AkaiArashi1: Thank you. Yeah, it did, that happens sometimes. Good to know.
SwordOfTheGods: I was just asking for input on the matter, cause I wasn't a hundred percent sure is all. Now though, I think I'll definitely be rolling with it. I hope that's true, thank you.
Revan3363: Thanks. Alright. I definitely intend to.
Tonlor: Yeah, sorry about that bud. XD I'm glad, hope you like this one too.
HP-DG-SB: Actually, I concur. That was just about my line of thinking on the matter when I decided to try it out. Besides that, to me, it just looked good visually, but that's neither here or there. Thank you! I'm glad to hear you think so. Can't wait for the next one huh? Well here ya go, hope I didn't keep you waiting too long. Yeah, Mihawk, Dragon, the alliance, Smoker, so many interesting characters are gathered this time, I love it. Thank you again, and I will do my best!
Halfrican18: Thank you so much! :) And I can't wait to write Enies Lobby. I'm glad you think so. Yeah, I'd say Kuro is the most dangerous of the bunch honestly, all things considered equal anyway. Oh really? That's awesome to hear! I see, thank you for your input.
Jash814: Thanks! I'll take that into consideration.
I intend to, and here ya go, the next chapter.
Guest: Can't promise to keep it up, but I'll do my best. Thank you, and you're welcome.
Lobisomen616: You have a point, but I'm thinking I'm going to stick with it regardless. I like the way it looks, so unless it seems to disrupt the flow too much later on, I'm rolling with it. I'm glad you liked that. Perhaps he did, perhaps he did.
Johnny Spectre: I can't argue with that. Not much else I can say on that, cause it's just so true. It really is.
Ranger Station Charlie: Okay, I think I get what you're saying, Keyword, think. Anyway, yeah, really glad you liked the Zoro and Nami interaction and Zoro's desperation at the end of the chapter. I thought they were rather nice touches myself, good to know I'm not the only one who thought so. So, yeah, thanks! :)
Mazzax: I'm not sure I'd agree with that one hundred percent, but I definitely see how it could be interpreted that way. You aren't wrong, after all. Honestly though, I'd be reluctant to say there's a real leader. If it was just Buggy and Alvida again, he'd take the default leader position. But it's a lot more complicated than that, what with Morgan, Krieg and Kuro. Yeah, I'd also say that's a fair estimation as well, Kuro's just that smart and sly. His arrogance is what really handicaps that advantage. Overall, how the alliance will work out, everyone will just have to wait and see for that.
totalsolution: Okay, fair enough. Thank you for being understanding, I appreciate it. You do? Good, I'm glad. Yeah, that's roughly the general response, so I'll be keeping it most likely. And I do like it myself, to boot, so yeah, I'm rolling with it. Yeah, I wanted to show that even if Dragon hadn't interfered, the Straw Hats would have gotten out of that, and since Zoro is stronger than his Canon counterpart, it basically wrote itself. Not really, but, yeah, you get what I'm saying. I will do my best.
Avo385: Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you. No, really, I am. That said, don't worry, it's coming. It's the next chapter, number thirty four. Now I usually wouldn't reveal the exact timing of it, but I decided why not. You sound like you're really, really looking forward to it, and with it so close, I decided screw it and just told you. I won't be doing that with future events, so, yeah, just know that. And yeah, I'd agree with that. Arlong Park is definitely the best highlight of the East Blue. Neverthless, thank you for saying so.
Alright, time to get into the meat of the arc. Please read, review and enjoy.
As the cloud of dust began to dissipate, a lone straw hat became visible, lying on the ground. Not more than a moment after it was able to be perceived, the shadow of a figure rising to their feet could alse be seen. "I'm alive." The figure said with a lighthearted chuckle, the dust evanescing to the point where said figure could be seen as well, revealing it be the same raven haired teen that had been moments away from death. Reaching down, he retrieved his hat and placed it back where it belonged, atop his head. "That's nice." He said nonchalantly with a grin.
All bystanders, most of the alliance included, as well as the other Straw Hats themselves, could do little more than gape at the scene in a state of near stupefaction, eyes as wide as dinner plates, mouths hanging open.
Dust continuing to clear, Buggy could be seen lying face down on the ground, covered in soot and ash, having been zapped by the lightning, his clothes singed all to hell as a result. The pirate stuttered in pain, unable to even fully form moans and groans to vocalize his suffering. Beside him lie what was left of the cutlass he had wielded, now little more than junk with the pieces it was in. Apparently it had taken quite a bit more than electrical damage when it had been struck.
"H-Hey, do you believe in God?" Sanji questioned his fellow crewmates, still more than a little shellshocked thanks to the event, as he and Usopp came to stand by Nami and Zoro. He was missing his usual cigarette in his mouth, as it had fallen out when he went slack jawed at current events.
"No." Was Zoro's simple response, though he still looked a bit freaked out by the crazy occurrence regardless.
"N-Not really, but I...I think I might be reconsidering my position." Nami replied a little numbly.
"It's kinda hard not to after something like that! It was like divine intervention!" Usopp exclaimed. "If Zoro hadn't used that awesome wind attack of his, that bolt of lightning would have been the only thing keeping Luffy from losing his head!"
Before the discussion of the possibility of there being some kind of deity could continue, Luffy approached his crew, his grin widening as he chuckled a little more.
"That sure was crazy, huh guys?" He clearly found the situation amusing. "I almost lost my head!"
"DUMBASS!" Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji all cried in anger and vexation, as they all slammed their fists into the top of his head, knocking him to the ground.
"Hey, what was that for!?" The rubberman demanded, raising his face from the ground.
"You shouldn't be making light of the fact that you almost died!" They scolded him in unison.
"Alright, sheesh." The straw hat wearing teen remarked, as he got back to his feet once more. "A little harsh don't ya think?"
As the five continued to bicker, Kuro, who had landed on his feet about a dozen feet away, was dusting himself off. "I knew that idiotic clown's plan would fail." He scoffed. "Time to begin the real plan." He said to himself, adjusting his glasses, before raising his right hand, lifting the blades of his makeshift cat claw high into the air, before bringing them down again, as if swatting at an invisible opponent.
That was the signal, and with it given, twenty men revealed themselves, all standing on different rooftops, three on one, two on another, four on a third, etcetera, etcetera, spread across the town square. And accompanying each man was a cannon, the armaments being rolled to the edge of each rooftop, ready to be fired.
Buggy was the first to see them, having known they would be wheeled out if his plan failed. He had been so sure it would work too. Now he just looked like a buffoon, again. Pushing himself up off the ground and to his feet, he readied himself to act.
Everyone else took notice of them immediately after the clown, having heard the sound of them being rolled into place, and quickly came to a hasty conclusion as to what they were going to do with them. A wave of terror washing over all below, with the exception of the alliance and the Straw Hats, they realized they were in the crossfire. And it was with that realization, that they all decided fuck it, and began scrambling to get out of the square in spite of the armed goons keeping them there.
The Straw Hats were only able to mutter an audible, "Not good.", before the cannons began to fire.
Cannonballs impacted the ground and proceeded to explode, apparently they weren't normal cannonballs, damaging the stone ground as well as knocking up a bunch of dust, dirt and smoke from the explosion itself as well. Not to mention what they did to anyone caught in the, relatively small, blast radius. To make matters worse, once all twenty had been fired, the men proceeded to begin reloading them.
Simply running for it would have been the wisest course of action, however, unlike the civilians, the Straw Hats didn't have the luxury of such an option, as every member of the alliance turned on them.
"It's a trap!" Sanji hissed in realization, as the entirety of the alliance, all the grunts and the leaders of it included, began to rush them under the cover of the smoke and destruction the men above wreaked with their shots, launching another batch of cannonballs at that exact moment in time.
Luffy leapt back as Alvida swung on him with her club, before dodging to the side as Morgan lunged at him with his axe, then proceeded to sidestep Buggy's disembodied hand coming at him with knives. Converging on the rubber teen together, they continued to try and attack him.
Zoro moved to provide support to his captain, but was intercepted by Kuro, having to duck as the bespectacled man attempted to take his head with his cat claws. Spinning around, he then had to draw one of his new swords, Yubashiri, and block a sword strike from Cabaji, the unicyclist having tried to bumrush him from behind. Jumping to the left, the swordsman turned towards them and skidded to a stop, as the two bladesmen came at him together.
Sanji would have assisted either man if he had been able to, that wasn't to be the case though, as he dodged a sweep of Krieg's sword, before kicking off the ground and backflipping out of the way, as Mohji, riding atop Richie, tried to ram him. Landing on his feet, he prepared to defend himself, as the broken armed man came at him once more, and the lion and his owner came back around for him.
Nami and Usopp, unfortunately for them, were left with the dozens of grunts, over a hundred of them in total. With the leaders and the main lackeys busy with the other three members of the crew, that left the two of them to do battle with exactly a hundred and ten men. And they didn't have much choice in the matter, seeing as all of them were running at them, weapons drawn, ready, willing and eager to kill them.
That signal that had been given had put this all into motion, they had been ready. This alliance was more dangerous than had originally been thought, that was without question.
...
The moment the cannons began to fire, Smoker, Tashigi and their subordinates made their move. Moving in, they began to escort the civilians to safety, as that was their first priority, Smoker had made that all too clear. Once that was done, they would join the mix and take down all of the pirates, the cannoneers being the first on the list, of course.
