Chapter 22: A Blisteringly Heated Battle! Thom and Catherine vs. Strahg!
Colour Spread: Strong World Special-The Strawhats, dressed in their formal attire, are lined up in a row, with Ellix on Luffy's right side and Eri on Luffy's left side. Eri is wearing a black cloak over a dark red dress that has a black sash tied into a ribbon across her waist that carries her bo staff pieces, as well as a black neckerchief and a twin barreled bazooka in her left hand. In the background it shows Luffy fighting Shiki and Ellix fighting Silver.
"Ahhhhh!"
"Daaaaaah!"
Strahg's hammer and Thom's jet black fist clashed, but the hammer just broke from the pressure. "Ya leetle brat!" Strahg roared as he grabbed and swung a giant red broadsword.
"Try me!" Thom countered as he slammed into the sword with a spinning uppercut, breaking it in two before jumping away to gain some distance.
"Looks like ma weapons ain't gonna da a theeng argainst that Haki o yurrs brat." Strahg grumbled
"Huh? What did you say?" Thom taunted .
"Ya either got a lot a guts, or yurr jeest plain dumb, brat." Strahg snarled as he grabbed the funnel connected to the container on his back. "Eat melted steel ya barstard!" He fired a glob of molten metal from the funnel, which Thom narrowly avoided thanks to his super speed.
'Note to self, don't get hit by that.' He thought as he landed on his feet, sweating from the incredible heat.
"Time ta get burned!" Strahg yelled as he fired several more molten steel blobs at Thom.
"Frost Shot!" Catherine suddenly ran out and fired several blasts of frost at the metal, cancelling it out by turning it into steam.
"So ya ate a Devil Frooit, ya bitch?" Strahg's voice came out of the smoke. "But that there one's in da ice deeparrtmont, yurr out a ya league in dis room." Without warning he leapt through the smoke and swung at Catherine with one of his giant arms, narrowly missing her as she leaped to the side.
"Hey pal! I'm over here!" Thom yelled as he dashed over. His Haki fist and Strahg's giant fist clashed again and again, neither one giving an inch and both giving off tremendous power.
"Frost Cover!" Catherine yelled as Frost wrapped itself around Strahg's legs.
"Waaaargh!" His legs were weakened and could no longer hold him, so he toppled down.
"Take this!" Thom yelled as he slammed both fists downward into his stomach, making him grit his teeth in pain before Thom jumped away again.
"Ya reelly startin' ta piss me off!" Strahg shouted, easily dispelling the frost around his legs and standing up, grabbing his funnel. "Time ta show ya what a truu craftsman can da! Ya like art? Then take a gander at thees!" He aimed the funnel upwards and fired a big blob into the sky that sent red hot tendrils down onto the pair.
"Look out!" Catherine yelled as they avoided it raining down on them, but it quickly hardened itself into a giant twisted sculpture that trapped the duo! "Nani!? How can this even set in a room with this temperature?"
"That's some speecial molten steal, lass." Strahg smirked. "It sets super fast, na matter whare it is! Now ya gonna learn a peenful lesson in gettin' cocky!" He skimmed across the ground towards them, smashing through the sculpture with ease and slamming them both with his bulky arms.
"Well, argh...that hurt." Thom stated as they both stood up.
"Now A'll burn ya ta a crisp!" Strahg shouted triumphantly as he aimed his funnel, but only a little drop came out. "Crap! Damn thing's empty! Looks like a need a refill." He stomped over to a large metal ball and hooked the funnel up to it, taking the container off of his back before turning to the two and cracking his giant knuckles. "Now then, lets see how ya punks da ageenst ma fists."
"Been going fine against them so far." Thom shrugged as they once again began dashing and punching around each other.
"Frost Covering!" Catherine shot frost at both of Strahg's arms, making them fall weakly at his side.
"Gotcha!" Thom laughed as he kneed him in the face before punching him across it, sending the disproportioned man skidding across the room.
"Damn..." He grunted, glaring at Catherine. "Looks like a been fightin' the wroong barstard, 'cause yurr been pissin' me off too murch!" He suddenly threw his entire body over with one arm and grabbed her with his giant hand.
"Catherine!" Thom yelled as he hardened his arm and dashed over, but Strahg just knocked him aside with his other arm.
"Time ta crush dis bitch." He smirked as he tightened his grip.
"...F...Frost Breath..." Catherine wheezed before she exhaled frost straight into Strahg's face.
"Urrgglggh." He groaned as he staggered drunkenly all over the room.
"Slowing down your thought currents isn't fun, is it?" Catherine smirked.
Strahg gritted his teeth and smashed the frost covering his face with a single snort. "Ya damn brat!" He roared as he gave her a devastating punch to the stomach, throwing her into the wall with an explosion, where she slumped with a bleeding forehead.
