unceremoniously on the ground. Travis spat out the dirt he had gotten into his mouth, and quickly tried to untangle the cords around his feet, while Toph had to take a moment to recover and force her body to move.
Toph burrowed into the ground again, pulling Travis with her, and she twisted and pulled through the earth, being sure not to give Travis the luxury of not running into the hard surfaces of the earth.
She then sprung out of the ground and metalbended the cords and the earth around Travis up to his neck, ensuring that he could not move. Travis seemed to have been knocked out at some point when Toph had been pulling him, and Toph sighed in relief and then grinned. She went to raise her fists into the air in victory, somewhat ignoring the pain. She couldn't even raise her hands above her head, and as the adrenaline wore off, the pain of her injuries became more prominent.
Toph could only smirk. "I won."
"Well, well, well…" Travis sighed. He maneuvered and pulled himself out of the temporary prison, and brushed himself off. Toph wondered how much more either of them could take, and knew that she was very nearly over her limit.
"I lost…how about that." Travis sighed again, and scratched the back of his head. "Beifong, would you mind getting my hammer for me?"
"Why would I do that?!" Toph demanded, and Travis only shrugged.
"So I don't have to wait for it to be retrieved. Besides, I said that I lost, didn't I?"
Toph slowly raised the hammer out of the earth, Travis grabbed it and easily carried it over his shoulder.
"Well, thanks Beifong. This was interesting, and quite fun; the most I've had in a while. See you around."
Travis limped off, and apparently got a few of the other Marines to go with him and Toph could hear him telling them that "he needed a drink."
Toph made a face, but brushed the thoughts aside. Even though her body could barely take much more, she ignored the pain coursing through her right side and made her way towards her friends so she could help them fight. She was determined to do whatever she could to ensure that everyone made it out safely.
Katara was thankful that she was surrounded by her element, and she was faced with three Marines who were simultaneously charging at her with their sabers drawn. They were fast and strong, and easily maneuvered through her attacks. As one of the men rushed at her, she quickly pulled a flood of water over all four of them, freezing her opponents in place. Katara winced slightly as she saw that a saber was just inches from her face. She sighed in relief, but turned around quickly when a woman's voice spoke, "You shouldn't relax just yet."
Katara recognized her voice as belonging to the woman who had objected about nearly everyone chasing after Vidu and Vera earlier. She was tall and thin, and stood a yard or two away, and at the moment she was casually inspecting her naginata, and Katara saw that the Marine woman easily stood on the thick sheet of ice that she and Aang had laid down moments before. Her straight hair was long and dark, and fell around her shoulders, and what looked to be cool blue highlights shown in her hair. In the pale light of the evening, Katara could see that her clothing was covered in a thin layer of frost, as was her naginata. The woman had an icy expression, and as she spoke, icy vapors formed from her breath.
"So, you can control water and ice, which is quite interesting. And all of those movements seem to be what enables you to accomplish such an amazing feat."
Katara immediately went on the defensive, as she wasn't sure what action she should take at the moment, and thought that she should be extra careful. As the woman walked, icy tendrils trailed from her footsteps. The way she spoke seemed to be making more of an observation than anything else. She seemed to be disinterested in Katara's abilities, but rather how said abilities could be executed.
"Before we get started, my name is Adel, as I believe my opponents have a right to know the name of the person who will defeat them. It is honorable." The woman said, as she slowly paced to the side, her icy eyes never leaving Katara. She continued. "It is a shame that you have associated yourself with the likes of Straw Hat and the Dark Doctor. It is too late to look back and regret the poor decisions that you have made."
Katara shot a stream of water at Adel, but the water turned to harmless ice crystals upon contact with Adel. The icy vapor rose from her hand, and Adel looked down at the ice that had formed between her fingers, her expression seemed to be one of mild annoyance, and she turned her attention back to Katara. She flicked her hand to rid it of the bits of ice, and using the frost she was able to produce, she glided across the ground, coming in low and quickly striking from below. Katara barely dodged as the naginata fortunately only cut her shirt, leaving a trail of frost in its wake.