As they ushered the citizens of Loguetown to safety, Smoker no longer had to wonder who had stolen those cannons and that stockade from the report, or why they had done so, seeing as the answer was staring at him in the face at that moment.
With a hundred and ten men coming at you, one wouldn't blame you for being anxious, even a little scared. Only, Nami and Usopp weren't a little scared, they were a lotta scared.
"Oh crap!" Both Straw Hats exclaimed with fear.
Turning tail, they quickly broke into a run, in hopes of getting away. Only, it wasn't to be, as their path was obstructed by more men, who had been behind them. "Oh no!"
Whirling to their right, they sped that way, but were quickly dissuaded from going any further, as they almost got caught up in their friends battles, and they did not need to deal with that. "Oh shit!"
Skidding to a sudden stop, they turned around and made a break for it in the opposite direction, only to nearly get blown to smithereens as a cannonball impacted the ground just ahead of them and exploded. "Oh fuck!"
Knocked back on their asses by the explosion, thankfully unharmed by it, they were left vulnerable as the goons closed in, swords raised. "Die!" Several of them yelled as they lunged for them.
Squeaking in fear, the two teens scrambled to their feet and tried to flee yet again, only to nearly run into a group of marines, who were doing their best to get all the civilians out of the square and to safety. And they almost got blown up again to boot. "COME ON!" They shouted in frightened frustration as they backtracked for the umpteenth time.
There was no real way around it, they were trapped in this square with all these vicious pirates. Sure, they could handle some of them, but all of them? While dodging cannonballs? That was an unreasonable expectation. Regardless, they had to fight if they hoped to survive.
"Looks like we don't have a choice, we're going to have to fight." Nami stated, as she reached into her shirt and retrieved the pieces that made up her bo-staff, before expertly putting them together. It still had a glaring crack in it, running across most of the weapon, showing just how damaged it really was. 'I don't know how much more my staff can take.' She thought worriedly to herself. 'I just hope it can hold out until this is over.'
"Y-Yeah, you're right." Usopp acknowledged, as he opened his bag and pulled out his slingshot.
The ninety men mere moments from reaching them, at least the front runners of said men, the long nosed marksman audibly gulped in nervousness. "You really think we can take all of them?"
"I don't know honestly..." She admitted, clearly just as nervous about this as he was. "But we have to try."
As Richie with Mohji atop him came dashing back at him, and Krieg closed in from the opposite side, one would figure Sanji would be preparing to defend himself or at least dodge again. But no, instead, he was reaching into his jacket and pulling out an open pack of cigarettes, bringing it up and retrieving one of the tobacco sticks with his teeth, careful enough as he did not to damage the source of nicotine. With another cigarette in his mouth, he put the pack away and brandished his lighter, protecting it from the rain that was coming down with one hand, while lighting it with the other. It took two tries to get it to work, because of said rain, but he managed to light it regardless. Sticking his lighter back in his pocket, he took a drag of his cigarette, just as his opponents came within arms reach of him. Needless to say, he had calmed down in the past few moments. Then again, he did this because it wouldn't do any good to lose one's head in a situation such as this.
With an exhale of smoke, he proceeded to avoid both of them once more, leaping to his left, before quickly backstepping after that to avoid Krieg as he whirled around for another attempt at a slash. Only he had to jump out of the way yet again, as he noticed a cannonball hurdling down toward his specific location. Managing to avoid the impact and the blast, he landed a few feet away, safe from any repercussions of the explosion. Only, he actually wasn't he quickly realized, as the smoke and debris that were thrown up, the debris being only chunks of stone the size of body parts or slightly larger, obscured his vision of his opponents, which they took advantage of without a moment's hesitation.
Bursting from the smoke, Krieg came with an arc swing to behead the blonde, which was avoided with a quick backstep, but did end with him losing a strand or two of his hair. "Shit!" He exclaimed, realizing they had been fully prepared to battle in these conditions from the beginning, judging by their lack of hesitance and their tactics surrounding the situation. This was only proven further, as the smoking chef nearly got batted to the ground by Richie's paw swipe coming through the smoke unannounced, it only missing him by hair, and that was thanks to his quick reflexes, as he jumped straight up to evade it. That didn't stop him from getting hit though, as the beast's head came out of the dissipating smoke along with its other paw, slamming into him and swatting him several feet through the air to the ground, hitting it with momentum, cracking it slightly as he rolled across it.
Grunting more from annoyance than pain, the suit wearing teen, who had managed to not lose his cigarette, quickly recovered, bringing his rolling to a quick stop as he got to his knees, and prepared to rise to his feet. He didn't have much time for that however, as he spotted another cannonball coming at him, moments away from colliding with the spot maybe an inch behind him, where the explosion would surely do him some harm, at the least. Acting swiftly, he threw his body to the side, dodging the following explosion, but leaving himself vulnerable to follow up attacks from his enemies.
Attempting to squash him, Mohji had Richie lunge toward him with both front paws looking to come down on him and smash him, but was thwarted, as the teen put his hands to the ground and shoved himself off of it and onto his feet, narrowly avoiding being smushed under the weight of the large animal's two front legs. His mount quickly turning around, the so called beast tamer gave the order for his lion to charge, just as the swirly browed seventeen year old jumped back to put some distance between them.
Evading to his left to avoid another cannonball, Sanji skid to a stop, as he faced the oncoming lion barreling toward him. He also had Krieg at his back, attempting to cut him down from behind, not that he noticed much as he jumped up to meet Mohji head on, said white haired man going bug-eyed and freaking out as the cook attempted to hit him with a good kick, which ended with him falling off the back of Richie, as he tried to avoid the leg coming at him.
Landing firmly on his feet, the lion having run past him, Sanji whirled to face Krieg, who had closed in once more, as he thrusted his blade forward to impale him on it. Unfortunately for him, that was not the outcome, as the dark blue eyed pirate met the flat of his blade with the bottom of his foot, and forced it to the ground, snapping the blade near clean in half as it hit the stone with the force of the stomp behind it. "Didn't you get enough of getting your ass kicked back at the Baratie?" He questioned the grey haired man mockingly.
"Be a smartass, it won't matter when you're dead!" The man yelled, as he pulled back and thrusted what was left of the broken sword at his adversary.
It wasn't to be, as Sanji avoided it with a scoff, before ramming his shoe into the side of the larger man's head, knocking him to the ground and sending him rolling over a dozen feet.
Mohji, who was sitting up at this point, while nursing a large lump on his head from landing awkwardly after falling off of his pet, barked at the lion, "Tear that bastard apart Richie!"
Obeying his master, Richie turned back towards Sanj, broke into a dash and then proceeded to pounce, his maw opening wide as he came down upon him, his intent to gobble him up clear. Apparently he was more than content to tear him apart with his teeth. And going by that hungry look in his eyes, he was even looking forward to it.
This time though, Sanji made no move to get out of the way once so ever. He was tired of ducking this damn lion. "You know, it's bad manners to try and eat the cook." He informed the snarling lion cooly, the beast moments away from landing with shaking force and biting down on him.
Pivoting forward so that he was standing directly under the lion's midsection, rather than on the ends of it's teeth like originally, just as it was going to land on him, he shot his right leg upward, lifting it a full hundred and eighty degrees in the air, ramming the sole of his shoe clad foot directly up into the very center of the beast's torso with great force. "Bad-Manner Kick Course!" The power behind this single, vertical kick, shattered most of the bones in it's chest, causing the animal to spit up a concerning amount blood, as it was sent sky high from the force behind the attack. It would also have wailed in agony, if there had been any air left in it's lungs to do so.
"RICHIE!" Mohji cried in horror, gaping with disbelief as he watched this happen.
The lion rapidly came back down, slamming hard into the ground just behind Sanji, riddling the immediate vicinity of the impact zone with cracks galore, it also knocked up a bunch of dirt and dust. Richie didn't so much as twitch after landing, his eyes rolled back into his head, blood leaking from his hanging open maw, clearly unconscious. The big beast had been knocked out with a single kick. Richie was out of the fight.
"You goddamn bastard! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY RICHIE!" Mohji screamed, enraged.
Sanji rolled his eyes at that. "If you didn't want him hurt, then you shouldn't have involved him in the fight in the first place."
"SHUT UP!" The white, funky looking, haired man barked. "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY!"
The blonde stood there as the so called beast tamer took the whip off his hip and came running. He was no match, rushing in like this, it would be a quick victory. Only, Krieg got involved.
"Let's see how you like this." The burned man said to himself, as he pulled out a pair of large bolas, made up of heavy iron with four sturdy ropes attached to them, Giving them a few good swings around, he chucked them with all his might, sending them flying at his smoking opponent, who failed to notice what was going on until the last second.
"What the!?" Sanji exclaimed in surprise, as the pair of bolas wrapped around his legs, suddenly taking his stability away from him, causing him to stumble and nearly fall on his face. He fought to regain his footing though, prolonging the meeting of his face and the ground, basically hopping to try and stay vertical.
This only aided the infuriated Mohji, as he finally reached the blonde, striking out with his whip as he did, wrapping it around the waist of the younger man, before using all his might to heave it back, sending his enemy into a wild spin. "Special Sideshow!" As the blonde span around and around, Mohji lashed out with his whip as hard as he possibly could, over and over again, lashing the cook with all he had, rage fueling his movements. After a dozen and a half cracks of the whip against the man, blood was finally drawn, though only a few drops, but the momentum also began to die, as the spinning slowed down.
