Chapter 21: Go To Hell
Disclaimer: Next week, I'm hosting a rally outside of Eiichiro Oda's house to convince himself to hand ownership of One Piece over to me.
Previously:
Gan Fall ate the Metal Metal fruit to face Enel on equal terms, weakening the god before dying and causing the Devil fruit to reincarnate next to Luffy. Now, Luffy, severely injured but armed with Metal Metal fruit, faces an exhausted Enel for the final time.
Meanwhile, the psychotic Devil fruit hunter Marcus is stopped by an explosive self-sacrifice from Conis' father, Pagaya.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
All around Enel, the Upper Yard cracked to pieces as the two halves of the island slowly drifted away on the Sea Cloud. The earth was fracturing into pieces and splitting away into chunks, dropping out of the sky. It looked as though the entire island was crumbling, while Enel just sat on the ground staring at the patch of lightning-blackened soil before him. In front of him, there was an outline of carbonized char, all that was all that was left of the former god, Gan Fall.
Somehow, even in death, the old man's shadow was still mocking him. Enel felt himself shaking as he gradually sensed a presence walking towards him. He could feel a killing intent so sharp that it made his blood run cold, approaching from behind.
He turned, and saw Luffy slowly stepping towards him. The pirate's skin was bloodied, blistered and covered in ash, yet his eyes were murderously firm. He held the Metal Metal fruit tightly in his hand. Luffy was breathing heavily, but the pirate showed no signs of backing down.
Enel was gasping for breath weakly. The god's body was scarred and bruised, while his face had been so bloodied he was barely recognisable. His nose was bent and cracked, his jaw broken, his teeth shattered and his vision was failing. He barely had any lightning left. He honestly didn't know how much fight he still had in him.
However, his opponent didn't look much better either. How much fight did either man have left in them? Enel didn't even know.
"So…" Enel gasped, his voice raw and throaty. "This is what comes down to, then? One last fight…"
Luffy didn't respond. He stood less than ten yards away, his hand firmly clasped around a bundle of metallic grapes, Gan Fall's final act of defiance, the Devil fruit of every metal. Next to them, a huge chunk of earth split away, cutting through the ground. The other side of the halved island was rapidly drifting away, leaving a huge chasm in the middle.
And yet, neither man even blinked.
"Answer me this…" Enel panted, heaving himself off the ground with pure willpower. Even despite his countless wounds, he still had enough strength left in him to speak, to act, to fight. "Why are you doing this?! Why are you here?"
Luffy never said a word. There were tears rolling down Enel's cheeks, the salt stinging his cuts on his face. Enel had never looked for meaning before, never truly questioned why other people did what they did. All his life, he had been fulfilled, the strongest, his lightning the solution to every problem, his might of Manta the answer to every unanswered question. But Mantra couldn't truly answer the mysteries of the soul, the questions deep in another person's heart. Enel had never cared before, never given a damn about the lsser beings. But now... he was asking, for the first time in his life.
And the bastard pirate wasn't even answering.
The indignity of this moment – it nearly sent him to his knees, all on its own.
"Answer me, goddamn it!" He screamed, his knees shaking. There was no arrogance left in him. "Why?!"
Luffy cleared his throat. "Because you hurt my friends," he said simply.
"Your friends?" Enel frowned, thinking back. "But they were weak. You're so much greater than them. Why do you care?"
Luffy's eyes narrowed, and he answered simply, quietly. "They are stronger than you will ever be."
Enel blinked, staggering forward slightly. "I am God…" He gasped. "I was always God… I took my Devil fruit, I ate it and then suddenly I was on a different level to everyone else." His eyes were wide and unhinged. "… They hated me as much as they worshipped me. I became death. I became God…"
His voice was pained. For the first time, longer than he could remember, he was terrified. It was the fear of a man who had believed himself to be invincible who then encountered someone stronger in every way. Enel's Mantra could sense Luffy's willpower and raw spirit. It was mind-blowingly powerful. It put 'God' to shame.
Enel took a deep breath, trying to refocus on the world, gain a grip again over his flickering emotions. He had never been scared before. Not like this. "… You…" Enel gasped, glaring at Luffy. "What's your name?"
"Monkey D. Luffy," the pirate replied quietly.
