Chapter 9 - Piriodo
"Piriodo," Rei murmured as she inspected the Eternal Pose Aokiji had left them, "So that's where the third End Point is..."
"I'll take that," Nami said, grabbing it out of Rei's hands and replaced it with a black leather belt. "And you can take this."
Rei looked over at the Navigator and saw that she was already dressed for battle. Mobston had kept all the supplies and gear from the ships that Z had destroyed. The old man didn't want to throw away the equipment and things of the others who had left it behind so he saved it all out of respect for their dreams and hopes. He had enough weapons and armor to prepare a hundred pirate crews.
Rei strapped the black leather belt over her chest and fitted a set of throwing knives into its holsters. It fit right over a white ruffled shirt that was too big for her and hung to her knees. She tied her utility belt around her waist to cinch it. She wore a gold bandana around her head, keeping her hair from falling in front of her face.
She looked around the warehouse at everyone else. They were all dressed and ready. It was a mix of red, gold, and black.
"Rei-chan! Nami-swan! Robin-chwan!" Sanji said ogling Robin's long legs in her short shorts, "You all look so lovely."
"Robin-san," Brook asked politely, "May I see your-?"
A slap across his face from Nami stopped the skeleton but Rei lifted up the hem of her shirt to show him the black leggings she had on that cut right below her knees. "I'm wearing shorts, Brook, not pants," she offered.
"Idiot! You don't need to show him those things!" Sanji and Usopp yelled at the same time, jumping in front of Rei as if to block her from Brook, "He didn't even ask you!"
Zoro scoffed and re-adjusted his swords under the long red coat he had draped over his shoulders.
"Alright, Rei," Nami said with her arms folded in front of her metal armor, "What's the plan?"
"The plan?" Rei repeated in confusion.
Nami put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot impatiently at Rei. "Of course. You must have a plan, right?"
Rei looked around and saw all the Straw Hats looking at her expectantly. "I haven't thought of any."
"Eh?" Luffy asked as he picked his nose, "Aren't we just going to barge in and fight Z?"
"Idiot!" Nami shouted, "There's going to be fleets and fleets of Navy ships there. Even if we do find Z, we'd still have to fight the marines to get to him and there will probably be more marines when we try to leave. I'm not going to just run in there without having a plan."
"Nami-swan is so sexy when she's careful!" Sanji swooned.
Rei contemplated Nami's words and then turned to the old sailor. "Mobston-san, do you have a large piece of paper?"
Mobston sat up and rummaged through a chest near him. He pulled out a really old map and flipped it backwards for Rei. He also pulled out an old fountain pen. "Here you go!"
"Thank you," Rei said. She placed it on the floor in front of her and lied down on her stomach to draw. The Straw Hats crowded around her to watch, except Luffy, who sat on top of a rather large crate and picked his nose. She first drew a large circle in the middle of the map. She then started to draw a lot of X's around the edges of the circle and then three question marks in the middle.
"So this is the island," she said gesturing to the circle, "And let's assume it's already surrounded by marines, which is what the X's are for. Our targets are Ain, Binz, and Z, which are these three question marks because we don't know where they will be."
She then drew three smaller circles right below the question marks. "Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy will be the ones to go after those three because they are Haki users and will be able to find them with their Observational Haki."
She drew a straight line from the edge of the island to the middle question mark. "I assume Luffy's just going to run ahead and straight for Z, right?"
"Sounds like something he'd do," Nami said with an irritated glare at her captain.
"That means Brook, Robin, and I will run ahead with Luffy to be the first wave of attack and get Luffy past the marines. I'm sure most of the marines will want to go after him first since he is our captain."
"What am I supposed to do, Rei-Sis?"
"You have the heaviest artillery out of all of us, Franky. You're basically a walking tank so you'll be at the very back providing cover for all of us," Rei said pointing to the edge of the island. "Also, we can't leave the Thousand Sunny unguarded while we're fighting. The Navy might confiscate it and we'll have no way to escape."
"Wait! That leaves me, Chopper, and Nami to fight on our own?!" Usopp yelped. "Are you sure that's the best idea?"
Rei looked up at them in surprise, "But you guys have the ultimate combo attack."
"WHAT?!" Nami, Usopp, and Chopper cried incredulously, "What ultimate combo attack?"
"Well isn't it obvious since Nami has the Clima Tact, Usopp has his Pop Greens, and Chopper…" Rei started to say but then realized they were all staring blankly at her, even Robin, "Oh, I guess I'll fill you guys in on it on the way there."
"So what happens when we finish off the marines?" Usopp asked.