Krieg took that as his cue to cut in, as he came charging, his right arm extended, Mohji opting to quit with his whipping as he did, and hit his enemy with a full power lariat, ramming the length of his arm into the teen's throat. The blow took the seventeen year old off his feet, his body doing one good flip, before he landed face down on the ground. Choking a little as he tried to breathe, his trachea having taken the brunt of the damage, Sanji still managed to retain his cigarette, and that was what mattered most in that moment, apparently, as he made sure he still had it.
Rolling onto his back, he brought a hand to his throat and began to massage it, as if it would lessen the pain he was in. As he did, he saw Krieg pulling out a flintlock pistol, a one shot only, thankfully, but a pistol nevertheless. He took aim and fired, however, Sanji had already rolled out of the way, getting a good ten feet away, before putting his hands against the ground and using his momentum to break into a handstand. Holding that position, he began to pry his legs apart, the appendages still tied together, it taking him a few moments before he managed it, breaking the ropes with pure leg strength alone, tearing them apart as he regained the full use of his legs.
He was granted no reprieve, having to do a quick dash, as soon as he was back on his feet, to his right in order to avoid another cannonball. There waiting for him was Mohji, still pissed as he tried to strike him with his whip. He sidestepped, to which Mohji threw his free hand forward, it clenched in a fist, as he aimed to hit his adversary with a good right hook. Moving his head out of the way, the well dressed cook brought his leg up and went on to dispatch the whip wielder with one good kick to the head, sending him flying, vocalizing his pain the whole way, into one of the buildings. He broke through a wall, the stone of it coming down on him, and he was done. Mohji was out of the fight now as well.
"Just you left, Don Shithead." Sanji remarked snarkily, as he looked toward the grey haired man. "The three of you fighting together, not to mention the cannonball support, and you can't even get me to drop my cigarette. Pretty pathetic."
Scowling and growling, Krieg pulled out a large black sphere, the size of his fist. "Choke on this punk!" Giving it a good toss, he sent it flying at the blonde.
The throw sent the sphere hurdling, but Sanji was able to dodge it with a simple sidestep. But judging by the smirk on the larger man's face, that was what he wanted. "Got ya."
Before Sanji could wonder how he got him, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, the sphere hit the ground, and seem to pulse. That's when he got it, eyes widening, as it proceeded to explode, sending over a dozen shuriken flying, spreading out in all directions. Jumping to his right, then leaping to his left, going high before hitting the deck and then popping back up to his feet, he managed to avoid them all. Almost.
Thinking he had managed to get by without so much as a scratch, with the exception of the small bit of broken skin on his left cheek thanks to the whip, he tried to take a drag of his tobacco stick. Only to be shocked when it fell apart, apparently having been sliced at least once during that little dodging fest. "Well, crap." He felt more disappointed than anything. "I take it back. I guess you did manage at least that much. You didn't get me to drop it, but you did destroy it, so that counts, I suppose."
"QUIT MOCKING ME AND DIE!" Krieg screeched, as he came sprinting, drawing a hunting knife from his boot as he did.
Ready to end this already, Sanji met him head on, shooting his right leg out to his side, burying his foot into the man's stomach with great force. "Flanchet!"
The air was expelled from Krieg's lungs, a mouthful of blood accompanying it, splattering on the ground in front of him, before he proceeded to double over and crumple to the ground, defeated yet again.
Putting his leg back down, Sani spat out the useless half cigarette, before turning his attention to his comrades. Now that his battle was over, it was time to assist them.
Sanji vs Krieg, Mohji and Richie
Winner: Sanji
Nami met the first grunt head on, ramming the end of her staff into his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him, before pulling back and letting him collapse onto the ground. Flipping her weapon, she proceeded to give it a good swing and clobber the man coming at her from the right, giving him a good thwack upside the head with her wooden staff. The blow knocked him to the ground, which freed her up to handle the man charging from behind, pushing her staff back and driving the back end of it into his gut, causing him to launch spittle and even a bit of blood from his mouth, before crumpling to the ground. The one on her left was awfully close now as well, sword raised, so she turned to face him and shoved the length of her bo-staff into his torso, causing him to grunt in pain and drop his blade and put his hands on the weapon himself, to try and dislodge it. The oranged haired teen wasn't having it though, as she raised her right leg and decked him in the chest with a solid kick, knocking him onto his back on to the ground.
Whirling to face two more men, she did the same with them, pushing the length of her weapon into them head on, disarming them both as they focused on grabbing onto her wooden construct. They were sure they would overpower her, as they both gave a solid push in unison, forcing her back a good foot or so, only to be denied, as she brought her foot up and nailed one of them in the balls, the kick to his crotch taking him out immediately. As he fell back, she kicked the other one in the stomach, knocking him down as well. Three more coming from the right, she turned to them and met one with a good crack of her staff across his face, before pulling it to the second one and slapping him with it, getting them both down. The third pivoted forward and attempted to impale her then, backstepping, she avoided the blade, then hit him good in the wrist, knocking the sword from his grasp. No longer armed, he tried to tackle the female pirate, only to receive a hard knee to his solar plexus for the efforts, rendering him breathless as he doubled over onto the ground.
Turning around the try and see the next enemy, she noticed a cannonball coming at her. "AHH!" She exclaimed, throwing herself out of the way moments before it hit the ground and exploded, knocking up dust along with smoke and debris.
Getting back to her feet, she searched for the closest enemy, unable to really see one thanks to the dust and smoke. That's when she heard the sound of a lumbering figure, he must be rather heavy for her to hear him, getting her to realize someone was coming at her from behind. Sidestepping out of the way, she evaded a brute coming in with a charge, the man too large, clunky and loud for his own good. She whacked him in the back with her bo-staff, but his reaction was just to hiss in pain, before whirling to face her, cutlass raised. Bringing it down, she blocked the blade with her wooden construct, stopping it in it's tracks. That didn't stop the large man, as he began forcing the weapon down with all his might, trying to overcome the smaller fighter with his strength. She held strong, but was forced to slide back about a foot, and worst of all, her staff began to audibly crack, the damage to it growing worse under the duress it was in. 'No!'
Kicking him in his big, flabby stomach, she managed to get him to back off enough so she could pull her weapon back, and give it a good twirl for momentum and smack him hard in his sword arm, getting him to lose hold of it, it clattering to the ground as a result. That only served to anger him, as he lashed out with his right fist, decking her in the face and causing her to gasp in pain, nearly knocking her off her feet. Capitalizing, he lunged forward and grabbed her by her throat, while using his other hand to pry her staff from her grip and toss it to the ground. Lifting her off her feet, he held her at eye level, leaving her feet dangling a little, as she was a foot or so off the ground, struggling to escape his hold. "Let's see you get out of this bitch!"
One eye closed as she struggled to breathe, the orangette pulled and tugged at the man's big fat arm, more specifically his wrist, connected to the hand that held her up by her throat. It wasn't working, and she was clearly not going to get anywhere like this, she had to think up someway to get out of this. Before she really had to however, the tall and tubby grunt pulled her close, smirking nastily at her. Using that to her advantage, she threw her head forward and rammed her forehead into his, headbutting him hard, causing him to wince in pain, stumble back a step, and for his grip to loosen. "You cunt!" He cursed.
As she attempted wrench herself free, she found that she could finally escape. Only, it couldn't happen, as the lard ass recovered, switching her position as he did. Putting her feet on the ground once more, he wrapped his arm around her neck, locking her in a chokehold, as his free hand nursed his injured cranium, a bruise forming. Struggling to escape once more, it didn't take her long to decide on a course of action, raising her right foot before bringing it down with all she had, stomping on the fat man's foot as hard as she could. "Sunuva bitch!"
While he vocalized his pain, she broke free from his hold, ran to her staff and retrieved it, before coming back at him as fast as she could manage. He hadn't recovered yet, hopping up and down as he tried to alleviate the pain in his foot. As she reached him, she brought her staff forward and with all her might, slammed the length of it into his crotch, eliciting a high pitched screech of agony from the rotund man. "How'd you like that, you fat pig!?"
Needless to say, he didn't, hunched over as the unbearable pain coursed through him. She wasn't done though, as he was still standing. Giving him three good thwacks with her staff on the head, she then pulled back and drove it forward with as much force as she could, and sunk the end of it into his big gut, managing to force him to cough up just a few drops of blood, before hitting the ground face first.
Panting a little, she tried to catch her breath. Being choked didn't do one any good, after all. 'I better be careful, there's no telling when my staff will break.' She thought to herself.
As she did though, she failed to notice the man bumrushing her from behind, until it was too late. "Die!"
Eyes widening, she turned to face him and attempted to defend herself, but knew she wouldn't be able to block in time.
"Exploding Star!"
A pellet hit the running man in the head then and exploded upon impact, knocking him to the ground and out of the battle.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Nami looked toward her friend with a smile. "Thanks Usopp."
...
Usopp gave his crewmate a thumbs up, grinning as he did. "No problem!"
"I got ya!" A grunt yelled as he jumped at the long nosed teen.
Ducking, sqeaking a bit in fear as he did, the sniper avoided being beheaded by the nondescript man. Popping back up to his feet as his enemy landed, Usopp wasted no time in taking aim and letting an attack fly. "Exploding Star!"