Adel was incredibly fast, forcing Katara to do nothing but try and dodge. Katara kept trying to increase the distance between them in order for her to have a chance to attack, but Adel's speed and swift movements made widening the gap practically impossible, and her naginata extended her reach. At one moment, Katara managed to dodge the naginata and as she turned to try and attack in an attempt to help her escape, Adel reached for Katara. Katara used the water that surrounded her on the island and made a makeshift surfing board, and she was able to escape Adel's grasp. Adel's fingers only just brushed Katara's arm, but Katara did not start to worry until she realized that her arm was covered in ice, and the cold had seeped through her arm. It was as if her arm itself had turned to ice.
"Frostbite," Adel was cool, calm, and collected.
Katara's arm was becoming numb with the cold, and she very likely would have been able to reverse any damage done to by Adel's ice attacks, but she was not getting the chance to do so. Although Katara's movements using her arm were somewhat slower and stiffer, her bending abilities were not all that impeded. Adel was quick, precise, and merciless, unwilling to let Katara do anything else. Luckily for Katara, she had the natural and physical capabilities to move without fully relying on her waterbending. If that had been the case, Adel would have simply been able to freeze the water Katara was using to dodge, and she would have successfully captured her desired target.
Katara escaped out a few feet into the ocean in order to give her time to think and to rest, and watched warily from where she stood on a small, makeshift icy island, while Adel's face hardly even changed in expression. "That is fascinating."
As her eyes studied the situation carefully, she paced slowly back and forth near the edge of the disk island. Adel raised her naginata, and swung, and Katara fell back into the water and she stared in shock and fear as several of the smaller jagged rocks sticking out of the ocean lost their tops.
Oh, Spirits, that could have been me...
Katara found herself having to dodge again as icicles shot through the water at her, and Katara admittedly became annoyed as she remembered how clear the water was, even hundreds of feet deep. She couldn't use it for cover, and it was obvious that this woman possessed Haki.
Katara's eyes widened as she saw Adel raise her naginata and Katara used her waterbending to propel herself out of the traveling strike brought on by Adel's attack. A few rooftops of the building ruins and an unfortunate school of fish were cut in half. After healing her arm, Katara began to formulate a plan, and shortly she had a determined expression on her face.
Katara took a deep breath from the air bubble she had formed for herself.
Katara started a whirlpool, and slowly raised herself out of the water. Adel watched in curiosity for a moment before forming a few icicles and firing them at Katara, who in turn created tentacles to grab the projectiles. Katara's plan suddenly faltered as Adel ran across the water after her, her footsteps freezing the water as she ran. She froze Katara's whirlpool, freezing Katara in place, and ran up the side. Adel raised her naginata above her head to strike, and Katara twisted out of the icy prison, and used a few water tentacles to grab Adel and try and pull her into the ocean, but Adel saw what she was trying to do.
She dove after Katara, jumping off of the icy structure with incredible speed and she grabbed Katara's shoulder, successfully freezing it. Katara expected to land in the water, but found that she hit an icy surface, and the ice began to travel across Katara, freezing her in place. Katara gasped at the impact and the cold.
"It's useful to have a long distance weapon," said Adel. "I was able to freeze the water upon contact. It would be best if you surrendered now."
Slowing her breathing, Katara quickly melted the ice that had surrounded her and created steam, giving her some cover.
"Augh!" Katara screamed as a large gash appeared on her leg. Blood flowed from the wound, and Katara swam trying to find a way out of Adel's reach so that she could heal herself. While Katara was able to at least heal the surface of her leg, she had to dodge a few more icicles before she was hit.
