I don't own One-Piece, it belongs to Eiichiro Oda.
Hello everyone! I'm back with a new Chapter, have fun!
Lightningblade49: 1) I would have been disappointed if you didn't. 2) Oh, you'll just have to wait to find out!
serpentguy: 1) Believe me, there will be a lot! (2) It's not 'instant loyalty', it's just that she was in a state of shock and reacted too emotionally with her half-baked from hunger and sun brain. (3) Ehh, nobody saw the joke... (4) I hope you'll like it! (5) Care to try and guess at least two of them?
iiILurvePancakesii: Nothing beats classic! Thank you!
Treetho: Well, here you go!
Apok: Well, I'm trying to be original! And thank you for reading!
NAFNAF509: Thank you, I will! And here is another one!
Uranos: (1) Thank you! And his problems will be a tad bit different, but still funny! (2) Also, did you noticed that no one actually came into direct contact with his magma, right? Luffy isn't a monster or a sociopath so he won't kill people for shit and giggles and therefore you can say that he's holding back.
bloodyrose: Thank you, come again!
mlkoolc86: Oh, there will be a lot of them, don't worry, you'll just have to wait and see!
Lord-of Oceans-Poseidon: Glad you liked it! Here you go!
OnePieceFan2: 1) Well, she was proving herself to herself actually, but you got the point. 2) Rear and Review!
R .D. T: Well, the Magu Magu no Mi was an old idea of mine and I was able to properly give it life only now. Also Luffy is not that much smarter than he was in the Canon, but still noticeable. Thank you again for reading and Reviewing!
Selias: Thanks!
iitrnr: Thank you! I aim to please!
david. teague. 3950: Nah, she has her own thing going here.
Flux Casey: 1) I'm not familiar enough with the Series to answer this.
2) Oh, damn! I'm really glad he liked it! I finished listening it not long ago but my English isn't good enough to understand what he didn't like about it, something about letters?
3) Thank you! I'm try to shake things as much as I can without making the Story unrecognizable. While the Canon is still close, I'm making sure to alter the course of the story while making it look natural and without an unhealthy amount of OCs needed to cover up the holes in the plot like in some Stories.
4) You're probably talking about 'Luffy's Renewed Adventure' by F-ckthesystem125, author promising us changes and in the end delivering nothing but stagnation. At least a Harem is present and active, somewhat. serpentguy's 'Nine Minutes' is awesome because it still follows the Canon somewhat but with some much more twisting and turning that it's still interesting to read without trying to split your attention between it and Manga/Anime on your second screen. Mine will be a bit different, elements of Canon will be still present but not really all that illogically forced upon the Main Characters like in other Stories.
5) Yeah, Luffy isn't perfect or invulnerable, he will have some really hard time in the future but right now his status as a Logia will save him some trouble on his way towards the Grand Line.
6) Again, don't worry, I won't simply retell you Canon.
7) Everyone's opinion is important!
norris321: Thank you! I try!
NinjaFang1331: Thank you!
sharingankakashi007: 1) Thank you!
2) Morgan was the one doing the killing, I'll try to go more in-depth with that one soon.
3) Mine too, but some sacrafices must be made for the sake of the Bigger Picture.
4) Agreed, she's one of my favorite Characters too.
5) I'll explain it sooner or later.
6) Well, you know how Morgan was? Well, he wasn't honorable in any way or form and just made Zoro die via trickery and backstabbing. The fuller explanation will be in the later Chapters.
7) Agreed.
8) True.
9) Yep, but not for long. *Wink*
10) She doesn't even need it, and won't really use it anyway.
11) I know the feeling.
12) *Snort*
13) Thank you!
Serenity de la Luna: He died.
Chapter 004: General of the Sea!
Wealth, fame, power... Gold Rodger, the King of the Pirates obtained this and everything else the world had to offer. And his dying words drove countless souls to seas.
"You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place! Now you just have to find it!"
These words lured men to the Grand Line in pursuit of dreams greater than they've ever dared to imagine! This is the time known as 'The Great Pirate Era'!
"Three-hundred-seventy-two..." Senchō was balancing on the top of the only mast of their little boat and doing push-up on his right hand.
It was five days since they left Shells Town and Tashigi was pretty sure that soon they will see an island on the horizon. She already finished with her own daily routine and was now reading the little book that Senchō liberated from Morgan's safe-box.
'Incredible!' She was reading only the into but she already could see just how useful this little book will be in the future! 'Who could have thought that Morgan had such a treasure in his possession? And considering that I didn't see him doing anything that is described here I can only guess that he was either too weak and wasn't able to learn anything or too arrogant to actually open it and read it.' Tashigi was really questioning how the man made it to the Rank of a Captain with such an attitude.
The book in her hands was labeled Rokushiki. A damn whole style of Martial Art that was specifically developed to combat an opponents that a far above any normal human. Tashigi knew that she floating somewhere at the bottom of the World's food-chain, someone like Edward 'Whitebeard' Newgate or Sengoku 'The Buddha' would make her keel over by just sneezing at her too strongly, and she wasn't bothered but it even in slightest. They had years of experience on her and much more brutal training regime that she simply didn't need up until this moment.
She knew that her Senchō was strong, and that without taking his Akuma no Mi into account. Tashigi wasn't very well informed about this particular set of oceans' treasures, but from what she was able to put together Luffy ate a Logia, turning him into a specific breed of super-humans that mostly could be only met further into Grand Line, and that was a big exaggeration. She couldn't even dream about meeting someone with such a powerful ability and not even in her wildest dreams she imagined herself becoming a Pirate of all things!
Right now Tashigi could still feel the burn in her muscles that were screaming bloody murder not so long ago because of her new and far more brutal training regime that made it actually painful for her to even move after the first session. She knew that with an insane dream like her Senchō's they would be facing some serious competition and opposition in the near future. Marines and World Government would sooner issue pink as their new color and tutus as a uniform than let another Gol D. Roger happen, one was more than enough. If a Rookie with enough power and a big enough ambition will appear they would through their best at him or her and wait from bodies to start floating belly-up in a lake of blood, they wouldn't be able to afford to leave it to chance. So Tashigi needed to become stronger, a lot stronger if what she heard about the first part of the Grand Line was even remotely true.
Push-ups, sit-ups, several thousands swings of her sword, she really needed to buy some weights so her work-outs would be more effective. She looked through the book in her hands and knew that she would need to leave any doubts behind and just work hard to achieve a level where she would be able to perform at least one of the techniques described in the book.
She already shared her concerns with Senchō and he agreed that they would need to be stronger to face someone who would be able to perform the utterly inhuman techniques described in the book. Normal, ordinary humans just weren't tough enough to survive even the beginning of the Grand Line, so they would be to literally surpass their own limits and become far more than just ordinary people.
"Wah, that was tiresome..." Said Luffy as he landed near Tashigi after his five-hundred's push-up on one hand while balancing on the mast.
On thing that Gramps made absolutely clear and literally drilled into Luffy's head was the importance of always keeping himself in shape. Well, it wasn't actually an argument or something, it was just that whenever Luffy would complain about the harsh treatment...
"What did you just say you little shit?!"
"I'm sorry!"