Enel's eyes bulged, realisation flickering across his face. "Hmm… D…." He muttered weakly. Then he chuckled softly. "So it's come to this…"
Luffy didn't respond, but there was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. Enel smirked humourlessly. "You don't know?" The god explained. "It was something my father told me a long time ago. I thought it was the gibberish of a dying old man at the time, but… well… now…"
Enel clenched his hands into fists, but his eyes were distant, reminiscing. "Members of the fated 'clan of D'…are considered the 'Natural Enemies of God'!"
The words rang in the air. Suddenly, Enel's forced calmness broke, and his expression changed. He was smiling, then grinning, then he was laughing manically, all the while the tears rolled down his face. He looked deranged. The memories of just the other day flooded back to him, so intense they burned through his body. He had been so bored, so desperate to feel alive again. He had spent so many years aloof and distant, trying to convince himself that this detached elitism was the life he wanted. And yet, for all that time, Enel had been so envious of the 'mortals', so jealous of the intensity and the emotions of their flickering little lives. He had spent years, pining after the moon above the sky, when a warrior from the Blue Sea so far below had been the one to finally reawaken him.
It was all gone. He didn't even remember what boredom was anymore. His heart was pounding with life, and he was more alive than he had ever been. He was sobbing in despair, he was laughing in joy, he was screaming as if he had just been born for the second time. And then it all turned into a single, long, terrible cry of war.
His very last reserves of power reached his fingertips as the air hummed with electricity. He had to force his way inside his own spirit just to drag out his last wisps of lightning. His whole body felt like it was falling to pieces, but he found himself screaming a primal roar of fury.
"Come on!" Enel screamed as the lightning sparked around him, zapping towards Luffy. The lightning was blue anymore; it was orange, like the burning of a dying candle. "Let's finish this!"
Luffy was dodging even before Enel fired. The electricity was wild and unfocused, striking the in such a wild cone that it was hard to avoid. A stray spark caught Luffy in the shoulder, sending him to the ground. His whole body ached as he skidded across the blackened earth, but he cradled the Metal Metal fruit protectively.
The pirate turned to stare at the Devil fruit, his hand hesitating. Around him, Enel continued to blast lightning as the thunder roared. "What are you waiting for?!" Enel screamed madly. "Eat that damn fruit and be done with it! I will prove to you that I am the true GOD! "
Luffy's teeth clench as he glared at Enel, before his legs collided with the ground and suddenly he was running. This was how he proved to himself that he was more than just a Devil fruit power.
Two broken men fought across the entire Upper Yard, leaving destruction and devastation in their wake. Orange lightnin clashed again and again against haki-blackened fists, and before long they were at the very edge of the Upper Yard.
"I'm not going to eat it… !" Luffy roared, jumping upwards until he was running on air. Enel never even had time to look surprised as Luffy charged straight through his final lightning. "… You are! "
The next second, Luffy crashed straight into Enel, tackling the god upwards while his hand rammed the Metal Metal fruit into Enel's gaping mouth. Enel gasped in shock, but Luffy's gaze was murderous.
Enel burst with a final desperate surge of power, but Luffy didn't even budge, despite the pain. And then they were both flying through the air as the edge of the floating island collapsed all around them. Luffy's legs never stopped pounding, lifting them both upwards. Enel's body thrashed and writhed, generating so much electricity that Luffy screamed in pain. They were a shooting blur of orange and blue electricity, flashing through the darks clouds like a second sun of lightning, like a comet rising to the heavens.
The pain was intense, but Luffy's body never stopped punching with his left arm, while his right just rammed further into Enel's mouth, forcing the Devil fruit down his throat. The Metal Metal fruit was being squashed to a pulp in his grip, while the broken shards of Enel's teeth bit into Luffy's hand. Enel's eyes were wide and fearful, he was clawing at Luffy's face with his nails while emitting every last wisp of lightning his body still had, but he couldn't even gasp as Luffy struggled to force the Devil fruit down his throat.
Luffy had no idea how long it lasted. He must have blacked out from the pain, but his body never stopped. They were so high in the sky that his hair, damp with sweat, was freezing into brittle icicles. He couldn't see anything at all but an endless world of clouds below them, and empty sky above. There were thousands of volts tearing through him while Enel kicked and punched, but somehow the pirate just kept on going. The only thing he could see was the frantic, terrified dread in Enel's eyes.
And then, the god finally ran out of breath. His body demanded air and, despite his desperate efforts, his throat gulped downwards. Enel's face turned pale as the Devil fruit dropped down into his stomach.