The projectile hit the lackey in the back of the head and exploded, consuming his cranium with smoke, as he proceeded to fall straight to the ground.
Turning around, Usopp lowered his goggles so that he was wearing them, and took aim. Why did he have time to even do that? Those cannonballs served as a hinderance not only for the Straw Hats, but the alliance as well.
"Lead Star!" Throat shot, target drops his weapon and clutches at his throat, struggling to stay on his feet. Is incapacitated as a cannonball strikes near his location, the explosion knocking him off his feet and out of the fight.
"Flame Star!" Legs hit, pants ignited, target begins to freak out. Stops, drops and rolls, managing to put out the flames, stands back up with charred and singed pants, is clearly angry. Eyes Usopp as he picks up his weapon and begins charging once more. "Exploding Star!" Direct hit to the chest, knocking him off his feet and rendering him unconscious, succeeding where the previous attack had failed.
Quickly noticing the cannonball heading his way, Usopp squawked in fright, before breaking into a sprint to get away from the impact zone. He managed to do so successfully, the explosion failing to reach him, and the debris, smoke and dust it knocked up doing little to obscure his vision, seeing as a good deal of targets were on the opposite side of the cloud. Coming to a halt, he took aim once more.
"Flame Star!" Face shot, hair is set ablaze, eyes are being damaged, target is running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Ends up running face first into a building and knocking himself out.
"Exploding Star!" Right knee hit, takes his legs out from beneath him, causing him to fall and smack his face against the ground hard. Is trampled by his fellow alliance members. Still alive, but not getting up anytime soon.
"Lead Star!" Nutshot, target doubles over, grasping at his crotch, as if it will somehow alleviate all the pain he is in. Is knocked out when Nami bumrushes him and whacks him upside the head with her staff.
Noticing three primary targets, in other words, gun wielders, the marksman adjusted his aim. "Triple Exploding Star!" Triple hit, face shot, chest shot, and nutshot. First target is knocked onto his back, done. The second target falls over, too hurt to continue, at least for a while. The third target is screaming in agony from having his balls hit with an explosion, and is taken down by little more than a nudge from Nami's weapon.
Hastily making a break for it, as he had just spotted another cannonball coming for him, the sixteen year old liar managed to avoid another explosion. The crap it knocked up this time though, did actually block his line of sight for most of his targets. Because of this, one came rushing through the smoke, sledgehammer in hand, as he reared back to strike the younger man.
Acting quickly, Usopp forewent his slingshot for the moment. "Usopp's Rubber Band Of Doom!" It had the desired effect, as the numbskull flinched, failing to attack, closing his eyes in trepidation, awaiting the rubber band to come flying at him. Capitalizing on this, the long nosed liar sent a pellet flying. "Exploding Star!" It hit him right in the nose and blew up in his face, knocking him down to the ground and out of it.
To his right, another man, cutlass raised, was even closer than that one had been after coming out of the smoke. Noticing him, Usopp wasted no time. He was too close for most of his attacks, so, "Egg Star!", he hit him with a rotten egg to the face, it splattering and blinding him. As he cursed and tried to not trip and lose his footing as he came to a stop, Usopp pulled his mallet out of his bag. "Usopp Hammer!" Clonking him over the head with it, the men went down like a sack of potatoes, unconscious the moment he hit the ground.
Putting the mallet away, Usopp was taken off guard, as a husky, real big grunt burst out of the smoke, gunning for him as he came running. Pulling the firing band of his slingshot back, he began to go at him so he couldn't get in close, where he would be most dangerous. "Lead Star!" It hit him him in his jiggly stomach, but did little more than bounce off of him, leaving only the tiniest markings of a bruise behind. "Exploding Star!" The explosion took place point blank in his face, slowing him down momentarily, as he wafted the smoke out of his view. It seemed to hurt him some, but it didn't stop him, as he continued coming. "Triple Exploding Star!" All three scored a face shot, pelting him with damage, as he came to a slow lumber, moving at a snail's pace now. He was hurt, ready to be taken down. But he was also getting too close for comfort. "Flame Star!" Hitting him in the chest, it covered his neck and the top half of his torso in flames. As they burned, he changed directions and began to stumble off, hitting the ground moments later as he began trying to smother the flames. By the time the rotund man had got them to go out, he had fallen unconscious.
"Yes!" Usopp cheered, pleased with himself. Only to notice another cannonball coming for him, this one much closer than the others had been. "OH CRAP!"
Literally throwing himself to the side, he hit the ground and slid a couple of feet, as the the spherical object hit the ground and blew up, raising debris and smoke in the process. Wiping the stress sweat from his head, he exclaimed his relief, "Whew."
He failed to notice though, that there was an alliance lackey next to him, that took notice of his presence. Taking aim with the rifle he wielded, he prepared to fire, the click getting Usopp's attention. Eyes widening, the sniper had no time to react, he was going to be shot!
Before the grunt could get the shot off however, he was conked over the head with a wooden staff, knocking him down to the ground and putting him down for the time being.
Breathing a sigh of relief, the hazel eyed pirate thanked the light brown, pink tinted, eyed girl. "Thanks Nami."
"No biggie." She told him with a grin.
She helped him to his feet then, as they turned and prepared to do further battle with all the grunts that were left.
As Kuro and Cabaji came at him, Zoro prepared himself, sheathing his Wado, before unsheathing Kitetsu the Third. Wielding his two new blades, he moved to engage them. Metallic clanks rang out, as the swordsman met the bespectacled man's cat claws and the unicyclist's blade, with one sword each. Holding them at bay, he smirked, while they tried to overpower him, to no avail. They lacked the strength to break past his defenses. If this was any indicator as to how the fight would go, it would be a short one.
"I will defeat you this time Roronoa!" Cabaji declared, before breaking away from him, circling around, and closing in from the back for a good thrust of his sword. But the green haired teen wouldn't allow it, pushing Kuro back, he whirled to face his fellow green haired man, and blocked his incoming strike. Not letting his guard down, he brought his right wielded sword back and blocked a slash of his other opponents cat claws, not allowing either to get the best of him.
"You're gonna have to try harder than that." He informed them, his smirk widening a little.
Both scowling, they backed off, for good reason as it turned out, as a cannonball was coming down. Taking notice of this, Zoro quickly dodged to his right, avoiding the explosion that followed after it hit. The debris, smoke and dust it knocked up hid his enemies from view, and one of them in particular used that to their advantage.
"DIE RORONOA!" Cried Cabaji at the top of his lungs, bursting from the smoke, in mid-air as he came flying at him, thrusting his sword forward to impale his adversary.
Meeting him head on, Zoro gave him a good slash with Kitetsu as they passed each other, avoiding taking any damage himself as he did.
Cabaji landed on the wheel of his unicycle without a problem, turning around to try and go at his fellow combatant once more. Only, as he moved to do so, a deep gash ripped open across his abdomen, causing him to scream out in severe pain, a good deal of blood spurting from it. His unicycle also fell to pieces at the same time, causing him to hit the ground with an audible thud. Eyes rolled back, he was out of it. He was honestly lucky to even be alive, really. Needless to say, he was out of the fight.
"What!?" Zoro exclaimed, turning to look at what he had done. He had only been trying to punish the guy a little for thinking he could get away with something like that, not nearly kill him, not mention destroy his ride. "Tch, what the hell is it doing?" The swordsman wondered aloud, before bringing one of his new swords up to look directly at it, the same one responsible for what had just happened. "Well Kitetsu the Third, you're quite sharp. But you're also a bit of a troublemaker, aren't you? A good sword only cuts when it's master directs it to." Eyes narrowing, authority coursed through his voice as he continued. "Cursed or not, you're going to listen to me now." His tone left no room for argument on the matter.
Not able to focus on such things any longer, Zoro brought both blades up to defend himself, as Kuro came from the smoke with a wild lash of his good cat claw, followed by his jerry rigged one. The ching of all that metal hitting more metal rang out, as the two began a contest of strength. It was pointless, of course, as Zoro had already held him and the now out of it Cabaji at bay, there was no way he was being overcome now.
"What happened to that strength boost of yours?" Zoro inquired with a grin. "You were much stronger when you fought my captain."
Scowl deepening, it was clear Kuro did not appreciate that. However, he did not respond with words, simply pulling back and trying once more to cut the green haired swordsman down with his cat claws. Only as their weapons clashed this time, he brought his leg up and kicked out, aiming to hit him dead in the chest. Jumping back, the eighteen year old avoided the kick, while the dark haired man took it in stride, simply performing the necessary steps for a technique, as the space between them gave him the time to do them. "Pussyfoot Maneuver!"
The former black cat pirate captain disappeared then, moving at high speed. Zoro understood how this technique worked, having watched it being used against Luffy, so simply braced himself, ready to counter whatever attack came.
Eyes searching the area, he almost failed to notice the cannonball coming his way. Almost. Jumping several feet to the left, he avoided taking any damage from it. At the same exact time, Kuro reappeared, bringing down both sets of cat claws as he did. Meeting the attack with Kitetsu, Zoro gave a stroke of Yubashiri and cut a slash mark into the former faux butler's chest, getting him to back off so as to avoid taking any more damage, blood seeping from his new injury. 'Damn it, how did he know...?' The glasses wearing man wondered to himself.