[Ai aru Kobushi]
Even now Luffy shuddered still haunted by Gramps' fists. He still couldn't understand how the hell did his grandpa was able to actually physically hit him without loosing his hand in the process and Luffy actually feeling the punch. He actually once thought about it so hard his head started hurting, but he still couldn't explain why the hell did Gramps' attacks bypassed his Logia-defense.
"Damn, and now I'm hungry..." He groaned. Due to his Akuma no Mi his body-temperature and metabolism were higher and faster respectably than any normal person's and with his normal training regime he usually ate at least five full meals a day and still had room for more at the end. "Tashigi, is there anything we have to eat?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, Senchō, but you ate the last apples we had." She said with a sigh and put her book in the pocket of her coat. "I took enough food that we should have lasted at least a week, but obviously I was wrong. Considering our daily routine..." She trailed off, but the meaning was pretty obvious.
Luffy groaned again. His insane to normal people training regime was one thing that he was really afraid of breaking, considering that the old fart would somehow find out that he skipped on his training and Luffy wasn't very eager to receive another 'disciplinary lectures' from Gramps, he couldn't even think right after his first and last one of those, too much brain-damage in one go. At least Luffy got better and learned something new!
'I learned that Gramps doesn't like when someone ignores him...' Luffy shuddered again from the traumatizing memory.
"Why can't food just fall from the sky?" He knew he was whining too much in this situation, but he honestly was too hungry to care.
*Whiiiiiieeeeuuu*
Suddenly he heard a very familiar noise. It was a tad bit different from the normal one that he was used to, but close enough for his body to react accordingly.
"Today Luffy, we will be learning how to dodge!" Barked Garp with a wide smile.
"But Gramps...!" Whined eleven-years-old Luffy.
"No 'buts'!" Barked the old man, carrying a whole basket full of baseball balls. "Now go over there and be ready!"
Luffy obeyed while grumbling about harsh treatment.
"I don't understand how it will help me! They will just burn to ashes from contact with my body!" He tried again.
Then he noticed that Garp was smirking, which was a sight of something bad about to happen.
Before Luffy was able to protest...
[Genkotsu Meteo]
"Aaaaargh!" Luffy screamed as the small ball impacted his chest, sending him flying backwards.
Luffy saw enough times how Gramps used this move with cannonballs instead of baseball balls, and the sound was different, but close enough for him to recognize. Tashigi was on her feet at the same time as he, but still not quite understanding what was happening. One good thing that he learned from that training with the old fart, well except that people can develop a phobia of baseball balls, is that when you can't dodge...
Luffy spun around a looked at the direction of the noise. He couldn't quite make out the coming object, but he knew that it was coming their way and very fast. Without even thinking twice he pulled his right hand back a let it transform into magma, increasing its size several times over.
[Funka]
He launched his fist forward with an impressive speed, shooting a giant fist-shaped projectile right at the incoming danger.
*Boom*
The collision between the two produced a gigantic explosion, creating a shock-wave strong enough to shake to small boat they were in. The problem was that Luffy rarely thought through his actions, which often resulted in the unexpected negative consequence, this time was not an exception. The small bits of magma, leftovers from his attack, were raining down on them thrown in all direction by the power of the explosion.
Apparently luck was still on the straw-hat wearing boy's side because none of the small magma-rocks impacted their small boat.
"That was close..." Muttered Luffy, as the boat stopped rocking from side to side.
"What was that?" Asked Tashigi, while holding her two swords with one hand and using the mast to not fall off with the other.
"Not a cannonball, too big..." He answered.
Suddenly their boat shook and the water in front of them started bubbling.
"Something..." Started Tashigi. "Something is rising from the water."
Suddenly the water exploded splashing the two pirates and almost sinking their fragile vessel, but they were more concerned with the creature that emerged from the water. It had a very long neck and a massive body covered with a bluish-gray rough skin, crocodile like head with samurai-like helmet with a crab-like pincers on each side of it on it, long tail and instead of feet it had four flippers. On its back could seen a fin of a darker greenish color going from its neck and to the tip of its tail.
Tashigi looked closer and noticed a mark in a shape of a skull with two red pincers on each side and three bended lines going from its base, and two circles on its 'forehead'.
She knew some of the more famous crews in the East Blue, like Krieg's massive band of cannon fodder or Arlong's murderous gang, but this mark was unfamiliar to her.
"Hey, Tashigi..." She looked at her Senchō, whose eyes were shadowed by his straw-hat, and a creepy smirk was plastered on his face. "On how many days do you think we will have food after gutting this thing?"
Tashigi blinked once, twice... Then a similar smirk appeared on her face. It really didn't matter if some other pirates owned this thing, how they say, 'finders - keepers, losers - weepers'? And she was hungry enough to temporally forget about her sore muscles and the idea of a full meal was giving her enough energy to fight at the moment.
"Well, if we'll find some way to preserve the meat, it would be a month or so without a worry for us." She said while pulling Shigure from its sheath.
Plesiosaur was scared.
Normally it would go wherever the loud thing happen and eat the ones that were alive after the big loud thing. Owner approved of its behavior and Plesiosaur was all to happy to eat free food without the need to hunt for it and get tired. But this time it was different.
The food was unharmed by the loud thing and was looking at it with the same eyes that it usually looked at its pray. Plesiosaur saw hunger in their eyes, and every instinct in its body was screaming at it to run and hide because these two superior predators were too dangerous for it to even think of fighting.
So, it fled.
"You won't get away, meat!" Roared Luffy while using the oars to follow the not-yet-cooked meal that apparently didn't want to surrender easily.
"It's right in front of us!" Called Tashigi standing on the stem, holding Shigure tightly in her hand and ready to jump on the fleeing beast's back or tail.
Luffy asked why couldn't he just launch a magma-fist at it, when Tashigi said that they wanted to eat it, and with his power they will end up with a big pile of embers instead of fresh meat, so she would just cut it down with her sword and then they will cook it using Luffy's magma. The idea of a big meal and a month worth of food were enough t motivate him to take oars and make the boat keep up with the obviously fleeing beast.
Ten minutes of non-stop rowing ended with the beast submerging back into the ocean.
"Damn, it dove..." Muttered panting Luffy. Normally such a small workout wouldn't even put a strain on him, but with the lack of food and the fact that he did his usual exercises not long ago made his stamina drop pretty fast. "Do you still see it?" He asked Tashigi.
"Sorry, Senchō, but it's too deep now for me to see it, it got away." She answered. "But I can see an island not far away from here, we can make it there pretty fast and..." She wasn't able to finish, because Luffy started rowing with a new vigor, the thoughts of finally getting something to eat empowering him.
Medaka was running for her life, trying to escape from the two pirates that were following her. She was wearing an oversized chest-plate that looked more like a short metal dress on her, helmet with a double-visor and metallic boots. On her forearms she had metal braces and was carrying a Naginata that was too long for such a small girl.
Several weeks ago her peaceful life was shattered when her father was taken by that bastard Ganzack and his band of misfits and taken somewhere on the island, as were other men and women, leaving only children and old people to live in the village.
'And nobody tried to do anything!' Thought Medaka bitterly. Normally they would call for Marines, but considering that most of the island's population was basically held hostage nobody dared to even suggest such a thing. It was horrible for the eight-years-old to know that her father was forced to work for this monsters without end to only keep his family safe, because the people who didn't work or worked poorly were treated by the show of their friends or family being executed right in front of them.