I'm surrounded by my element…Time to show this lady what a Waterbending Master can do…
Once again, Katara rose out of the water, creating an icy surface for her to stand on, and then a large swirling wall of water as she surfed towards Adel. Instead of simply (and uselessly) pelting Adel with large shots of water, Katara created water whips and began her attacks, forcing her opponent to dodge. Upon contact with Adel, the water immediately turned to into a harmless white powder and Adel smirked, "You've already tried that, water-girl! Don't you ever learn?! That sort of thing does not work on me!." Her eyes widened briefly as instead of a water whip, a large sheath of ice came at her, forcing her to dodge.
Adel dodged easily, and sent a slash from her naginata at Katara, who used the water to help her dodge the strike. Katara then created a large tidal wave, and shot it at Adel, who was becoming increasingly annoyed at the girl (although her face did not show it) and timing the strike just right, she rode the wave until she was just a foot away from Adel. Katara created an icy prison, around them, and melted the ice underneath them so that the icy block that contained the two fell into the ocean.
Adel's eyes widened at what Katara was trying to do, so she called out, "Ice Cavern!"
Ice shot out in all directions from Adel, and Katara winced slightly as numerous shards cut her exposed limbs and face. Katara stared wide-eyed at the large maze-like cavern that had formed under the ocean, and she could tell that it was quite a few feet thick. Large spikes shot out from the ceiling, which Katara barely dodged. She glanced at the spikes, and slightly shivered knowing what those spikes could have easily done to her.
"I will not allow you to use any of your techniques," said Adel, from somewhere within the cavern, her glare even icier than before. "How long do you think you can stand within my cavern, girl?"
Spikes shot out of the floor, just barely missing Katara once again. As she caught her breath, it was then she began to realize how cold it was. The temperature was rapidly dropping, and here she was, wearing clothes that would be more suitable in the high temperatures of the Fire Nation. Her plan had been to pull Adel into the ocean and form an icy prison around her, and from there Katara would have swam away. But now…
"Did you seriously think that you could trap me in a cage of ice?"
The ice was somehow different; in that it was stronger than anything Katara had ever seen personally before, and more frightening was that it almost felt as if she was cut off from the ocean. She could feel her body temperature rapidly dropping, and things were made worse when Adel called out, "Polar Vortex,"
A fierce cold traveled throughout the cavern, and struck Katara, and she gasped from the sheer cold. She felt as if she had taken a plunge in the icy waters of the South Pole. She felt so tired, but she forced herself to keep moving.
"Go to sleep, Katara-san." The cold taunting voice of Adel said from somewhere behind her. "You know you want to. Give in to it."
Katara made her own icy wall with the water from her waterskin as a means of protection
Come to me…
Katara pulled at the ocean. It was right there at her fingertips.
Please…come to me…come on!
"There you are. Did you seriously think you could hide from me?"
Katara's only defense started to crumble as Adel more than easily chipped away at it.
Spirits! Please! Help me!
Adel raised her naginata to strike Katara, but she suddenly stopped and her eyes widened when she heard it and looked over to where the sound had originated from; her ice was cracking.
"Impossible!" she gasped. No one had ever cracked her Ice Cavern like this before! There was Katara, with a determined look on her face, brow quivering from the concentration that she was putting herself through.
"Ice rain!"
Katara briefly stopped pulling at the ocean to do a slight combination of defending herself from the icicles and to hit Adel with some ice of her own. Katara managed to squeeze passed Adel while she was briefly distracted, but Adel managed to drive an icy spike into Katara's shoulder, but thankfully for Katara, it was a through-and-through, but her adrenaline was pumping so rapidly that she hardly even noticed her wound. Katara summoned the water she had used as her defense and pulled at the ocean as well. She could feel it. It was so close. While the girl was going on her futile attempt to escape, Adel fixed the cracks.
"Bothersome girl," she spat.
Katara turned a corner in order to hide and rest briefly, and then she went to work; she began slicing at the icy wall as quickly as she could. In the pale light she could see Adel making her way through the caverns towards her.
"Come on…" whispered Katara, and she pulled at the ocean.
*crack*
"This ends now." Adel raised her naginata to strike.