Coming to a sudden stop, Kuro's eyes widened significantly and he proceeded to double over, hitting the ground knees first, as he was struck with a horrible coughing fit. Eye dilating as his body was wracked with agony from the inside, nearly a mouthful of blood coming up and splattering onto the ground with every cough, hacking it up in a rather dangerous quality, the man couldn't help but curse his luck. 'No! Not now!' He thought frantically.
Zoro was taken by surprise by this, but didn't let it keep him from acting. Not giving the bespectacled man a chance to recover, he closed in and proceeded to slam the hilt of Yubashiri down into the back of his head, knocking him to the ground and out of the fight. There had obviously been something wrong with him, the green haired teen knew that, but he didn't have time to think about it, nor did he really care, seeing as he knew first hand just how despicable the man really was.
He had to help the others, so, turning away from the downed combatants, he moved to do just that.
Only he didn't get far before another adversary made themselves known. "RORONOA!"
Turning around, he came face to face with a very, very upset Tashigi. "Shit."
Zoro vs Kuro and Cabaji
Winner: Zoro
Nami and Usopp stood back to back, as they continued to defend themselves from all the pirate alliance men. They had cut down their numbers considerably, only sixty of them left. Fifty guys taken down between the two of them, that was pretty good, all things considered. Only problem was, what with the cannonballs in the mix, things looked grim. The oranged haired woman wasn't sure how much longer her bo-staff would last, the wooden construct looking like it might break anytime now. As far as she knew, it could even be the next hit. The long nosed man was running low on ammo, as he had bought supplies to make more of his stars, but he hadn't had time to actually do the mixing and such. He had decided to pick them up in the first place because he knew he'd start running low. And while he still had more, there wasn't nearly enough to take down all the remaining lackeys, even with his friend's help.
"We really need to take out those cannoneers." Nami stated, just as another cannonball hit and exploded not far from them.
"I can do it, but I'd need you to keep these guys off me long enough to line up a shot." Usopp informed her. "And with twenty of them manning cannons..."
"I think I can handle it." She told him.
"Are you sure?" He asked, unsure.
"Yeah." She confirmed. "Besides, look there. The marines are finally getting involved." She pointed out.
And indeed they were, as all the civilians had been escorted to safety, so they joined the fray. The swordswoman broke off, while the grunts came in and confronted the pirate lackeys.
"With them distracting some of the pirates, I should be able to cover you, no problem."
"Alright then. I'm counting on you." He put his trust in her, as he loaded a pellet into his slingshot and took aim.
Focusing on the rooftops above, he located a cannoneer and let a shot fly. "Exploding Star!" Bullseye, hit the target in the face and the explosion knocked him off his feet. One down and one less cannon to worry about.
Taking aim at another cannoneer, just as he was about to fire, he caught something out the corner of his eye. There was someone else on the rooftops besides the alliance men.
Looking toward the person, he saw a white haired man just finishing thrashing three men who had been manning cannons a moment ago. Usopp wasn't sure who he was, probably a marine he reasoned, but he would make neutralizing the cannoneers much easier. Knowing that, he took aim at a cannon manning grunt on the opposite side, and fired. "Flame Star!" Direct hit, igniting the man's clothes and sending him leaping off the rooftop, most likely out of sheer stupidity combined with fear and desperation to put out the sudden flames he was covered in. Needless to say, when he hit the ground, he was out like a light. It didn't help matters that he hit a wall when coming down either.
From there, Usopp would continue to aim and fire on the cannon loading and firing men until all of them had been taken down, and no more cannonballs came flying into the town square.
Luffy went on to dodge each of the three beings attacking him several times, holding his hat securely to his head as he did to keep it from falling off. Jumping up to evade a swipe from Morgan, moving his head out of the way as Buggy's hand came flying, and then backstepping once he had landed, causing Alvida's club to miss him by a hair. The process repeated, as he sidestepped a slash from the axe-handed man, leapt to the left to avoid both of the clown's disembodied hands, and ducked as the loudmouthed woman swung on him with her club again. And this game of cat and mouse would continue for nearly an entire minute, before...
"Wait a second, why am I even dodging that club?" Luffy asked himself, as he did exactly that.
Before he could really answer himself, Buggy's voice caught his attention. "Yeah, you're running scared now, aren't ya!? You can't possibly hope to beat all three of us! Face it Straw Hat, you're dead!" The red nosed pirate burst into laughter then.
"Um..." Luffy crossed his arms across his chest, quirking one of his brows, as he gave the clown a look of something akin to pity. "You do know that you had a better chance of beating me before, right?" He questioned the blue haired man. "I mean, those prisoner guys you had with you, all together at least, were stronger than these two." He stated bluntly.
Alvida brushed such a statement off. It did irk her, but she wasn't about to lose her head over it. A certain someone else though...
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Morgan cried, enraged. He had already been angry to begin with, but now... "WHY YOU LITTLE RUBBER FUCKHEAD! SAY THAT TO MY FACE, I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Uh, okay." Luffy replied simply, before taking a step forward. "Those prisoner guys were stronger than you."
"ARGH! DIE!" He screeched, a vein visibly pulsing in his forehead from just how pissed he was.
Dodging the arc swing of the axe with a swift backstep, Luffy was unperturbed. "Touchy." He commented.
"I SWEAR, I WILL REND YOUR HEAD FROM YOUR SHOULDERS, AND MOUNT IT ON MY FUCKING WALL!" The white-blonde haired man shouted at the top of his lungs.
"You're weird." Luffy responded with half lidded eyes.
Screaming once more, so freaking angry that his words were unintelligible, the non-pirate of the alliance came sprinting at the rubberman. He failed to connect with any attack though, as the teen jumped out of the way once more, before leaping, as a cannon ball came hurdling, hitting the ground and exploding. The crap it knocked up blocked him from seeing any of the three, and they used that to their advantage.
"Chop Chop Double Cannon!" Buggy's disembodied hands burst from the smoke, seeking the straw hat man's blood, but were evaded simply enough.
Next came Morgan though, shoulder charging while also swinging his axe-hand, the raven haired sixteen year old sidestepping, then backstepping to avoid that. Alvida came after that, this time however, he made no move to dodge her, simply allowing her to slam the club upside his noggin. Obviously, it did zilch for damage, it barely even caused his head to move, in fact. Her weapon was completely ineffective against him. "Remember what I told you before? That won't work on me, I'm rubber." He reminded her."
"You're right, I was just checking is all." She told him with a smirk.
"SHUT YOUR TRAP AND HELP US KILL THIS BASTARD!" Morgan screamed as he came running again.
"Oh, just shut up already!" Luffy barked, as he turned to face him. "Gum Gum Pistol!" Shooting his arm out, it stretched to meet the metal jaw-braced man, socking him right in the face and knocking him to the ground. He did not get back up from that good, solid blow. He was out of the fight.
"Hmph. Well, that was disappointing." The slim woman remarked, wearing her dissatisfaction out on her sleeve. "I had thought he would be able to take more than that."
"Yeah, I know the feeling." Luffy agreed. "But, do you really have any room to talk? I mean, I beat you in just one hit too."
Rolling her eyes at that, the club wielding woman fought the urge to respond. He was starting to irritate her.
"I got you now!" Buggy yelled, two hidden blades coming out of his shoes as his lower half separated from his body and came whirling and spinning like a buzzsaw. "Chop Chop Rice Cracker!"
Luffy, predictably, evaded the attack. Not so predictably though, Alvida capitalized on this, pivoting toward him and throwing all her weight behind her club, she brought it toward the rubberman and hit him in the side with it using all her might, actually managing to knock him off his feet and onto the ground, sliding a few feet after hitting the stone.
"Nice one Alvida!" Buggy complimented, as he came floating to her side. "Now let's use this opportunity to kill the weasley bastard!"
Speeding to the sixteen year old, his lower half having returned to him, along with his hands, the big nosed pirate prepared to drive his knives down into his enemy's flesh. Before he reached him, a cannonball hit, failing to damage him, but knocking up debris, smoke and dust. Not paying it any mind, he rushed thought it, to find Luffy was back on his feet.
"Gum Gum Whip!" Kicking out with his right leg, it stretched as it came careening toward Buggy.
Reacting, the thirty something man broke apart. "Chop Chop Quick Escape!" Separating into about six pieces, the leg went through the space between them, leaving him unharmed, as he put himself back together.
"Nice try punk! But I'm prepared to fight you this time! There is absolutely no way you'll be coming out the victor!" Buggy declared pridefully. "I'll show you exactly why I'm your better! And why you'll never-"
Stretching his arms back a good ten feet, Luffy pivoted forward and threw them at his flashy adversary, palms open as they drove into his solar plexus. "Gum Gum Bazooka!" The impact of this attack knocked the wind out of the clown, and also sent him flying, unable to so much as vocalize a syllable as he soared because of the lack of air in his lungs. He came to a stop when he slammed into a building and broke through the wall, landing inside the structure.
Luffy waited for him to come out for a dozen or so moments, but he never did. "Hmm. I guess he's done too." Indeed he was, Buggy was out of the fight. "Guess I should have held back more." The straw hat wearing teen said to himself.
Looking to Alvida then, he queried, "So, you next?", only to no longer see her there.
"Huh? Where'd she go?" Eyes searching the area, he tried to locate her, to no avail. Mostly because another cannonball had hit, and the stuff it kicked up blocked him from seeing the woman throwing an unconscious Krieg over her shoulder, along with the still from of Morgan she already had with her.
Shrugging his shoulders, not really caring, Luffy turned his attention elsewhere. To his friends, who needed his assistance.