She just couldn't handle it.
She took the old armor that her father kept in the attic, the Naginata was actually the only thing that she had to actually liberate from the pirates. It took her several days to find a particular pair of goons that weren't particularly smart and went far enough from the base so no one would came upon hearing the ruckus. The plan itself was simple, she just had to defeat the pirates, tie them up and make them tell her where her father was kept.
Simple!
Well, it was simple in theory, but considering that she had no battle experience or strength and speed to keep up with the pirates she was forced to retreat... Temporally! She was only temporally retreating, she was running away damn it! Right now she was trying to shake them off by running along the beach where she initially tried to ambush the two. Her armor was keeping her safe from the dagger and the sword that the two were attacking her with, but it didn't change the fact that even if they couldn't harm her she couldn't actually harm them! She took Naginata simply to compensate for her small stature by increasing her range of attack, but it backfired spectacularly because the weapon was too big and unwieldy for her to fight properly.
*Clang*
Another attack from the sword-wielding pirate was deflected by her old but very sturdy helmet. The pirate was wearing black flip-flops, red short, white and green stripped shirt and blue bandanna over his short black hair with Ganzack's mark on the front side. He also was the short and fat one of the pair. The second one was tall and skinny, with shoulder-length dark yellow hair, brown boots, blue pants, orange sash and pink sleeveless shirt and was wielding a knife.
"Hey, who the hell are you?!" Suddenly one of the pirates called out.
'What?' Medaka stopped and turned around. It could be a trick, but considering that they weren't even near her now, as much as she could tell through the visor, it was true, someone else was here. 'Oh, no! I specifically choose this place for ambush so nobody from the base or the village would be nearby to interfere!' She was horrified that her actions could've cost someone their lives.
Medaka hurriedly opened her visor, making several strands of her reach red hair spill out, and looked at the sense in front of her with her deep green eyes. She noticed that while she was fighting with the pirates a small boat docked onto the beach, a simple one with a single mast and only enough room for about four or so people on board. The second thing that she noticed were the two people that were walking from the boat.
The first one was a very tall teen wearing a yellow straw-hat with a red band on his head, from under which you could see raven-black short hair and black eyes with a small scar under his left one, he was also wearing long black captain-coat over black suit and black suit-pants, she also noticed red dress shirt with a black slight loose tie under the suit and on his feet were flip-flops.
Next to him was a woman about twenty years old, with chin-length dark blue hair and dark brown eyes. She was actually shorter than the boy, even if she looked older. On her head were rectangular red spectacles. She was wearing red short-sleeved shirt with pink dots with blue leather coat with a furred collar and edge linings over it. She also wore blue jeans, black shoes and grey gloves. In her left hand she was carrying a normal Katana with a green handle and a guard with a four-petaled design and a normal blade.
Both newcomers were visually tired, the teen was looking ready to collapse from a small breeze.
"Eh?" Both looked at the pirates.
"Hey, we asked you a question!" Barked the fat pirate.
"I think they are the victims of starvation, just look at them! Lets just take them to Ganzack-Sama and be done with it." Said the thin one.
Medaka was ready to call for the two to run when she was interrupted by...
*Gurgle*Gurgle*
The newcomers' stomaches groaned loudly demanding food.
"Food..." They both groaned.
Both pirates blinked and them snickered at the misfortune of the pair.
"Where you're going you'll be given food so you would be able to work for Ganzack-Sama!" Barked the fat one. "Also, I think I like the sword that the bitch is carrying, dibs." He said with a smirk, making the woman freeze on the spot.
"Damn, alright, then I'll take the hat that the punk is wearing." The teen stopped dead on his tracks.
Suddenly the temperature dropped around the beach, making Medaka and the pirates shudder.
"What did you..." Started the boy.
"...just say?" Finished his companion.
"What are you, deaf?" Asked the fat pirate, apparently totally missing the atmosphere. "We said that when you'll become Ganzack-Sama's workers, we will take everything valuable that you have."
Then silence that followed was heavy and Medaka was starting to feel as if something dangerous was about to happen. Suddenly the woman raised her sword into a ready position in front of her.
[Ittōryū: Kyōfū]
Medaka apparently blinked and missed it because the next moment the woman was standing behind the fat pirate, crouching slightly with her sword pointing to the right from the outstretched hand. The pirate's chest suddenly exploded with blood a a very wide and deep wound appeared on his chest from his right hip to his left shoulder. He dropped to the ground already unconscious and by the amount of blood he was loosing soon would be dead.
Apparently she blinked again because the skinny pirate was suddenly sent flying into the cliff-side and impacted the hard rock with a sickening crunch and creating a decent-size crater. On his spot stood the straw-hat wearing teen with his hand outstretch and fist clenched tightly.
Then both collapsed on their knees.
*Gurgle*Gurgle*
"Hungry..." Both groaned.
'Just what are they?' Thought Medaka with wide eyes.
"So tasty!" Exclaimed Luffy, after finishing his bowl of soup. "You really helped us out!"
Tashigi finished her cup of tea in a couple of large gulps.
"Yes, thank you again, Ji-San." She added with a smile.
The two were sitting in a old house with rocky walls and wooden roof. This house belonged to the old man sitting not far away from them and smocking a pipe. He was wearing a red sleeveless jacket and hat the same color, underneath his jacket he wears a blue shirt, blue short pants and brown boots. his grey hair was sticking from under the hat and his goatee was also grey. He introduced himself as Skid, the grandfather of Medaka, the armor wearing girl that Luffy and Tashigi accidentally saved from pirates.
"Ah, it's not a bother." He said with a smile and a puff from his pipe.
Luffy took a couple of big gulps from his own cup of tea, and leaned back on his chair.
"We will need to buy enough food to last us till the next island..." He muttered. "Do we have enough money?"
"Yes, but it will leave us with bare minimum needed for maybe two or three more stops before we'll run dry." Answered Tashigi with a shrug. "I don't know how far is the next island would be, but considering that we were sailing without any set course in mind, so we're pretty damn luck to find this island from what I understand."
Luffy could only nod. He wasn't very good at navigation, or any good at all actually. He couldn't tell the correct direction to save his life and a dog would probably be better at reading maps than he was so he fully relied on Tashigi's meager skills at navigation.
"Guests of mine, please, when you'll be sated leave this island. They are going to come back soon." Said the old man Skid.
"Who, those strange guys?" Asked Luffy and got a nod from Medaka, who was still wearing her armor.
"Only several weeks ago this island was just a small peaceful piece of paradise, but..." Began Skid, letting out a small stream of smoke. "... they came, Pirate Ganzack and his gang of thugs, and took our freedom. Leaving only kids and old people they took almost all of the village's population." You could see pain in the old man's eyes, his family was taken too. "This girl's father was taken too." He said indicating Medaka. "Medaka, don't even try do something so reckless again!" Skid addressed her directly.
"Where're the villagers now?" Asked Tashigi with concern.
"They were all forced to work in the tower." He answered and pointed at the tall tower that could be seen from the window.
It was burned-yellow color with four dragon-head forming the top with a slight thickening that starter three-quarters up.
"What is that thing?" Asked Luffy with a raised eyebrow.