Katara felt her element just within her reach, and she desperately pulled at it with all of her might. The icy walls shattered where Katara had managed to crack them, and water flooded the cavern. Katara let out a gasp as the water hit her, and Adel couldn't even properly defend herself from the tide. As the water enveloped them, Katara used the rush of the current to her advantage and pushed Adel against the wall. The water around her kept freezing and unfreezing, and she had passed out from her strength being sucked away.
Not willing to let her drown, Katara made a wall and a decent air pocket so that she couldn't escape too easily, yet could still be found when her men came looking for her.
Katara climbed out and plopped onto the shore, letting out a brief sigh of relief. She then noticed her injuries, and gave a small smile. "I did it…"
She saw that her friends were still fighting a few Marines, so after quickly healing her shoulder, she ran to help them out.
Aang stared in a confused manner at the man before him, as he was currently standing with his back to Aang, and was pointing and with determined valor, he declared, "Pirate! You will not escape this night! You must face your crimes!"
"Uh…I'm over here…" Aang said slowly, as he wasn't sure what to make of the man. He had his clothes on backwards, which made Aang admittedly want to laugh, plus the way he was speaking made things all the more absurd. But after seeing what a few of the other Marines could do, he did not want to risk letting his guard down. "…And, why do you sound like that…?"
The Marine spoke as if he were addressing a large crowd, and was trying to be heard over the din.
"Guwah!" his eyes widened in shock. "How long have you been standing there?!"
"Huh…?" Aang saw this situation getting even more ridiculous. "We've been talking for the past two minutes!"
"Oh? We have? Huh." The Marine looked thoughtful, and then a cocky look graced his features. Turning his back to Aang once again, "I say, dear boy, you may be skilled in the art of hiding behind someone, but I, Galen will defeat you!"
Unfortunately Aang had stopped listening around the "dear boy" part as he was dodging a large Marine that had apparently been tossed by Robin. "Sorry, Arrow-kun!" Robin called, her lips in a smile, and Aang would have shouted at her, but he stopped when Galen shouted at him, "You aren't paying any attention are you?!" all while he continued to have his back turned to the Airbender.
"Enough of this…" Aang muttered to himself, and he shot a blast of air at Galen, who easily dodged, and Aang had to do a double-take for a moment, because he could have sworn that Galen had just went completely flat, like paper, or a cloth.
"Huh…?" Aang started, but he didn't have much time to think about it as Galen shouted, "From the right!" (Although he attacked from Aang's left) Galen attacked again, announcing, "From above!" when he was attacking from below and vise-versa. Although Aang was able to anticipate his attacks, Galen's speed and flexibility made dodging and attacking somewhat difficult. The pattern of attacking from the opposite side of his announced attacks continued for an annoyingly long while in Aang's opinion, and he was getting tired of it. He began trying to think of some way to stop Galen and get out of his current situation, when Galen stopped.
"I must commend you on your ability to block my attacks," said Galen with a shake of his head. "Not many can do that."
"Because you keep telling me where you're coming from…"
"Too bad I'll have to get serious now; I didn't anticipate you'd be so much trouble…"
"I'm too much trouble…?" Aang mumbled, and he was caught off guard when Galen announced, "From the left!" and actually attacked from the left.
Galen's speed picked up, as did his strange flexibility. His arm suddenly flattened out and wrapped around Aang, and he twisted and slammed Aang into the ground. Aang had to internally smirk as that attack was almost nothing compared to a training session with Toph. He had learned quite a few useful techniques that (most of the time) prevented him from getting the wind completely knocked out of him. Plus, he was able to cushion his impact with the earth using earthbending. He released a torrent of fire that forced Galen to let him go, but only temporally as Galen covered his arm in armor Haki and tightened his grip. He wrapped his hand and arm around Aang's face and body, and started squeezing tighter and tighter.