The lightning stopped. The fighting stopped. Luffy's body collapsed, and he stopped his air-kicks. Both men were then instantly dropping downwards through the air as the clouds rose up to meet them.
Everything went silent. It took entire minutes for them to stop falling. Luffy crashed into a soft cloud, tearing through vegetation as he rolled to a halt. His eyes spun as he tried to process his surroundings, realising vaguely how far from Upper Yard he had fallen. He was in front of a small, wooden cottage, surrounded by vegetable fields and rolling Island Clouds, with a large tree shadowing the house from behind. Luffy's strength failed him as he collapsed into the ground. The crash of the terminal velocity impact had cracked even more of his bones.
Enel crashed straight through the branches of a tree, causing leaves to scatter across the cottage. He settled against the trunk of the tree by the base. Enel was clutching his throat, gasping madly as he tried desperately to spit the Devil fruit back out. His face was nearly purple. Luffy coudn't even stand, he could only push himself up a little, glaring from atop his hand and elbow, staring blankly at Enel's struggling form.
"You want to prove that you a 'God'?" Luffy asked quietly, not moving an inch. "Then prove it to yourself. There are now two devil fruits in you. Can you take it?"
Enel's eyes were trembling with fear, his pupils swirling madly. He managed to focus on Luffy and generate a bolt of lightning in his hand, only to gasp as slowly his fingers transformed into metal.
"… No…" Enel murmured in absolute dread. "… No… this can't be happening…"
His skin was rippling constantly, flickering between metal and lightning. Enel clutched at his chest in pain as he felt the power writhe within him. He looked like he wanted to scream, but he could barely breathe. His body kept flickering between elemental states, growing more and more unstable. The flickering came faster and faster.
Enel stared at Luffy in pure terror while his skin started to glow. "… I… I…" Enel gasped weakly, the tears pouring madly down his face. "… I don't want to die… !"
The air exploded with power. Luffy felt a supernatural chill run down his spine as Enel disappeared into a flash of light. It was like his whole body detonated with unnatural power, with enough force to tear through the earth, causing the tree to collapse with a huge creak.
Luffy felt Enel's presence vanish, like a candle being snuffed out. In the smoke, Luffy briefly glimpsed two incorporeal shapes, one electric yellow and the other metallic silver, rise into the sky and vanish.
Only a crater and a ring of gore was left where the former God of the Skypieans had just been.
The air turned deathly silent. There wasn't a sound to be heard except Luffy's own heartbeat, slowly fading as his adrenaline bled away. The sudden crash felt like being hit by a train, causing him to shudder as his nerves switched on again as he felt the pain again.
His whole body was screaming in agony. Every muscle felt torn, every bone felt shattered. He could hardly breathe as the pain rendered him helpless.
And then, suddenly, he felt his mind detach. Luffy's presence expanded across the sky like a floodgate breaking open. In an instant, Luffy could feel everything, all across Skypiea.
The experience felt like his head was about to shatter, but somehow he held on. He focused on the feeling of the people he knew best; his friends. His family.
"… They need me…" He gasped, weakly pulling himself up as his mind tried to adapt. It was like being blind for your entire life and then suddenly seeing colour. The feeling of this new sixth sense caused his mind to spin, but he anchored himself to the distant spirits of his friends; that feeling kept him awake, it kept him alert, it kept his legs moving and his heart pumping.
Luffy instantly knew exactly where they were. He was miles away, but he could feel them clear as day. He could feel their presence, he could feel their pain, and he could feel their mood. He could feel absolutely everything around him as his mind zoomed over the clouds.
"My friends need me…" Luffy gasped, pushing himself, summoning the strength from he didn't even know where to stagger back to his feet. Luffy was panting as he clutched the wall of the cottage, struggling to breathe—
Then he felt something. Something so fleeting that he nearly missed it - but at the outermost edge of his newy awakened senses, he felt a strange, inhuman power flickering through the air right by him. Luffy flinched, but the power wasn't focused on him. Rather, it was shooting through the world, moving for a place very, very nearby to him.
Luffy turned slowly, carefully shambling around the cottage, following the strange feeling.
On the other side of cottage, there was a large field of orange, bulbous objects sticking out of the earth, green vines and leaves, periodically bearing large orange fruit. Pumpkins. A field of pumpkin vines. There were a few harvested pumpkins piled by the side of the house, probably in the process of being pulped for food, but most of them remained unplucked in the fields, stretching into the distance. Luffy followed the tingle on his skin, until realisation slowly dawned on him.