"Akuma no Tō." Answered the old man. "The thing they're working on."
Sudden;y, the top of the 'tower' exploded, creating a huge black cloud and slightly sliding down and then back up. The shot, because it couldn't have been anything else, shook the whole island, almost making Luffy fall from his chair.
*Whiiiiiieeeeuuu*Boom*
"That was..." Muttered Tashigi. "That was the thing that almost destroyed our boat!" She finish standing up.
"Damn, that's one big cannon!" Said Luffy whistling a little. "Hey, Ji-San, do you have any more food? We will even pay for it!" Asked Luffy.
"No, there is nothing left!" Said Medaka heatedly.
"I'm sorry." Added Skid, releasing a small cloud of smoke from his pipe.
"You are telling us..." Asked Tashigi in shock. "That you gave us all of you food?!"
Skid just nodded.
"But in the Akuma no Tō there is plenty of it." Said Medaka, coming closer to the window with a smirk. "If you'll defeat Ganzack and his crew you'll have plenty of it."
Luffy exchanged glances with Tashigi. They both knew that they owned this old man for giving them his last stock of food, and if they will get a good fight and a free stock of food for their travels from this... Also they owned this Ganzack a good ass-kicking for almost sicking them with that big-ass cannon.
"Well, we were already going to have a chat with him, so there is no point in prolonging it then." Said Luffy as he stood up from his chair and put his hat on.
Medaka smiled at him and ran out of the house through the front door, Luffy following her close behind.
"Medaka!" Called Skid, trying to stop the young girl. "You shouldn't attack them!"
"I'm going to save daddy!" Called back Medaka without even slowing down.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen to her." Called out Tashigi who ran after her Senchō.
'My father is what is precious to me.' Was the thought that ran through Medaka's mind.
Under the Akuma no Tō, in the underground base the sound of metal hitting metal could be heard. Dozens of people, former villagers and now slaves were working day and night under the threat of death, be it their or their family's depended only on the mood of their wardens. For several weeks they were working without any proper rest, sleep or food and they didn't even know what they were building.
Some tried to escape, but considering that all of the Den-Den Mushi were taken by the pirates and there was now way to escape by sea, the prisoners just kept working with now hope for any change in their hellish existence.
The air was dry and made it hard to breath because of the several furnaces that were used to melt metal for weapons and details of whatever they were building here.
Suddenly on of the men carrying a box full of dynamite collapsed, scattering the content of the container on the ground. He was an average sized man, with short blue hair, black eyebrows, and a bit of stubble on his chin. He was wearing square glasses, and a green short sleeves shirt with pockets in the front and a collar, with a red patch on the left sleeve. Underneath, he had a tan colored V-neck shirt. He also wore light colored pants, that were tucked into his large normal boots.
"Hey, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Barked one the nearby pirates, pointing at the man with a saber.
He was a bald tall grunt with light blue shirt, pink sort pants and pink boots.
"Sorry." Muttered the man.
"If you will be slacking in your work we will feed you daughter to sharks!" Threatened the pirate. "You don't want it to happen, right?"
The imprisoned man just clenched his teeth and started picking up the dynamite from the ground.
All around him the work was in full swing, most of the present workers didn't even what they were making, just that there were cannons, a lot of metal platings and a very complex engineering involved. This was actually a very cunning plan when you consider the average level of intelligence from the pirates, the cell-system where each 'cell' didn't know what the other one was doing and therefore couldn't make out the big picture. It was actually more of a preoccupation if one of the workers would actually manage to escape and call the Marines, but wouldn't be able to actually tell them what were pirates making them build.
Without a proper warning and any hint of what they would be facing the Marines wouldn't stand a chance.
"No slacking off!" Called one of the wardens. "Work, work, work! In the name of our Great Captain Ganzack!"
"It looks like some kind of a cannon." Muttered Tashigi, while hiding behind one of the crates. "What do you think, Senchō?" She looked at him.
Getting inside was almost pathetically easy, considering that Senchō just melted the wall and they basically walked in without any actual resistance. Tashigi was suspecting that the lack of any proper guards, not counting the one or two pirates sitting near the main doors, was due to the defeated spirit of he villagers, and the lack of any real power to opposes the invaders. Old people and children weren't such a good warriors, there always were an exceptions of course, but not this time and not here.
"I'm not sure, never saw anything like this." Senchō muttered behind her.
Tashigi nodded.
Suddenly her face was forcefully introduce to the ground, with enough force to almost break her glasses.
"Tou-Chan!" Screamed Medaka, as she ran forward towards then man in glasses who earlier dropped the box of dynamite. "Tou-Chan!"
"What the hell if wrong with her?!" Hissed Tashigi in shock while trying to get the dirt out of her face, hair and glasses.
"She's a one gutsy kid!" Laughed Senchō.
"I don't think now would be an appropriate time to admire her, Senchō." Muttered Tashigi.
Medaka ran towards the man who apparently was her father.
Luffy knew that he couldn't just leave her alone, there was absolutely no way she would be able to defeat all of the pirates that were around a watching her. As she was nearing her father, with only metal bars being between them, one of the pirates apparently snapped out of his stupor and grabbed her outstretched arm.
"Where do you think you're going, brat?" He asked.
"She's going to meet her dad, don't interfere." Said Luffy, as he appeared beside the pirate in a burst of speed, and delivered a pretty strong punch right into his face.
The pirate was sent flying backwards, crashing into the metal bars and actually bending them a little. Luffy looked around as other pirates started coming out of their stupor and pulling out their swords and knifes, some even had guns with them.
"Don't even think about moving, or this guy will die!" Luffy saw that one of the pirates had Medaka's father in his grip with a sword pressed against man's neck.
"Nope!" Said Luffy with a grin and pulled his left arm back, with his fingers bended a little bit inwards, like he was clutching something in his palm.
Suddenly at the center of his hand the skin started turning into magma and bubbling slightly and forming a small but dense ball of molten rock, the size of a golf-ball.
[Kazan Nokoribi]
And then he threw the small ball right at the pirate's face, faster than the man could blink. The ball of red-hot magma of this size and moving with an incredible speed wasn't something that could be simply stopped by human's flash and bones, it burned right through the bastard's forehead, effectively killing him and burning his brain to ashes. Luffy didn't put enough force in the throw for it to pierce right through, but considering that the pirate's head almost instantly caught on fire and he was dead before even hitting the ground could be considered a major success.
Luffy maybe was an idiot most of the time, and a fair bit clueless, but even he knew that going all out in the cave full of explosives was not something he should do, unless he wanted to blow all of the present company sky-high. He would probably survive the explosion, but Tashigi, Medaka and other prisoners wouldn't so it left him with only a parlor tricks and hand-to-hand combat.
And it was more than enough in this situation.
"Tell Ganzack-sama about this!" He heard one of the pirates ordered, and other one instantly ran away.
'Good, so their Boss is that way, I really don't want to run around a look for him so I could kick his ass.' Thought Luffy with a smirk.
"Luffy!" Cried out Medaka happily.
"Tashigi, I'm leaving them to you, I've got to find the Tazak bastard." Called out Luffy.
"Aye, aye, Senchō." Called out Tashigi as she walked up to him and unsheathed Shigure.