Luffy vs Buggy, Morgan and Alvida
Winner: Undecided
Luffy and Sanji regrouped with Nami and Usopp, the two former throwing some alliance grunts to the wind with a simple attack, that had surrounded the latter two.
"Oh my sweet Nami, are you alright my dear?" Sanji inquired with concern.
"Of course, he doesn't even think about asking if I'm okay." Usopp muttered to himself.
"I'm fine." She waved off his concern, only to have the hand she did with grabbed by the blonde, as the chef gasped.
"You're gorgeous face, who would dare to blemish such perfection!?" He demanded, having noticed the bruise on her forehead.
"What, this? Don't even worry about it, it's nothing." She assured him. "It'll barely last two days, if that." She wasn't lying, it was barely even noticeable. It would be gone soon enough.
As Sanji began to spout off about how he would find whoever did this and kick them to hell, Luffy asked, "Who did that to you?", his voice low, frowning as he did.
"Like I said, it's nothing." She insisted, as she pulled her hand from Sanji's grasp. "I gave it to myself, in fact. I had to headbutt a guy." She explained as if it was no big deal. Which, really, in this crew, it wasn't, not even in the slightest.
"Oh, okay." Luffy said, his face brightening at that. "What about you Usopp, you okay?" He went on to ask, turning to said long nosed man as he did.
"Oh yeah, just fine! This was nothing for the great Usopp! A hundred and ten men? HA! I laugh at the notion! I could take on a thousand by myself!" The hazel eyed liar boasted, happy to have someone ask if he was alright, as well as being given the chance to brag.
"Then how come there are still thirty left?" Sanji queried, having calmed down.
"Um, well, I-" Usopp attempted to explain, only to be cut off by Nami, "And don't forget I took out half of the ones we did defeat."
"You see-" He attempted again, only for Luffy to interject, "Where's Zoro?"
That question was quickly answered, as they heard the sound of swords clanging together, drawing their attention to said green haired man, as he crossed blades with Tashigi.
"Who is she!?" Sanji questioned excitedly.
"A marine woman." Nami answered simply. "Tashigi's her name, I believe."
"Such a beautiful name, for a beautiful woman."
"She doesn't look happy." Usopp observed. "I wonder what's got her so upset? I mean, I know we're pirates, but she looks like she's really pissed."
"Zoro probably did something stupid." Was Nami's guess.
"If he hurts her, I swear I'll-" Sanji began, only to be ignored, as Luffy asked, "What happened to the cannonfire?"
"Oh that, I took care of it." Usopp asserted proudly.
"We took care of it." Nami corrected him.
As the four continued to talk, they failed to notice Smoker entering the fray.
...
All of those down in the square failed to notice the fact that Kuro had suspiciously disappeared, Alvida, Morgan and Krieg doing the same. Where had they gone?
"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?"
Kuro disregarded Alvida's inquiry, as he dusted himself off.
Looking away from the bespectacled man, the slim woman gazed down at the battle still taking place in the square, it slowly winding down, at least where the alliance was involved. "That's why you thought up this backup plan. You knew we wouldn't be able to defeat them." It was no longer a question, it was a statement, it was fact.
Nevertheless, the former pirate captain continued to ignore her, as he turned away and dead lifted a large, red cannonball, that bore Buggy's jolly roger.
"You're smarter than I gave you credit for." She said, as she turned her gaze to him.
And still, he was silent, as he loaded the cannonball into one of the cannons that sat atop the rooftop they stood upon. Once had done that, he turned and began lifting a second.
"But did you forget to take my ability into account?" She questioned. "None of them can so much as touch me. Every attack they make will just slip right off. They could never conceivably defeat me."
"When we decided to ambush them here, in Loguetown, the advantage your powers gave us became a moot point." He finally replied.
"Oh? How so?" She posed to him, now curious.
"That man down there, the one with white hair, is the man known as the White Hunter. He is the strongest marine stationed in the East Blue. On top of that, he wields a sea-prism stone tipped jitte. Need I explain further?" He was clearly annoyed with her, as he finished loading the second cannon.
"I suppose not." She conceded with a sigh.
That's when she noticed something below. "Looks like Buggy's realized we're going with plan B." She notified the dark haired man.
Indeed he did, as, from his position below, the clown took a glance upward at them, before moving to retrieve his first and second mate, Cabaji and Mohji respectively. Throwing them on top of Richie, he proceeded to grab the knocked out lion by the tail and begin dragging him out of the square. He wasn't strong enough to treat the animal like a feather, as he tugged and pulled on the beast's tail, making constant strides forward, only able to move a moderate pace. Still, it wouldn't take him long to get out of the line of fire. Not that Kuro seemed to be waiting for him to do so, halfway finished loading the third cannon.
"Not going to wait for him to get out of the line of fire?" Alvida asked with a quirked brow. She received no answer, of course. "You honestly don't care who dies, do you?"
The sideways glare he gave her confirmed that without a doubt. He almost seemed offended at the thought of caring for any of his so called 'allies' below. "Just checking." She told him.
As Kuro loaded the third cannon, the woman turned and began kicking Morgan and Krieg in their sides, in an attempt to wake them from their unconscious states. She succeeded after several tries.
It would take them a good minute to regain their mental faculties, so the club wielding woman turned away from them and focused on the square below, so she could watch the show. As she did, she noted to herself that Buggy had just managed to get out of the blast range with his thee most trusted underlings, at the same exact moment Kuro lit the three fuses of the cannons.
"This really will be flashy." Alvida remarked, right before the cannons fired, sending three Buggy Balls hurdling into town square
...
Luffy and his crew, minus Zoro, had noticed Buggy dragging Richie off, with Mohji and Cabaji lying atop of him. They made no move to stop him, simply noting that he was running away.
The marine grunts did battle with the remaining alliance grunts, while Tashigi tried to duel Zoro, she was not even close to a match for him, and Smoker came strolling in, aiming to take down all the Straw Hats.
Everyone was so caught up in what was going on, that they didn't notice what was happening until it was too late. They wouldn't have even have realized what was happening at all, if it wasn't for the sounds of the three cannons firing.
All eyes followed the sound to the source, to see three cannonballs, all the alliance lackeys recognized them as Buggy Balls, Luffy and Zoro would as well, but not in time to do anything about it, shooting down toward them. Most figured they were just oddly colored cannonballs, but even if they had realized the danger they were in, they didn't have much time to escape. Even still, most made a break for it, as the cannonballs were noticeably bigger, and therefore, logically, would cause a bigger explosion. If they had only know how much bigger.
They all tried to get out of the way, still, as the Buggy Balls hit the center of town, they were all caught in the ensuing explosion, the sounds of death cries ringing out into the air, the sound of rain, and even the sound of the boom of the armaments, was unable to drown them out in the slightest.
Vision blurry, Luffy was unable to perceive anything around him, as he realized he was lying face down on the ground, his head turned to the side. Blinking a couple of times, he began to clear his sight, while also making sure his hat was still safely on top of his head, thankfully, it was.
He began to scan the area once he could finally see, eyes widening considerably as he took in his surroundings.
Town square had been absolutely devastated by those Buggy Balls. The ground was torn to shit, large holes everywhere, the stone just about entirely gone, only missing chunks of earth to be seen, said things all along the immediate area. All the buildings of the surrounding area, with the exclusion of three, had been razed to the ground, nothing left of them but scorched debris. The remains of the execution stand were literally just gone, and the fountain that had been somewhere around here was also nowhere to be seen, not even broken pieces of it. But worst of all was the bodies.
Littered across the ground, corpses of marines and pirates alike lay, blood smeared everywhere around them. Some cadavers were missing limbs, while others were missing half of their entire form, but they were all alike in that they were deceased. It would be easier to count the survivors, roughly ten or so marines, as well as about thirty pirates, than it would be to count the dead.
Pushing himself off the ground and onto his knees, the rubberman immediately sought out his crew. "Nami, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, are you guys alright!?"
Seeking them out with his eyes, he found them one by one.
Nami was ten feet in front of him, lying on her back.
Zoro was twelve feet to his left, lying on his side.
Usopp was eight feet to his right, lying face down.
Sanji was six feet behind him, lying on his side as well.
Thankfully, none of them seemed seriously injured, nothing more than scrapes and bruises really. Their clothes were ragged, singed and damaged to a certain degree, but that was completely inconsequential. They all began coming to when he called them, so that was also a good sign.
He also noticed, out of his peripheral vision, that Tashigi woman was mostly okay as well, though she was clearly out of it. And he also noticed that Smoker guy was actually completely unharmed, even though he had clearly saved said bespectacled woman, judging by the fact that he was holding her in his arms. He heard the white haired man curse under his breath, as he set his charge down gently. Turning to his other subordinates, he went over to them, to make sure they were okay.
Still disoriented as he got to his feet, it took Luffy a moment to realize five figures were making their way toward him and his crew. Once he did though, he recognized them immediately. Buggy, Morgan, Alvida, Kuro and Krieg were all marching toward them, a dozen men, that had been lying in wait judging by the fact that they looked completely fresh and unharmed, accompanying them. The most logical conclusion was that they were the elite of the alliance grunts.
The other alliance grunts, the ones that had survived the salvo of Buggy Balls, having done so by sheer luck combined with knowledge that something like that might occur, wasted no time falling in line with their allies, even in spite of the fact that they had almost been killed by them. They were simple minded idgets, who were deathly afraid of their leaders, so it was honestly no surprise.