"Catherine!...You bastard!" Thom shouted as he hardened both his arms with Haki and leaped at him punching wildly.
"Think ya can beat ma like that? Let as see ya try!" He shouted as they both began rapidly punching, their fists connecting again and again. But one of Strahg's hit Thom in the face, making him cough up a little bit of blood. "Now A'll sqeesh ya!" He raised both bulky arms above his head and smashed them into Thom downwards, burying him in the ground in a huge crater with heavy wounds.
"Too darn eesy." Strahg chuckled as he walked over and detached the funnel, strapping his container to his back.
"Hey Strahg." The brutes eyes widened as he turned to be met with a bruised, bloody, but still standing, Thom and Catherine. "We're not done here yet." Thom spat.
Strahg literally turned red with rage. "Ya stooborn barstards!"
Thom hardened both his fists with Haki. "Here I come!" He dashed straight above the man and pulled back both his fists. "Haaaaagh!"
"Graaaaargh!" Strahg dug a huge fist underground before erupting it in an uppercut, the two attacks collided and shook the whole room from the impact. Thom was knocked into the air whilst Strahg skidded back.
Strahg grinded his teeth. "I'll melt ya leegs off!" He aimed his nozzle and sprayed molten steel all over the floor.
"Not good!" Thom gasped as he had to harden his legs as he landed in it. He gritted his teeth in pain as the steel hardened around his legs, trapping him.
"Not sa tough now, are ya?" Strahg taunted as he walked towards Thom, who desperately tried to pull his legs out, but to no avail. He then grabbed a giant chunk of scrap metal and held it above him. "Get crooshed!"
"Frost Shot!" Catherine fired two shots of ice that covered Strahg's arms, weakening them and making him drop the metal on his own head, and cry out in pain. "Frost Shot!" She fired another two shots, but they evaporated before they reached the bulky man. "Nani!?"
Strahg smirked evilly. "Looks like tha heat's gettin' ta ya lass. Like a said, ice ain't na good here." Catherine was now fully aware of how hot it was and how much she was sweating as he pulled a fist back.
"Ya want some a this!?" Strahg decked Thom right in the face, making him cough up blood as the giant arms relentlessly pounded him like a living punching bag. "Have same a this! And this! Why don't ya have same a this too!?"
Catherine watched in horror as her partner was beaten to a pulp, whilst her Devil Fruit powers were rendered useless. Her eyes darted around the boiling room until she spotted the cooler. 'That'll work!' She quickly made a run for it.
"Ah nah ya doon't!" Strahg forgot the pummeled Thom and threw himself over to Catherine blocking her way. "Ya think A'm stoopid!? A'mma ganna crush ya befare ya reach that coolar!" He drew back another fist.
"Frost Injection!" Catherine quickly stabbed her finger like a needle into his hand.
"Gaaaaaah!" Strahg screamed as he clutched his hand in pain. Frost had been injected directly into his blood stream, and it HURT.
Meanwhile, Thom had taken the oppurtunity to pound the steel surrounding his legs and break free, he then dashed over and kicked Strahg in the gut, sending him skidding across the room.
"Thom!" Catherine caught the boy as he fell onto her shoulder, the pain from the constant punching was starting to catch up to him as black spots danced in his vision. She quickly opened the cooler and let the cold air rejuvanate her. "Frost Numb!"
Frost delicately wrapped itself around Thom, nullifying the pain. Thom's vision returned as he pulled himself to his feet. "Alright! I can still go on!" He dashed over to Strahg and sweapt at his legs with his own, but the pirate pushed himself into the air and grabbed onto the red hot chains dangling from the ceiling without so much as flinching.
"Ya brats are pissin' me aff! This here's ma turf! Dan't think ya can beat ma here!" He plucked metal from the chains and began throwing it at them both, making them run around frantically.
"You-!" Thom hardened both his arms and dashed up, grabbing one of the chains and still wincing from the heat.
The two persistent fighters leapt at each other from the chains, throwing the red hot metal weapons at each other whilst trying to make the other fall.
"Frost Shot!" Catherine fired two frost shots at Strahg, which he avoided by swinging away with the grace of a gorilla.
"Damn bitch!" He roared as he threw a chain at her that wrapped around her waist and pulled her up into the chain filled roof.
"Ahhhh!" She screamed in pain as the red hot chains burned her.
"Catherine!" Thom made a jump for her, but Strahg swung in the way and punched him across the face. Thom barely managed to grab another one, and all he could do was hang limply off it, now his other enemy was catching up, fatigue.
"Hurr? Dan't tell ma ya done!? I thought ya said ya were gonna win!?" Strahg said sarcastically as Catherine was slipping towards unconciousness from the pain.
Thom used his other arm to wip off the blood from his chin. "...Sorry pal...not yet!" He suddenly dashed and smashed the chains holding Catherine, both landing near the cooler, making her instantly recover.