Luffy grabbed Medaka and then jumped right ever the fence landing in front of her father.
"Here, take her, and I'm going after Balzak!" He said as he ran towards the corridor which he saw the man from earlier entered.
Tashigi looked around at her opponents. Most of them were simple grunts, even weaker than she was used to considering that they were only feared because of their intimidating appearance and weapons.
"It's just one girl, get her!" Screamed one of them, as they charged.
They were too slow for her. Tashigi blurred into action, delivering a powerful slash at the nearest scumbag's stomach. No stopping her momentum she ducked under other one's saber, twisted around and cut him down too with a vertical strike. From the corner o her eye she noticed that several pirates were dragging several cannons and starting to turn them towards her position.
'Not good.' She thought. She maybe was fast enough to dodge the cannonballs but the civilians behind her weren't. She really didn't have a choice here, leaving the hostages behind was out of question so it left her with only one option. 'I must be crazy for doing it.' Thought Tashigi as she dashed towards the nearest cannon.
Jumping over the attacking pirates she landed right onto the cannon.
"Do you mind if I borrow it?" She asked with a smirk.
The two pirates that were trying to turn the cannon were frozen in shock from her unexpected arrival. She didn't give them time to get their bearing back and kicked one of them in the head with enough force to send him flying into the other one, knocking the both out. The luck was apparently on her side because while the cannon required human-power to be moved by the horizontal axis, the vertical one was purely mechanical.
She could hear the pirates behind her charging, so she jumped down and kicked the lever, breaking it in the process and making the cannon slowly start rising its barrel up with a groan and the sound of gears turning. She ducked down, avoiding a knife that would've stabbed her in the back and lashed out with her leg kicking the bastard down. Hastily returning to standing position she blocked three sabers that were aimed to screw her over.
"Now we got you." Growled one of the pirates.
"No, it's me who got you." Said Tashigi, as she pushed them back with her superior strength making them stumble.
She instantly took a position with her sword pointing back and down with its edge looking down at the ground on her left side, it was pretty similar to a standard 'Draw and Resheath Technique'.
[Ittōryū: Jōshō Kiryū]
An impossibly strong upward slash that managed to cut all three of the bandits and send them flying backwards. Tashigi stood with her sword raised above her head in the outstretched right hand and pointing forward.
*Clang*
This sound made it known that the cannon finally reached vertical position.
"What the hell is she?" Asked one of the many remaining pirates.
They were used to fighting civilians and Marines' grunts, but nothing too serious, against a proper swordswoman like Tashigi that didn't stand a chance right from the beginning. The lacked in power, speed and skill to even hope to wind and with their number they could only attack from her constantly while hoping to tire her out, which wouldn't happen with her being freshly at her full power from the beginning of the fight.
"I hope you all know what will happen next?" Asked Tashigi as she sheathed Shigure and walked up to the cannon, while picking up a box of matches dropped by one of the pirates.
"You'll surrender?" Asked on of the more stupid or arrogant of pirates.
"No." Tashigi lighted up the match and used it to ignite the wick. "I'm going to see just how fast can you run."
The pirates paled, only now understanding just where the cannon was pointing, but it was too late.
*Boom*
Luffy ran down the corridor, hoping that the pirate he was running after would lead him directly to the leader of this gang. While Luffy wasn't even remotely bloodthirsty, he, as any strong person really like a challenge, a strong opponent to fight and to test his strength against. The only problem was that the animals on him home-island weren't strong enough for him after he ate Magu Magu no Mi, they simply died with their head being turned into ash if they tried to eat him. So he hoped that this Ganzack was at least bit as strong as the old man that feed them portrayed him.
The only one who actually was able to challenge Luffy was Gramps, but the gap in strength between them was so big that it wasn't even funny. Luffy tried everything that he could came up with against his grandpa, but it was like Garp somehow was indestructible. If Luffy tried to throw a giant fist made of magma at him, Gramps just destroyed it with nothing but bare hands, and he didn't even got burned! Not even once! Luffy even tried to use smaller but faster attacks but the old man just tore right through them, without blinking or dodged them faster than Luffy could comprehend. Trying to dodge Gramps' attacks was as useless as trying to breath dirt, Garp was like an unstoppable force, and even when he didn't directly attack Luffy he was just busying himself with some creative landscaping.
'No ordinary person his age should be able to create a crater ten meters wide by a simple stomp!' Luffy shuddered from that particular memory.
He was dragged out of his trip down the memory-lane by the appearance of a bright light at the end of the corridor.
"Finally!" Luffy grinned and ran even faster.
As soon as he passed the door-frame he found himself outside, looking at the big natural stone-archway. Hoping that it was the right direction he ran towards the archway and after it found himself on a small beach with several boulders here and there. The beach itself was surrounded by the mountains and the archway was the only actual entrance here, and to get to the archway you would need to go through the pirates' base.
"So, you're the brat that is causing all that ruckus?" Asked a voice from behind Luffy.
Luffy turned around and saw a man standing to the left of archway. He was about as tall as Luffy, with purple hair tied into a pony tail and a purple beard. He had a red ring around each of his eyes and an X-shaped scar on his left temple. He also wore a black pirate hat with what appeared to be his Jolly Roger on it.
He attire was what actually attracted Luffy's attention. He was wearing a crab-like armor on his back. The armor on his back was attached with shoulder gauntlets with large crab claws. He also wore a red shirt underneath his armor, blue pants, blue cape and block shoes with golden buckles.
"Oh, a crab." Was the first thing that Luffy said.
This made the man grid he teeth in anger and several vein bulge on his forehead.
"I'm not a crab, you pathetic brat!" He roared. "I'm Ganzack! The Supreme Ruler on this island, no on this Sea!"
WANTED
Dead or Alive
"Pirate General"
Ganzack
13,000,000 ฿
"And I'm Luffy!" He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the side. "So... you're Supreme Crab?"
"Why you little..." Ganzack growled, barely being able to contain his anger. "You better give up now, kid, or you'll end up dead."
"Don't wanna!" Said Luffy childishly.
"Well, then die!" Roared the pirate and launched himself at Luffy, who was actually surprised by his opponents speed.
Luffy ducked under one of the big claws, only for the other one to hit him directly in his chest with its blunt side and sending him flying. It didn't actually hurt considering that his body just morphed into magma on a pure reflex, but what surprised Luffy was that the pincer itself wasn't melting like any other metal would when it comes in contact with his magma.
Ganzack with a fast swing of the claw sent the bit of magma flying directly into the water, where they landed and cooled down with a hiss and steam. Luffy didn't have time to actually ponder on this little piece of information, before his opponent attacked again, making Luffy backpedal from the furiously attacking pirate. Suddenly one of the pincers opened, reviling that the smaller pat of it was actually a blade, which Ganzack tried to use to pierce Luffy's head. On pure reflex Luffy dodged to the side, but wasn't fast enough and the blade was able to cut his right cheek.
Luffy stumbled backwards from surprise, and touched his cheek with his hand.
Blood.
Ganzack somehow managed to draw blood.
"How...?" Muttered Luffy, looked at his slightly bloody fingers.