Rei jumped to her feet and rolled up the piece of paper. On the other side of the map was an island called Punk Hazard but Rei thought nothing of it as she returned it to Mobston. "We'll meet up with Luffy so that we can all regroup and fight our way out once we beat Z," she said, "Provided that the Dyna Stones don't explode by then. Otherwise, we'll all die but at least we'll die together."
"If we're lucky, the blast from the Dyna Stones will kill us before our bodies get melted by the lava," Robin mused.
"You two need to stop it!" Usopp wailed.
"I thought you'd want to go after Ain yourself, Know It All," Zoro asked. The group turned to look at him. He was leaning against a wall in the far back with his arms crossed and his head down. He seemingly wasn't paying attention to the plan but in reality, he heard every word. "You have history with her…"
Rei shook her head. "She is not the Ain that I know. She is willing to die for the ideals of another person and has abandoned her own. Besides, you called her as your opponent already. This is your fight."
Zoro smirked at the show of respect from Rei. "Oy, Know it All, I sensed a hesitancy in her sword earlier. Maybe she's not as determined as you think she is."
"I don't care."
"Are you really that heartless or do you just not want to see one of your classmates fall?" Zoro asked.
Rei froze and looked at Zoro in surprise.
"If you didn't care, you wouldn't have insisted to come with us back on the island. You could've waited for us on the Sea Train."
Rei looked away and remained silent.
"I won't kill her, Know It All, I promise you that," he said.
"Zoro…" Rei said softly, "Thank you."
"Tch, don't thank me now," Zoro said, "I haven't even fought her yet."
"No, I meant thank you...for caring about me."
"What?!" Now Zoro was completely confused.
"Thank you for caring," Rei repeated with a firmer voice. "At least enough to tell me this and also for earlier. I know you wouldn't have tried to stop me from fighting if you weren't worried about me."
Zoro was taken aback by her words and he stared at her in disbelief. He then glanced over and realized all the Straw Hats were staring at them. "What are you all looking at?!" he barked at them.
"Eeep! Zoro's mad!" Chopper and Usopp squealed as they ran out of the room.
"Shi-shi-shi-shi," Luffy chuckled as he sauntered behind them, "Sanji, maybe you should learn a bit from Zoro. Then maybe you'll have more luck with girls."
"What did you say?!" Sanji thundered, racing after his captain, "I'm so going to kick your ass, Luffy! Get back here."
The rest of the Straw Hats burst into laughter and left the room. Only Zoro and Rei remained with neither of them speaking. Finally, Rei decided to break the silence. "I've never really had anyone outside of my family take care of me so it takes awhile to get used to," Rei admitted, "Both Sanji and Robin told me I needed to start relying on you guys and I am trying. I really am."
"They said that?" Zoro grunted, "What else did they say?"
"That I need to start small before I figure out what it is that I want in the long run," Rei said, "And just focus on what I want right now."
"And what do you want right now?" Zoro asked.
"You," Rei answered.
Zoro gaped at her and felt blood rushing up to his face. "What the hell?"
"I want you to be my friend. Please be patient with me as I'm still trying to figure out what it means to be one," Rei clarified.
Zoro re-folded his arms and cleared his throat. "Ah, I see."
He brushed past Rei and went towards the door. He didn't want her to see how red his face had gotten over her words. Unfortunately, as he pushed the door open, he saw Usopp, Nami, Sanji, and Chopper squatting outside the door trying to listen in. They took one look at his face and bursted into laughter. They all fell back on the floor in hysterics.
Zoro's eye darkened and a red glint shown in his good eye.
Shing! Shing!
Zoro returned his sword back into the scabbard while Nami, Usopp, and Chopper clung to each other in fear. Zoro had sliced the ground around them and it was only inches away from the top of their head and the bottom of their feet.
"Next time," he threatened, "I won't miss."
Sanji, unfazed by the swordsman's outburst, got up to his feet and dusted off his pants. "Oy, Rei-chan, time to get going!" he shouted into the warehouse and Rei walked out, readjusting her utility belt. Sanji reached out his hand and Rei took it without thinking twice.
"Sorry for the delay," she said, breezing past Zoro. She did not notice the thunderous look on his face as she and Sanji strolled hand in hand towards the Thousand Sunny.
The crew made their way up the stairs to board the Thousand Sunny with Luffy waiting at the bottom of the steps to be the last one in.
"Guys!" called out a voice from behind them. They all stopped and turned. Gari was running towards them with a wooden sword in his hand and a cardboard mask on this head. "When I grow up, I want to be a hero! Which one should I be, a Navy Admiral or a Pirate?"
"Pirates aren't heroes," Luffy answered in surprise.
"Really?" Gari gasped.
"They're both the same to you?" Sanji asked.