Aang couldn't breathe, and it was difficult to struggle. Things were made more difficult as he was slammed into the ground, but he was unable to do any earthbending. Although he had his fingers wrapped rather awkwardly around his staff, it was digging into both his hand and his side, and the cuffs weren't helping either. Wondering what he should do so he could escape, as he could feel himself on the verge of passing out from lack of oxygen, he then remembered one of the few new modifications that Franky had thought to add to Aang's staff just a few days prior.
Aang managed to squirm his fingers into a position where he was able to find a certain little switch, and when a sudden and very powerful blast of air shot out of Aang's staff, Galen was shocked enough to relinquish some of his grip and release Aang. Aang would have screamed from the Wind Dial shooting him a few miles away from the island and Galen's reach, but he was too busy greedily sucking precious oxygen back into his burning lungs. He was a little more used to the speed and power his staff housed, so he was able to fairly quickly release the fan mechanism in his staff before he fell into the ocean, and looped around to confront Galen once again.
The Airbender had to admit that he was thankful for Franky thinking of adding a switch on his staff so it wouldn't need to have the fan mechanism released in order to activate the Wind Dial (although he had to wonder why Franky had also added the Straw Hats' Jolly Rodger to the staff).
Aang dived towards the ground, and timing his landing just right, he used the force of his impact to create a fissure and release numerous boulders in Galen's direction. Aang's eyes widened when he saw Galen literally flatten himself and dodge between the boulders while at the same time side stepping the fissure. As always, with his back turned to him, Galen proudly announced, "By now you are wondering, 'How does he do it? How does he dodge all of my attempts to attack?' Well, I'll tell you. I ate the Paper-Paper Fruit."
He spun around while stretching and flattening his arms and hands, and flailed them around Aang. Aang winced as numerous painful cuts appeared all over the expose parts of his body and even cut at his clothes.
"Paper Cut! I'm a Paper Man, and all of your attacks are completely useless! Although I'm curious as to how you're still able to use your abilities with those Sea Stone cuffs on your wrist."
Aang created a large air-ball and used it to escape Galen's attack, but he didn't have a chance to relax for long as Galen tried to grab him again, and Aang went wide-eyed as Galen revealed the attack to be; "Paper Form: Shark!"
Galen's hands morphed into a pair of sharks and with incredible speed and power, the creatures smashed and chewed up the ground where Aang had been standing just moments before. Instead of feeling fear, Aang was very impressed.
"That's amazing!" He had to at least admit that.
"Oh, I know, right? Paper Form: Giraffe!" He stretched into the shape of a giraffe, and brought the nose down on top of Aang. "Paper Cut: Guillotine!"
Aang created a large slab from the earth to slow down the attack and give him a chance to escape, but his defense barely bought him seconds as the head of the "paper" giraffe broke through the rock, which twisted and stretched towards him with Galen declaring, "From the right!" (While attacking from the left, of course.) Galen was more than easily able to redirect the giraffe's head and shoot it towards Aang, who in turn used his staff and airbending to escape the attack. He tried to fly away to widen the distance between them and think of a quick strategy, but his plan or lack thereof did not last for long as Galen announced, "Paper Form: Bird!"
His arms turned into wings and he shot through the air directly at Aang. Aang took a deep breath and shot a stream of fire out of his mouth forcing Galen to veer away from him, and when Galen was temporarily distracted due to a small fire on his wing, he was blasted into the ground from an aerial attack from Aang. His response was to simply flatten himself as soon as he hit the ground, which practically made Aang's counter-attack useless.
It was then Aang began to formulate a plan…perhaps he could use Galen's Devil Fruit technique against him. Aang blasted a gust of wind which carried Galen into the air, and Aang had to maneuver as quickly as he could when Galen used "Paper Form: Dragon" and Aang winced inwardly as he realized how close a call it was to him being hit. He then realized that Galen's transformations seemed to take on some characteristics of the animal of which his hands or body had taken shape, albeit rather exaggerated.