"How did I wounded a Logia?" Smirked Ganzack. "This armor was specifically made to battle against any type of opponents that I would encounter on my way. Do you think that I wouldn't find a way to fight against such freaks of nature like the users of Akuma no Mi? The armor itself made from one of the strongest metals shipped directly from South Blue and each blade was forged specifically for fighting monsters like you, and by infusing Kairōseki in them I gained the ability to battle even Logia!" He gloated arrogantly. "It cost me more than just some treasures to get the four-eyes cunning bastard to spill the place where it could be done, but it was absolutely worth it." He muttered not quiet enough for Luffy to miss it. "So, as you can see, there is no way you can win against me, kid!"
[Kazan Nokoribi]
Ganzack was barely fast enough to lift one of his pincers to block the incoming small dense ball of magma, that almost reached his face.
"Almost got you." He heard Luffy's voice.
"It doesn't matter if you'll attack me from afar, in the end..." Began Ganzack again, but was again interrupted.
[Kasō]
This time he had to use both pincers to block the fist made of magma and two-times bigger than normal human's one. The power of the blow actually made him skid back several meters leaving two trains in the sand. This was getting annoying, the brat just refused to give up and Ganzack wasn't in the mood to toy with the brat.
Releasing the six additional appendages from his sides he shot chain directly at Luffy. It wasn't made from Kairōseki and wouldn't even stand a chance against magma, but its purpose wasn't to harm the brat. Luffy dodged to the side, letting the chain pass his and pierce the boulder behind him with its sharp tip. Using the chain to pull himself forward Ganzack actually flew towards his opponent with both blades ready to screw the annoying pest over.
[Kazan Bakuhatsu]
Luffy punched the ground with all his power, making it explode all around him, turning the sandy beach into a giant boiling puddle of magma. Ganzack was fast enough to shot another chain from the other launcher, attaching himself to the cliff and pulling himself up so not to get cooked alive by the lake of molten sand and rock.
Hanging on his chain from the cliff-side he noticed that the water from the ocean was slowly seeping in and cooling the magma turning in into just hot rocks. The steam that was produced by the whole thing gave him an idea.
"It's the best you can do, brat?" He mocked, trying to anger Luffy. "You don't even know how properly use you own powers, I think I will find your Akuma no Mi after I kill you, this type of ability would be better used by someone of my calibre."
"Shut up, crab!" Answered partially transformer into magma Luffy.
Several veins started pulsing on Ganzack's forehead, and his face took an unhealthy red color.
"I'm not a crab you brat!" All five of his free launchers snapped up and directed their muzzles towards Luffy. "Die!" He opened fire.
The bullets in his weapons weren't made from Kairōseki either, but they were explosive rounds, and that was enough for his plan to work. The big amount of explosions that happened around Luffy made a pretty nice dent in the partially cooled rock, therefore opening a way for water to flow in. It didn't matter if the brat would be weakened by the water, or it would evaporate due to the temperature, both outcome were welcomed by Ganzack.
Apparently Luffy decided to heat the thing up, because the huge cloud of steam that was forming around the magma-pit was becoming only denser with each moment.
"So, what are you going to do now, brat?" Mocked Ganzack.
[Funka]
A fist made of magma the size of Ganzack's torso flew out from the mist directly at the pirate. He shot another chain from his launcher and swung to the side, avoiding being turned to ash.
'He can't see me, so he's probably launched it on the sound of my voice.' Thought Ganzack with a smirk.
"You missed you pathetic brat." He called out.
[Funka]
Another fist-shaped meteor shot from the cloud of steam, but it was a miss again.
"What the matter, it's all you can do?"
[Funka]
'Just a little bit more...' Thought Ganzack as the cliff started cracking under the strain of Luffy's attacks.
"You're pathetic nothing, and I could bet that your only member of the crew is already dead, killed by my minions!"
*Boom*
The cliff shook from the power of the explosion, but it came not from Luffy or from Ganzack.
'What the hell is happening there?!' Growled Ganzack to himself. 'Did those incompetent morons decided to fire a cannon inside the cave?' If it was what had happened that would be a disaster! All the cannon were kept near the storeroom where they kept explosives, if him men decided to fire it nearby it could accidentally trigger them.
"Apparently my underlings decided to execute your friend with cannon, pity, she had a nice figure and probably would have cost a pretty large sum of money on the slave-market." Said Ganzack, deciding to use the convenient circumstances to his benefit.
"Shut up, crab!" Roared Luffy, as he flew from the cloud of steam directly at Ganzack.
[Kasō]
But Ganzack was ready and pulled himself to the size with another chain, leaving Luffy to attack the cliff.
"Idiot!" Laughed the pirate. "You created your own grave!"
The cliff, heavily abused by Luffy's attacks and even more unstable now because of the unknown explosion, started collapsing, and with Luffy being directly on the pass of the falling rocks. The first rock to fall was actually the one in which Luffy's hand was stuck, and as it broke away from the cliff and fell down Ganzack could hear Luffy's scream of surprise.
With a heavy thud the big piece of rock collided with the before molten and now hardened sand, being followed by about a dozen more pieces creating a pretty big pile. Ganzack knew that a simple rock-slide wouldn't kill a Logia, but with the water slowly but surely filling up the craters in the ground it would leave the brat powerless and let the rocks crush him into fine paste. The water was only high enough to reach a normal person's ankles, but considering that Luffy landed on his back there was nothing that could've save the brat in Ganzack's mind.
Letting his chain go, the pirate landed on the top of the pile, that was now a grave for the young cheeky brat that decided to challenge him.
"It was interesting, but in the end you failed like all that came before you." Said Ganzack while looking at the stones under his feet.
Considering that he ended the initiator of the whole mess right now he was more concerned with the...
*Boom*Boom*Boom*
Several explosions shook the island, making Ganzack stumble as he turned around and watched in horror as his beautiful tower was collapsing while his base was being teared apart by explosion after explosion.
"No..." He muttered in horror that soon started to transform into rage. "No. No! No!" He roared.
All of his plans, all the hard work and the resources that he had to collect to build it! Ruined! Everything was ruined! Whoever did this will pay! Ganzack was sure that even if they were mostly worthless, his minions wouldn't have been dumb enough to actually blew up the whole base, so it was probably brat's companion or one of the villagers that did it!
'They will die!' He thought furiously. He wouldn't let any of this trash get away, he will personally slaughter each one of them! The rage boiled inside of him, clouding his vision with the hue of red.
He was so absorbed into his thoughts that he didn't noticed the thin streams of steam coming out of the cracks and gap in the pile of rocks. But an explosion that said rock was enough to caught his attention. He was so shocked and by the sudden event, that he wasn't even able to block a fist made of magma that plunge itself wrist-deep right into his chest.
Luffy stood right in front of Ganzack, panting slightly but not actually seriously hurt.
"You lost, crab!" Said Luffy.
[Meigo]
He shoved his fist deeper inside his opponents chest and detonated it, making the man's chest and back to explode in the showers of burned flesh, leaving Ganzack's feet and waist to fall down while still burning and his top part for the top ribs and higher to fly backwards while burning too.
'Good thing that I started melting the rock before it reach the ground, or I would've been in a pretty troublesome situation.' Luffy let out a sight of relief, and then made sure to incinerate any part of the dead pirate that actually fell on him. Being covered in gore wasn't something that he wanted to experience often. First time when he used this technique it was a large tiger, and not knowing just how much power he needed to punt into detonation he almost accidentally burned down his brothers.