"F-Frost Covering!" Frost wrapped around the chains Strahg was holding onto, and they became brittle and broke.
"Damn ya!" Strahg roared as he righted himself mid fall and pounded the ground, sending giant scrap metal chunks fly everywhere.
"Have your crap back!" Thom shouted as he punched the scrap metal back at Strahg, who knocked them away with his beefy arms. Once more Thom's fist and Strahg's fist met.
"Frost Covering!" Catherine stepped in and covered Strahg's arm with frost, weakening it and allowing Thom to smack him across the face with his Haki fist.
Both sides glared at each other. All three were beaten and battered and breathing heavily, two were burned and sweating furiously.
"...Looks like a got na choice." Strahg grunted as he got out a button and pressed it.
Suddenly clanking was heard and the door locked itself. "The door!" Catherine gasped.
Then the room turned a hot red as Thom and Catherine started hopping around. "Ahhhh! The floors burning hot!" Thom shouted. "What the hell did you do!?"
Strahg smirked. "A joost turned this whole room inta one big furnace ya brats! A practically live in this room, so heat don't da squat to ma! But far ya two...yar gonna get roasted!"
With Annabel and Dimo...
"Phew." Annabel wiped her forehead as she looked at the defeated pirates. "I think that's all of them, wonder how Dimo's doing?"
"Hey there, little lady." She instantly turned and readied her scythe to find a man covered in heavy armour in front of her. "Seems like you've been causing a lot of trouble, seems like I'm gonna have to teach you a lesson."
Annabel smirked. "Those guys were a warm-up, who are you?"
"Name's Lock." He smiled. "Now then, my armour can defend against anything, you think you can beat me?"
"Sure." She smiled as she twirled her scythe.
"Then let's get this over wi-"
"HAVING THE MOVING!" Without warning Dimo, carrying a giant red and yellow spiked batttering ram, smashed through the wall, into Lock, smashing his armour effortlessly, and straight through the other wall, sending Lock flying off whilst Annabel's jaw hit the floor in shock.
"...I say to you oops." Dimo mumbled as Annabel recovered and walked over to him.
"I gotta admit, that was impressive." Annabel sweatdropped.
"You of thanks." Dimo gave her his giant grin. "The waiting of time is not having nowness! Tower ontowards!" And so the two began running, and avoiding the giant searchlight, again.
With Me and Gundar...
"Shigan Oren!" I stabbed three pirates with just my finger, then pressed myself to the wall to avoid the giant searchlight before running again.
"We're almost off of Ship 6, kiddo." Gundar yelled. "After this its Ship 7, the weapons ship, then Ship 1, a.q.a, Kobata's ship."
"And then I'm gonna pound him!" I shouted, punching my palm. "By the way, it's a.K.a..."
"YOU DISRESPECTING A POOR OLD MAN!?" Gundar shouted as he whacked me with his cane. "They didn't have these complicated codes back in my day..."
I almost fell asleep as he started another of his speeches, but I snapped out of it and skidded to a halt when I saw someone in front of us.
It was Tack.
I smiled. "Tack! I'm so glad your okay! Is anyone else with you?"...He wouldn't respond. Something was up with him, he had a grim and determined look on his face. "...Tack? Are you alright?"
"Something's up, kiddo." Gundar grumbled as Tempo hid behind my head in fear.
"This is no time for games, Ellix." Tack said in a dark voice as he pointed at me. "I'm here...to kill you."
Double cliffhanger! Will Thom and Catherine be okay? And what's up with Tack!? What do you think, Ellix?
Ellix: Baka author...
...I'm sorry everyone, Ellix hasn't talked to me ever since I posted the first chapter of One Piece OC Movie: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island.
Ellix: You said you wouldn't do it!
Yes, it's a terrible dark film and I hate it, but its also a major point in your life.
Ellix: So were Alabasta and Enies Lobby! You haven't done THOSE have you!?
Okay, look at it this way. The sooner we get that done, the sooner it's over and done with, and the sooner I can start my 'special project'.
Ellix: You mean the one where we're gonna ask Eri-chan if-
Yep.
Ellix: Well hurry up and finish it, then!
All in good time, for now though, reviews!
To Thief-chan: I can't tell you how destroying it is for me to wait until after the timeskip to write the Film Z fic, I've got it all planned.
Ellix: So who's my opponent gonna be?
All ingood time Ellix...*Weeps in sadness*...too much time...
To Zusenheim:...You think I did it again this chapter?
Ellix:...Probably.
Crud.
To HikariLight00: HELL YEAH! GO BEAT KOBATA UP, ELLIX!
Ellix: YOUR DAMN RIGHT I WILL!
To ThRealEvanSG: Pursue your dreams my friend! Take Luffy's advice!
Ellix: And hey! We're all caught up on Across the Sands! So update sooooooon!
Once again, thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated!
Nakama!