Aang figured that forcing Galen into the air would be rather pointless as the Marine could simply transform into his flying form and charge at him. Aang would have to use speed and timing, and he was unable to figure out any sort of pattern with Galen declaring his attacks and coming from the opposite way the majority of the time. So, it would have to also be up to luck.
"Alright…" Aang started, "here goes…"
Aang shot towards the ground, creating a fissure which shot towards Galen, and also delivered numerous boulders of various sizes. When Galen flattened himself out to dodge the boulders, Aang then fired a gust of wind, sending Galen into the air and surprising him at the same time. Not letting him recover, Aang sucked him back into the earth and then tried to throw him into the ocean (fully intending to fish him out, of course) but a "Paper Form: Swan" from Galen released him from Aang's wind, and Galen used another "Paper Form: Dragon" against Aang.
Quickly attempting to dodge, Aang's ankle was caught in Galen's attack. The Airbender fell down to the earth, and quickly inspected his ankle. From what he could tell, his ankle thankfully wasn't broken, but it was either cracked or at least sprained. Aang's attention couldn't focus on his ankle at the moment because Galen had announced, "Paper Form: Rhinoceros – from the back!"
He charged at Aang with an incredible power and speed, and with a quick combination of airbending and earthbending, Aang dodged as well as redirected Galen's course. The power behind Galen's attack was to such an extent that he had to morph into a flying form to prevent himself from charging into the ocean. Galen charged again, "Paper Form: Rhinoceros – Soru!"
The ground was torn apart from his attack, and Aang jumped into the air, feeling the sheer force of Galen's attack as he ran by. Just as Galen reached the end of the disk island, Aang landed on the ground shoved a mountain of earth into Galen, not giving him the chance to recover from his velocity. Aang then took off into the air and landed on top of the mountain of earth, and saw Galen flopping in the water. Having to grin to himself, Aang created a small icy pool that ensured Galen wouldn't drown, but also that he couldn't escape either.
Aang sighed in relief, thankful that although he had gotten injured, it wasn't severe as last time.
Aang went to find the others, and hoped that they were all okay. When he found them, they were simply taking care of the remaining few Marines, and upon seeing him, Robin smiled. "Oh, Arrow-kun, I found this," and she held up a key. She walked over and unlocked the handcuff on his wrist, and as soon as Katara saw him, she beamed. "Aang!"
They both embraced and kissed, with Toph saying, "I'm rolling my eyes. Is this how you do it?"
After ensuring each other that they all were okay, Katara quickly healed everyone, and both Toph and Aang (especially Toph) commended Katara on her skill. ("Thanks to Doc Morbid" Toph chimed in)
"So, what now?" Katara asked. "Should we head into the town, go to the Marine Base, or to the far west island?"
"I vote going to the Marine base." Toph said with a nod.
"But Eurynome said to head to the far west island, didn't she?" Aang asked.
"Yeah, she did. But she didn't specify where we should go in between us going from here to there." Toph reasoned.
"Fufufufu," Robin chuckled. "You are already like that of a Straw Hat, Toph-chan."
"Thanks!"
"I say we go to the Marine Base as well." Nami suggested. Her eyes sparkled dangerously and she held her hand in the sign for money. "They could have quite a bit of treasure."
"I really wish that wasn't her motivation for going there," Aang mumbled to Katara, who only nodded in agreement.
The group then set off towards their destination, and put up earth and ice barriers to cause as much inconvenience to the Marines as possible.
Next Time: The Pirates find the town in chaos as they make their way to the Marine Base, Sanji suddenly disappears without explanation, and Eurynome, Zoro, Zuko, and Sokka race to find Ebony.
This chapter was longer than I intended, but I hope it was worth it! I thought it was…okay, but it had its moments.
I had to watch a few clips of the Benders doing their thing just to remind me how powerful bending really is. Not that I'm complaining, but I seriously hope that I'm doing them justice here.
And I figure that because Aang has four elements and quite a bit of skill on his side, although his fight would be difficult, he wouldn't struggle as much as his friends, but I at least wanted it to be somewhat of a challenge.