Suddenly he heard a roar behind him. Turning around he spotted the same creature that she and Tashigi chased down in the sea and that actually got away from them. It was glaring hatefully at Luffy, apparently being enrage by him killing its owner, if the jolly Rodger on its helmet was any indication. Luffy just stood there, not moving an inch, looking right into the eyes of the beast that was going to try and kill him.
The monster's head shot forward, its jaws open and ready to swallow Luffy, but when it was about two meters in front of the straw-hat wearing boy...
[Ittōryū: Kakō Kiryū]
Tashigi appeared right between Luffy and the beast crouching and holding her sword down to the ground in both hands. With a sickening sound the head of the beast slowly split in two, showing the insides of its mouth and brain. With a dull thug the head landed down on the still worm rocks.
Tashigi herself was in a pretty rough shape, dirt and dust with a bit of ash was covering her clothes, she was panting slightly and her coat was ripped a little on the right side. Luffy was glad to see that she at least didn't have any actual injuries.
"Glad to see you're okay, Tashigi." Said Luffy grinning.
"Thank you, Senchō." She said with a smile as she stood up and sheathed Shigure. "Well, at least now we had all the meat we will need." She tried to joke a little.
"That's for sure!" Laughed Luffy, filling relief flooding his system. He didn't want to show it, but bastard's words actually made Luffy fear for Tashigi's life and now seeing her alive and in a good shape made the uncomfortable cold knot in his chest disappear. She was his Nakama, and Nakama were like a family, and therefore Tashigi was a very close person to him, he really didn't want to think what would happen if she would've died. "Oh, and Tashigi, what were those two explosions that I heard earlier?"
Luffy was threated by the rare sight of Tashigi's cheeks gaining a red hue from the embarrassment.
"Well, you see, Senchō..." It was obvious that she wasn't very comfortable talking about it. "The first one was when I fire the cannon inside the cave, but apparently there was a thick metal plate installed into the ceiling, and only a small part of it collapsed. So, while I put down the pirates that weren't defeated by the falling rocks I saw the amount of dynamite that the prisoners left while escaping..." Her face became even more red. "And I may have lit up the wick of one of the sticks and threw it into the pile. I thought that leaving the base untouched would only give the pirates an opening to come back, so I thought it would be better to just destroy the place. I just didn't anticipate the sheer amount of explosives that were stored there..." She lowered her head a little.
Luffy just laughed harder.
"... and they didn't even have treasures with them, only a lot of weapons." Mumbled Tashigi, as she looked her Shigure over for the tenth time.
She would've like to at least get something from this whole encounter besides food, that the villagers gave them for free in gratitude for defeating Ganzack and his men. The huge pile of food that barely left Luffy and Tashigi any place to actually sit in the boat would certainly last them long enough to reach the next island, even with Luffy's eating habits.
Oh, she was grateful for food and all, but their wallet wasn't all that full and considering that taking enough weapons with them that would pay for their food and other things was out of the question, she was a tad bit disappointed.
"At least the food is tasty!" Exclaimed Senchō, munching on his third fried corncob up.
Tashigi chuckled at her Senchō's positive attitude.
They were still docked on the pier, with the villagers standing around their boat, most of them came to show their gratitude and some even brought more food.
"Luffy!" Tashigi heard a voice calling.
She turned and saw a girl with wavy red hair, in a pink dress with yellow and black stripped sweater under it, she was caring a life preserver. She was running down the pier towards them.
'Isn't that Medaka?' Thought Tashigi with a raised eyebrow. It was hard to recognize the girl without her suit of armor and a weapon.
"Who are you?" Asked Senchō confused.
"It's me, Medaka!" Said girl stopped right in front of their boat. "I heard that you can't swim, so here, it's for you." She said as she put the life preserver on him, pinning Senchō's arms to his sides with it.
"A life preserver?" Questioned Tashigi with a smile.
"Now you'll be safe regardless of your inability to swim!" Said Medaka proudly, as Senchō tried to get it off him and failed. "And it actually suits you, Hummer." She said smugly. Tashigi actually agreed, it looked pretty funny with Senchō wearing a black suit and the coat, the life preserver actually made him look slightly ridiculous. "Luffy-Hummer, Luffy-Hummer!" Sang Medaka.
"Damn, I hate this thing!" Senchō struggled to get it off but failed again. "And I can't get if off." He muttered in defeat.
Everyone, including Tashigi laughed. Tashigi knew that he could remove it quite easily, he just didn't want to disappoint the girl. Medaka was still chanting her new nickname for Senchō while twisted and turned trying to get out of the life preserver. When he bent backwards Tashigi noticed a writing on it and smiled, message was 'Thank You!' written on the other side of life preserver.
Finally, they set sail.
"Alright, towards Grand Line!" Said Senchō, somehow managing to look totally serious with life preserver still firmly stuck around his chest.
"Luffy, become a Great Pirate!" Called out Medaka from the edge of the pier.
"It's a promise!" He called back with a grin.
On the small boat, three pirates were looking at medium-sized chest full of treasures. Their boat had a black sail with a standard comic-style skull-and-crossbones, with the unique feature of a large red clowns nose, and black crosses on the eye sockets.
The first of the pirates was an overweight dark skinned man, with a crescent shaped uni-brow and a rounded-off goatee. He had a short black hair and a black vest. He also had an anchor necklace with a dark green sash and light gray shorts.
The second one had pale skin and a black cap with the same Jolly Roger as on the sail on it. He wore a dark yellow shirt with a purple lining.
The last one had orange poofy hair split into two sides. He wore a sleeveless yellow and blue striped shirt and had thick lips.
"Look at all these treasures!" Said the second one. "Buggy-sama wouldn't be angry at us anymore."
"Hey looked at that." Said the first one, making his two companions turn and look at what was he talking about.
The saw a small about just drifting on the small waves, its sail was raised but it wasn't going anywhere.
"What's with that boat?" Asked the second one.
By the basic logic, they should have just ignored it, considering that it could always be a trap made by other pirates. It was one of the pretty old tricks where people got interested in the lonely floating boat and go to investigate and ends up with their goods stolen and even their throats cut in some cases.
But thinking wasn't the strongest side of this particular trio, so they decided to investigate and possibly salvage everything that they would be able to. When they come closer they saw an orange-haired girl lying with her head and right arm over the board of the boat.
"Oh, it's a woman!" Stated the third one.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Asked the second one in a cocky tone.
The girl lifted her head and smiled tiredly at them.
"Ah, am I dreaming?" She mumbled. "To run into someone on this wide open sea..." She let out a sight or relief. "I don't know who you're, but... water... could you give me some water?" The three pirates grinned at the easy target. "I'll give you as much money as you want, just save me" She said weakly pointing at the rather big treasure-chest behind her.
"Fine, we'll save you..." Said the second pirate. "... but we have to check out the treasure first." He added as he stepped over into her boat.
"Excuse us." Said the third one as he followed.
The first one just chuckled and followed his two companions.
Sitting down in front of the chest the second pirate tried to pry open the lock, but his skill at lock-picking wasn't good enough.
"I can't get it..." He muttered in frustration. Finally he managed to open the lock. "Got it!"