Gari nodded earnestly. "Yes! You guys are so cool!"
The Straw Hats laughed and went back up the stairs. Luffy stayed behind and thrust his fist up in the air. "Gari! The best is to do what you like!"
Rei stopped on the stairs and turned to look at her captain. Sanji was still holding her hand and he tugged at it gently to remind her to keep climbing. She looked up at the cook and he smiled at her. "See? I told you that's what Luffy would say."
Rei nodded and hurried up the stairs, not noticing the scowl the swordsman was flashing towards the cook nor the wink the cook gave back to the swordsman.
"Straight forward!" Nami instructed the crew as they blasted their way through the fleet of Naval ships.
Cannonballs rained down on the Thousand Sunny but with the slice of Zoro's swords and the swift kicks from Sanji, they all fell to the side.
"Frontal cannon!" Luffy ordered as he stood on top of Sunny's head. He thrust a pirate sword into the air and then brought it down, "Fire!"
Usopp, who was sitting in the gun room downstairs, loaded the cannon and fired. Sunny's mouth opened and a strong blue laser shot out and destroyed the marine fleet in their way.
"Up ahead! I see the island!" Brook called from the crow's nest.
"Get ready, Rei-sis," Franky said to Rei as they ran towards the front of the ship. As soon as the ship skidded onto the beach, the entire crew jumped overboard and onto the sand below. They were greeted by hundreds of marines.
"Nami, Chopper, Usopp, are you guys ready?" Rei asked.
"Too late to back out now," Nami replied, "We're already here!"
"Where the hell is Z?!" Luffy demanded to the marines, "Let us pass!"
The guns on Franky's shoulders started to blast away. "Go on ahead! I'll cover you."
"Yosh!" Luffy cried as they charged forward.
"Listen to the requiem of the other world," Brook said as he drew his sword, "Soul Solid!" A wave of ice froze a group of marines.
Robin crossed her arms. "Mil Fleur! Gigantic Mano. Stomp!" Two large legs burst through the ground and started to stomp on another set of marines.
"Talon Gatling!" Rei yelled as she unleashed her throwing knives. They each hit a marine on the shoulder and sent them flying backwards. She pulled out her own dagger chains and threw them forward. "Chain Spear!" The daggers wound around each other as they thrust through a group of marines. They parted to the side giving Luffy room to run past. Luffy flashed Rei a grin before running forward.
The marines closed in from behind them but Rei did not look back as she ran behind her captain. She threw her knives and knocked back anyone who even stepped in his direction. The sound of backs breaking also filled the air as Robin held onto other marines, while Brook cut through them like a weed whacker.
"Ultimate Combo Attack!" Nami shouted from behind them. "Natural Disaster!"
"Horn Point!" Chopper cried as he enlarged his horns and ran around the marines. He herded them into a nice tight circle. "Usopp!"
"Ah!" Usopp said as he aimed his Kabuto, "Sure Kill! Midori Boshi: Devil!"
Vines sprouted out from the center of the circle and wrapped themselves tightly around the marines, locking them in place. "Nami!" Usopp called.
"Thunder Tempo!" Nami shouted, waving her clima-tact and a large storm cloud formed over the marines. Bolts of lightning struck them all down, leaving only Nami, Usopp, and Chopper standing outside of it's reach.
"Woohoo! We did it!" Usopp exclaimed.
From a distance, Robin, Brook, and Rei watched with a smile on their faces. "Looks like your plan worked," Robin said.
Rei reached for her throwing knives and looked behind the group. "It's not over yet."
The rest of them turned to look and saw a row of Pacifistas coming towards them. They opened up their mouths and began to power up their laser beams. Rei untied her utility belt and ran forward towards them. Without it weighing her down in addition to her having her eight year old body, she was faster than ever.
"Rei-san!" Brook cried as the group ran back away from the laser beams.
She dodged the incoming lasers using both her speed and her Observational Haki. She pulled out her knife and quickly jumped onto one of the Pacifista's back. She wedged it at the point where the head meets the neck and it immediately started to sputter. Rei flipped herself off of its back and landed on the ground behind it. The body jerked uncontrollably before it's limbs fell apart and it tumbled to the ground.
One of the Pacifistas turned and directed a beam at her but it was met with the same treatment.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four Pacifistas exploded near her and she turned to see Franky off in the distance with his guns blazing. "Ow! Sorry it took so long!"
"Radical Beam!" he shouted as he charged up his beam in his palm. It shot forward and destroyed the remaining Pacifistas. Franky smirked and lifted his sunglasses to give Rei a wink. "Rei-Sis, how's that for heavy artillery?"
"Super!" Rei said with a thumbs up.