"Oh my god!" Nami cried upon taking in what had happened, horrified and disgusted by the sight.
"I think I'm gonna lose my lunch." Usopp muttered after a gasp, clamping a hand over his mouth as he attempted to keep himself from regurgitating the meal he had eaten a few hours ago at the sight. Needless to say, he failed, puking all over the ground.
Zoro and Sanji just wore deep scowls, not saying anything on the matter. It was clear though that they too didn't appreciate the awful view before them.
"I should've expected something like this with Kuro." Luffy mumbled to himself, scowling deeply as well.
His wits about him once more, the straw hat pirate prepared to do battle with the approaching alliance, the other Straw Hats beginning to rise to their feet as well, Zoro and Sanji having already done so a moment or so after their captain. As they too got ready to fight, Nami retrieving her staff, that was still intact somehow, and Usopp picking up his slingshot, which had been lying beside him, a cry of, "Goddamn pirates!", was heard. This alerted them to Smoker, who was charging them as well, the few marine grunts well enough to continue fighting following behind.
"We'll take care of the marines!" Zoro and Sanji said simultaneously, as they ran to meet the seven men, counting the jitte wielding captain.
As the alliance drew ever closer, Nami and Usopp prepared themselves. It was their turn to help fight the leaders, along with the grunts. They would help Luffy. "We got your back!" They exclaimed in tandem, managing to hide their trepidation and the absolute horror that they still clearly felt at what had occurred.
It was at that moment, the forty seven alliance members broke into runs, now speeding at them. They were ready and eager to finally kill them. Luffy leapt toward them, meeting them head on, as the fight began.
...
Zoro and Sanji dispatched the marine flunkies swiftly and with ease, Smoker on the other hand...
"Damn it to hell! I just can't hit the bastard!" Sanji exclaimed with aggravation, as he tried once more for roundhouse kick to the white haired man's temple, only for his leg to pass right through, the part of his head trying to be hit turning to smoke before returning to it's original form after the threat had passed.
"He must've eaten a Devil Fruit!" Zoro opined, as he slashed at the coat wearing marine, his blades phasing harmlessly through his body just as the cook's kick had done.
"That's right." Smoker confirmed. "You two can't even touch me." He told them gruffly, as he lashed out with his jitte, something they could actually block, which they did immediately.
Backing off the two tried to think of a way to actually connect an attack, having to quickly dodge as Smoker sent his fist speeding toward them, his reach elongated exponentially by his arm transforming into smoke. "White Blow!"
They barely managed to avoid the attack, it came so fast. Nevertheless, they did manage, having jumped in opposite directions. Smoker just followed them with his raven colored eyes, his anger, despite not being vocalized, rolling off him in waves. Whether he thought them responsible for what had happened or not was unclear. That was one of the last things on their mind, however.
"This is not going to be easy." Sanji stated, reflexively reaching for his pack of smokes, but stopping himself. This was not the kind of enemy he could stop fighting and light a cigarette against.
"That's an understatement." Zoro remarked, frowning. How was he supposed to fight someone he couldn't actually hit?
Things only got worse, as Tashigi's voice reached their ears. "Huh...what?"
Some ten to fifteen feet away, she was her on her knees, rubbing her head, before wobbly getting to her feet, clearly still regaining her wits. Once she had, she quickly noticed what had happened, gasping at the horrific sight. "Thi-This is awful!" She vocalized her horror and disgust.
"Captain Smoker!" She called to him, as she located him with her dark brown orbs, fighting back tears as she did. 'How could someone do this!?' She wondered bitterly to herself.
Seeing he was locked in battle with two pirates, Roronoa being one of them, she quickly adjusted her glasses, picked up her Shigure and rushed into the fray without waiting for a response to her call.
...
Luffy confronted the figureheads of the alliance, while Nami and Usopp fought the lackeys. Once they had cut their numbers down to size, they would assist him in the main fight.
That would work in theory, but didn't work out so well in actuality because of one simple unaccounted variable. Alvida.
Every attempt the rubberman made at putting Buggy, Morgan, Kuro or Krieg down for the count, was thwarted by the slim woman, as she would intervene and use herself to defend them, acting as their human shield. That resulted in his attacks sliding right off of her and hitting the ground, or just flying in the opposite direction, connecting with nothing but air.
"Dang it! How am I supposed to fight if I can't even hit you!?" Luffy voiced his frustration.
"That's your problem hun, not mine." Alvida responded with a smirk.
"Are you ready Straw Hat!? Today you die a flashy death!" Buggy asserted with a cackle, as he attempted to sink his knives into Luffy's flesh. He evaded, before attempting a counterattack, only to be intercepted by Alvida, stopping him from landing a blow again.
"I will make you regret the day you ever came to my town! I shall show everyone how truly great I am, BY KILLING YOU!" Morgan shouted while performing an overhead slash, which his enemy avoided without much trouble. Throwing his leg forward, he tried to kick him right in his jaw, but once more Alvida intervened, taking the blow in his stead, the rubber boy's leg slipping past and hitting nothing but air.
"I will prove my might by killing you! I will show everyone that I am still the strongest man in the world!" Krieg proclaimed, as he thrusted his large hunting knife forward in an attempt to pierce his opponent's neck. Backstepping, the raven haired pirate put enough distance between the knife and himself to go untouched, moving to deck the grey haired man in the face afterward, just to be obstructed yet again by the former fatass, now slim, woman.
"What did I tell you before? You're too naive, too delusional about how this world works. Your kind of thinking was going to get you killed eventually. And today, it will, by my hand." Kuro snarled, as he slashed at the teen with his cat claws. The dark eyed teen ducked, the blades passing over his head, before popping back up and cocking his left arm back, shooting forward for a left straight. Alvida came in and stood in the way, of course, but Luffy had been ready.
Pulling back, he swayed to the right, and proceeded to nail Kuro in the ribs with his right fist. The blow nearly took the older man off his feet, clutching at his side and hocking up blood as Luffy stepped back. "You killed all these people just for that!? Is that all you know how to do, sacrifice others to further your own ends!?"
Jumping several feet back, the bespectacled man landed and skidded to a stop, the other four alliance heads blocking the path to him after he did. "I will do whatever is necessary to have my revenge. I don't care how many have to die. Just as long as you're one of them!" Kuro declared wickedly, before beginning to wobble back and forth, going from one leg to the other, over and over again, repeatedly.
'No!' Luffy thought immediately, moving to try and stop him, only to have to leap back as Morgan, Buggy and Krieg attacked.
By the time he got around them, it was too late. Kuro had disappeared, a strong gust of wind blown up when he did. "Outta The Bag Attack!"
"Shit!" Luffy cursed, as the slashes began to appear, the former cat themed pirate captain carving into the ground, people soon to follow.
Able to track his movements if paying close enough attention, the straw hat wearing sixteen year old moved to stop him before he could do any serious harm, knocking Buggy and Morgan aside while doing so. As he did, he failed to notice Krieg lunging at him from behind, the only thing keeping him from having a knife buried in the back of his head, or more accurately the only one, was Nami, smacking the big man down with her staff. She had abandoned her fight against the grunts after noticing her boyfriend was in trouble.
He didn't really notice, as he focused on following Kuro's steps. But he most definitely did notice, when said girl screamed out in intense pain. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Whirling to face where that sound emanated from, his eyes widened to the max as he saw Krieg, his good hand wrapped around the hilt of the hunting knife that was buried in Nami's shoulder, blood seeping from the wound. She had managed to stay on her feet through the sudden pain, though she had dropped her staff and was clutching at the knife, her expression twisted with nothing but severe pain. "This is what you get for interfering bitch!" The grey haired man growled.
Eyes narrowing, Luffy abandoned the task at hand and pivoted toward Krieg, taking him completely off guard as he grabbed ahold of his good arm, left hand on his wrist, right hand on his elbow. Holding the man's wrist in place, he suddenly heaved upward with his other hand, breaking his remaining good arm with a sickening crack and snap, ripping a scream of agony from his throat, as his arm was bent in a way it was never meant to. "ARGHHHHH-CCKK!" Only to have his voice silenced, as Luffy pulled his right arm back and then rammed his right elbow directly into the bigger man's throat, nearly crushing his trachea upon impact. Not finished, Luffy let go of the bastard's wrist, then proceeded to deck him in the face with a strong left before he could double over and crumple to the ground, sending him flying, hitting the ground over a dozen feet away, sliding nearly another dozen feet as he did. It need not be said that he would not be getting up anytime soon.
"Luffy-ahh!" She winced as her boyfriend removed the knife from her shoulder, in spite of how gently he did, sending it clattering to the ground none too gently in comparison.
"Chop Chop Cannon!" Came Buggy's voice, a moment before his disembodied hand buried four knives into Luffy's back, causing him to stumble forward a step before catching himself, gasping in pain as he did. The hand taking the time that bought it to return to it's owner.
"Luffy!" Nami exclaimed with concern.
Morgan capitalized, and leapt at his most hated enemy from behind, axe-hand raised high as he prepared to execute the younger man. 'NOW YOU DIE!"