When the chest was opened a rather large plushy head of panda with sticking out tongue jumped out of the box on a spring, scarring the three pirates and making them stumble back. Suddenly they heard female laugher and turned around, watching as the helpless girl was hijacking their boat!
"If you want, you can keep it all, including the boat!" She called out with a smile.
"Our boat!" Screamed the second pirate. "You tricked us!"
The girl looked a little bit to the side and put her left hand over her eyes like a visor.
"There are some dark cloud coming from the south." She informed the pirates. "When it hits that low pressure area, a storm will develop. All small boats on the ocean should watch out."
The three pirates looked up and saw that her assessment was true and a storm cloud, already flashing with lightnings was hanging right above them. It wasn't long before the rain started and waves made the boat reel from side to side. In several minutes they were sinking.
"Bingo!" Called out the girl, giving them a thumb up with a grin. "See ya! Thanks for the treasure!" She waved them goodbye.
"Wait! We won't forget this..." Screamed one of the pirates while almost drowning and taking mouthfuls of salty water.
Luffy and Tashigi was floating about on their boat while eating diner, that was considered of fried meat and some vegetables.
"Damn when we will get to the next island." Mumbled Luffy while chewing on a pretty big piece of steak.
"Be patient, Senchō." Said Tashigi, taking a big gulp of fresh water. "At least we have enough provision to last long enough to get to it."
"I can't agree more." Luffy nodded and swallowed almost half of the remaining steak.
They finished their food in silence and threw the scraps into the ocean. The last two days were full of training and planning for the future, the planning most was done by Tashigi because in Luffy's opinion it was a boring routine that shouldn't be done simply because it would take away all the fun from the adventured.
"Hey! Please, help us!" Luffy and Tashigi heard someone screaming. They both stood up and saw three people floating in the water, waving their arms. "You, on the boat, please!"
"Castaways?" Muttered Tashigi with a raised eyebrow. "Should we pick them up?" She asked Luffy.
"Lets help them, at least they would probably know where the nearest island is." Answered Luffy while taking oars.
After a couple of minutes of rowing the three men were standing and dripping watter in the boat. Tashigi instantly noticed what appeared to be a Jolly Rodger on the hat of one of the castaways. They were pirates, and if her memory served her right they were from the Buggy's crew. Apparently they weren't that bright because the moment all three of them were on-board the one with the Jolly Rodger pulled out a sword.
"We're from the crew of Buggy 'The Clown' and we're taking over this ship. Now you're going to give us everything valuable that you have and after that we will..." He wasn't able to finish.
*Bam*Bam*Bam*
Tashigi delivered three fast and strong strikes on top of each of pirates' head with her sheathed sword. Her attack was nothing but a blur to the three would-be-hijackers, the next moment they were rowing as fast as they could considering that the two that they tried to rob apparently weren't normal civilian push-overs.
The one with the Jolly Rodger on his hat laughed awkwardly.
"We're really sorry for troubling you, and of course we will be glad to help you get to the next island." He was missing a tooth from Tashigi's attack, she really didn't hold back on that one.
"Please forgive us!" Said the three at the same time.
Luffy climbed back on top of the mast and resumed his normal exercises, while Tashigi was reading the small book on Rokushiki.
"But..." One of the pirate whispered to the other one. "... what are we going to do now?"
"Right, we can't get back empty handed, and if Buggy-sama would find out that we were robbed by some girl, he'll kill us!"
"By Buggy, you the one that has a 15,000,000฿ bounty?" Asked Tashigi, without actually taking her eyes from the book.
"Ah... yes?" Answered one of the pirates.
"Buggy?" Asked Luffy from the top of the mast.
"Yeah, apparently a pretty famous persona in East Blue, with his high for this Sea bounty and the abilities of Akuma no Mi he gained a reputation of a fearsome pirate, but I didn't meet him personally, so there is no way for me to tell if that is truth or not." Informed him Tashigi.
"Hmm..." Thought Luffy, trying to remember from where he knew this particular name.
Through the empty streets of Orange Town the all too familiar orange haired girl could be seen running, clutching a rolled up piece of parchment in her right hand.
'I did it! I finally got it!' She thought while try to lose her pursuers.
One had a dark brown skin and black hair parted to either side of his head. He wore a large circle earring, and a dark yellow button up shirt with brown pants and a light brown belt.
The second one was bald and pale, and wore a reddish-brown shirt with a writing on it. He has a white sash, and dark colored pants. He also has two horizontal scars around the upper part of his head.
The last one was tanned, with red hair and makeup on his eyes and lips. He wore a black and white checkered bandana, and a green V-neck shirt, with a brown sash and black pants.
"Wait you bitch!" Screamed the third one. "You thief, give back the map!"
"We just stole that map, the map of Grand Line!" Added the first one.
"If we don't get it back quickly, our lives will be in danger!" Added the second one. "I don't want to be kill by Senchō's cannon!"
The orange-haired girl just ran faster. She had no choice but hope that something would happen that would distract the pirates long enough for her to escape, but she wasn't getting her hopes up. There was a limit at how lucky a person could be and considering that the pirates was almost upon her her luck apparently finally ran out.
She took a sharp turn over the corner, hoping that is she'll get to her boat she would be able to escape. Because she wasn't looking where she was going she ran right into something and fell down on her butt. Looking up while rubbing her bruised forehead she saw a tall teenager standing near a young woman that were both looking at her questionably.
The very tall teen was wearing a yellow straw-hat with a red band on his head, from under which you could see raven-black short hair and black eyes with a small scar under his left one, he was also wearing long black captain-coat over black suit and black suit-pants, she also noticed red dress shirt with a black slight loose tie under the suit and on his feet were flip-flops.
Next to him was a woman about twenty years old, with chin-length dark blue hair and dark brown eyes. She was actually shorter than the boy, even if she looked older. On her head were rectangular red spectacles. She was wearing red short-sleeved shirt with pink dots with blue leather coat with a furred collar and edge linings over it. She also wore blue jeans, black shoes and grey gloves. In her right hand she was carrying a normal Katana with a green handle and a guard with a four-petaled design and a normal blade.
'... What?' Thought the orange-haired girl, when the three pirates chasing her finally turned around the corner and saw the the pair too.
Techniques used in the Chapter:
-Monkey D. Luffy:
Funka - Eruption
Kazan Nokoribi - Volcanic Ember
Kasō - Cremation
Kazan Bakuhatsu - Volcanic Explosion
Meigo - Dark Dog
-Tashigi:
Ittōryū: Kyōfū - One Sword Style: Heavy Wind
Ittōryū: Jōshō Kiryū - One Sword Style: Upward Current
Ittōryū: Kakō Kiryū - One Sword Style: Downward Current
-Monkey D. Garp
Ai aru Kobushi - Fist of Love
Genkotsu Meteo - Fist Meteorite
I know that the Chapter is a bit overloaded with time-skips by please bear with me. I know it looks bad, but I'm trying to get better!
I know that it looks a bit darker than the original version of the Movie, but I'm trying to show you a more mature Luffy with a suitable changes to the Plot and prepare you for the further twists and turns of the story. And even in the original Movie Luffy killed Ganzack too, I just made it more personal so-to-speak.
I hope you all like it and will leave all of you thoughts, suggestions and criticism in your Reviews.