Acting quickly, Nami snatched her bo-staff back up, despite the pain it caused her to do so, and put herself at Luffy's back, holding it up horizontally to defend her lover. The moment the axe met her staff however, it snapped right in half, the pieces knocked from her hands, little to no resistance met, the blade of the white-blonde haired man's weapon nearly cutting her in two as a result. If she had stood an inch closer, she'd be dead. It had come so close it had taken a few strands of her hair with it.
Before Nami could recover from her shocked state, having been momentarily overwhelmed at the brush with death she just had, Alvida's club came swinging towards her. Immediately turning around, Luffy caught the club with his right hand, keeping it from touching her. Then came another slash from Morgan, which the rubberman also caught, doing so by grabbing the former marine by his wrist, with his left hand. "Not happening." He hissed at them, his voice low and dangerous now that they were targeting his girlfriend.
"Chop Chop Cannon!" Buggy's attack name rang out, as his hand came flying at them again, also aimed at the orangetee. No free hands, Luffy stretched his neck out a tad and bit down on the detached appendage, causing the clown to grimace and curse in pain.
In doing this, he held all three adversaries at bay simultaneously. With someone to protect right in front of you, that wasn't exactly the best position to be in.
Usopp was currently trying to come to their aid, rushing past the remaining grunts as he did, but every time he got close, he almost got his head taken off by Kuro, having already accumulated several gashes across his body for his efforts. He would hastily retreat every time, scared for his life, before making a break for it and trying again. He would get so close, only to be forced to retreat, though he did go a little farther back than necessary, because of said fear for his life. Still, he continued to try. "Triple Exploding Star!" Letting the three pellets fly, he took out a couple of grunts who were a little too close for comfort, before reloading his firing band and going again. "Triple Flame Star!" Setting half a dozen men on fire and getting them to start running around, he used that moment to try and reach his friends again. "Smoke Star!"
He attempted to cover his tracks as he sprinted toward his captain and their navigator, the smoke doing the trick. It failed to help him when it really mattered though, as he got close enough to touch them, the two having put some space between them and the three alliance heads they were fighting, only to be shoved hard to the ground, voicing his pain as he did, "OW!"
Looking to where he had just been standing, he quickly realized it was Luffy who had pushed him, for good reason too, as the rubberman now had a deep slash mark carved into his chest that was meant for his long nosed friend. It was deeper than the ones the sniper had received back on Gecko Island, he honestly wasn't sure he would've survived it. "Luffy..."
He didn't get the chance to thank his captain, as said straw hat wearing man wrapped Nami in a protective embrace, just as they were barraged with what seemed liked almost too intensely focused slashes, considering the bespectacled man's inability to really see what he was cutting, guarding her from being hit by even a single one of them. He, on the other hand, was being torn up like cattle at a slaughter house. Even his precious hat took some damage, a number of slashes catching it and messing it up good.
"Luffy..." Nami breathed his name, her breath hitching in her throat as he held her close, protecting her from all harm, even as he was plagued with agony. He didn't even think about how his hat was faring, gritting his teeth as he endured all Kuro threw at him, not letting even a syllable of pain escape from his mouth. It was more for Nami than anything else, he knew she hated to see him in pain, or any of her loved ones for that matter.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and Nami began to cry. She felt so worthless, so useless in that moment. Luffy was withstanding this flurry of deadly slashes so that she didn't have to feel anymore pain. She could do nothing to help him, to protect him. She couldn't even protect herself. "I'm so sorry." She choked out, as she began to sob.
'This is...this is all my fault. If...if I had finished Kuro back on Gecko Island...none of this would have happened! I should have killed the sunuva bitch when I had the chance!' Usopp lamented, as he forced himself back to his feet, fighting back tears as he did. Tightening his grip on his slingshot, he turned and fired on alliance grunts that had come after him. "Triple Exploding Star!" Four taken out. "Triple Flame Star!" Five taken down. "Triple Lead Star!" Three brought down.
Refocusing his attention on his friends, he reloaded his slingshot, and prepared to fire. Only, before he could, Alvida was at his side. Not giving him time to react, she bashed him over the head with her club, driving him face first down onto the ground, his goggles breaking into pieces as his face smashed into the ground, his nose breaking at an awkward angle as well. This elicited a garbled cry of severe pain from the curly haired teen. He managed to retain consciousness, just barely, but was unable to force himself back up. It would take more time than he had to recover from this.
Without warning, Luffy shoved Nami out of his arms and to the ground, the reason why revealed a half-second later, as Buggy and Morgan lunged at him simultaneously. He defended himself against them, sending them skidding across the ground, while still receiving new wounds from Kuro, his body near covered with them at this point, scattered across his arms, legs, chest and back, blood secreting each and every one.
As Nami tried to get back to her feet, she was smacked with Alvida's club, sending her skidding across the ground about a dozen feet, letting out a scream of pain as she did. This, obviously, got Luffy's attention, his head snapping to the direction it came from. "Nami!"
He tried to run to her side, but was taken off guard by Alvida, as she swung on him with her club, battering him with it with all her might, knocking him to the ground and sending him sliding across the ruined ground, in a similar fashion to his navigator.
He recovered quickly, but as he got back to his feet, he noticed the state of all of his crew.
Off to the side, about fifteen feet away, Zoro and Sanji had both been incapacitated, taken down by Smoker and Tashigi. They weren't going to be of any help.
Ten feet ahead, and slightly off to the left, Usopp was struggling to get to his feet, and failing. He wasn't in very good shape judging by his trembling, but he continued to try regardless. He was vulnerable though, and someone had realized that. As Kuro suddenly reappeared, having stopped using his technique, and now stood by the long nosed liar's side. His intentions were clear before he even raised his weapons. He was going to kill Usopp.
And about twenty feet dead ahead, was Nami. She was getting to her feet, before she was kicked back down onto the ground, courtesy of Alvida, who had just finished casually strolling over to her. Raising her club, the slim woman gave an ugly grin. She was going to bash the cartographer's brains in.
Adrenaline surging through him, Luffy took off, sprinting as fast as he possibly could toward Nami and Usopp. He had to save them, now! And he might have been able to, if it weren't for Buggy and Morgan, as well as the remaining alliance grunts, ten of them in total, getting in his way. He plowed through them in an effort to reach his friends, but the second they bought their fellow pirates was just enough. There was absolutely no way Luffy would make it in time to save both of them, or even just one of them!
Desperation flooding his being, along with the terror he felt at the thought of losing one of his friends, Luffy tried to force himself to go even faster. But it was no use, there was just no plausible way to get there in time, even as he drew so close that he could stretch out to them. By the time he reached them, they would be dead. There was no way to change that.
"No! Stop! Stop! Stop! I SAID STOP!" Luffy threw his head back and cried at the top of his lungs, as he skid to a stop, and a powerful red aura proceeded to blast across the vicinity. This power seemed to stop the rain momentarily, while also reducing Morgan, Alvida, the remaining conscious pirate alliance grunts, and the injured but alive marines, to foaming messes on the ground, their eyes rolling into the back of their heads as they lost consciousness.
Kuro was brought to his knees, his eyes half lidded, as he fought to remain coherent and conscious. A fight that he quickly lost, as he collapsed onto the ground.
Usopp, even with the condition he was in, was able to retain some semblance of consciousness, though he was teetering on the edge, looking like he could pass out at any moment.
Nami didn't fare much better, having been on her knees but brought back down to the ground from the power, eyes half lidded, as she struggled to stay awake.
Zoro might have stumbled if he had been standing, but considering he was on the ground, restrained, he just felt a little pressure. Sanji was much the same.
Tashigi dropped to her knees, her senses assaulted by the power, but managed to keep from being so overwhelmed that she passed out.
Smoker certainly felt the power, but wasn't much affected by it. It did get him staring at the one who had used it in bafflement though.
Buggy was sweating bullets, having felt much stronger bursts of such power, he had developed an immunity to weak doses of it like this, even still, to feel it again after so long... 'Holy fucking crap! That stupid brat possess the Conquerors Will!?' He thought incredulously to himself.
Breathing in and out raggedly, Luffy began to calm down, as he realized that, well, they had actually listened to him. Technically. He wasn't a moron though, not really, he knew that power he had just somehow used, whatever it was, was what stopped them. Looking down at his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists as he did, he wondered aloud, "What was that?"
He was unsure what to say to all those gawking at him. He knew that he was the one to do that. But he had absolutely no clue as to how he did it.
Somehow, they all managed to pry their eyes away from him, even his own, as they realized someone else was there. Call it a feeling or paranoia or just reacting to the sound of wood groaning, but they all looked toward one of the three buildings still standing, the middle one to be exact. What did they see there?
A man dressed in ornate clothing with a large sword on his back, who sat perched atop said building, clearly having been watching all the chaos unfold. Question was, for how long? "Oh, don't mind me. Please, by all means, continue." He said tactfully.
No one moved so much as a muscle.
"No? Fine then." With that, he dropped from the building, landing on the ground with more grace than one would usually think possible of a single human being.
He made no move to come any closer, as he told them, "I'm looking for a certain pair of young pirates."
"Hawkeye Mihawk..."
To Be Continued...
End Note: Yeah, yeah, I know, the fights weren't the best, especially Luffy's and Zoro's. But what did you expect? In a straight up fight, none of them stood a chance against the Straw Hats. The main reason they're considered deadly is because of Kuro's plan, and the chaos and confusion it caused. If they had worked together better, they could have been more efficient, still, they didn't have a hope in hell of coming out on top. We all knew that. I think the final scene made up for it though, don't you agree? X)