"Oh," Luffy exclaimed dumbly, staring at a large, fleshy pumpkin near the back row.
The pumpkin looked exactly the same as the others, except for the pattern that slowly materialised under the surface of its skin. The pumpkin's shape did not change, but the nature of it did. Luffy watched bright orange skin slowly transforming into something else entirely, something twisted, a whorl of jagged yellow and black bolts, a sinister, spiraling geometry that held nothing but jagged edges and malice.
When the transformation was done, a supernatural aura settled over the pumpkin patch. Luffy found himself staring at the ripe, glistening, gleaming fruit, a pumpkin that practically radiated power. His skin prickled from even standing close to it.
He knew exactly what fruit this was. It could be nothing else. Slowly, he moved to pick up the newly reincarnated Rumble Rumble fruit, staring at it curiously. It was a while before he spoke.
"… Huh…" Luffy finally muttered to himself. His friends needed him. His friends needed him to get stronger…
"Father!" Conis screamed, weeping uncontrollably as the dust billowed around them. A large crater was left in the middle of the ground, as slowly the pirates and raiders gathered around in shocked silence. Nobody quite knew what to say while the Conis' screams split through the sky.
"… Conis…" Vivi whispered sympathetically, hugging the slender girl tightly. She was shivering and felt so frail. The earth had been pulverised into nothing, throwing up clouds of dust that stung her eyes. Around them, the ground was rumbling silently, but nobody had quite been able to process what was happening.
Nami cast a glance upwards, where the dark clouds of the Arc Maxim were slowly starting to clear. The whole island felt strangely silent as she glanced around the sooty air, struggling to think of something to say.
"You think you can kill me?!" A hoarse, ragged voice roared suddenly. Everyone froze. "I WILL NEVER DIE!"
The dust started to rustle as a climbed out of the crater, screaming madly. Conis' mouth dropped open and her eyes bulged. "No… !" She gasped, collapsing backwards in shock.
Marcus slowly crawled out of the ground, while Vivi stared with disbelief and dread. The man shouldn't be alive. There was no way he could have survived that…
He was snarling and panting like an animal. Marcus' body was covered in white dust and ash that was quickly being stained red from blood. His right arm had been blown clean off from the blast, while the whole side of his face had been shredded. It was hard tell under the dirt, but Vivi could have sworn that she could see the white bone of his skull.
It looked like one side of his body had been vaporised. His shoulder had vanished, taking a chunk of his chest with it. Somehow, by some unbelievable madness, he was Marcus was still moving.
"I WILL KILL YOU!" He screamed madly. He looked absolutely inhuman. His face was beyond injured, it was skinless, as if a mask had been peeled away and nothing remained beneath but gore and blood and bone. Did he even have his eyes left? "I WILL FUCKING MURDER YOU ALL!"
Vivi gasped in shock, but slowly the initial fear started to fade. She saw more details. Marcus was so injured he could barely move his legs, shambling as he struggled to crawl out of the crater. He just kept spewing curses and profanities madly, glaring around at the group. He had only one eye left. Part of his head was missing.
Gradually, as Marcus kept on shambling forward with broken bones, the sight became less horrifying and more… pathetic. A broken monster, a rabid animal.
No one said a word as they stared at the dying man, who in his final extremity was desperate for nothing but more murder. Around him, the air was shimmering; but it wasn't the intense red glow of his fruit anymore, just a weak, flickering orange glimmer. He just kept on coming, heading slowly towards Vivi. Behind her, Sanji stepped in front of Conis and cracked his knuckles. The raiders started to load their weapons.
And Marcus didn't care. All pretence of humanity had been stripped away, leaving nothing but a broken demon desperate for blood.
How is this man still alive? Vivi thought with part disbelief and part disgust. She had once heard that cockroaches would survive until the end of the world. Perhaps the most despicable creatures just never die.
Vivi cast a glance towards Conis, crawling backwards on the ground frantically, and she felt her fists clench. Everyone else was keeping their distance, but slowly Vivi started to walk towards Marcus, feeling a cold, merciless determination that she had never felt before.
"Vivi!" Nami shouted in concerned as she watched Marcus shamble towards her like a zombie.
Marcus grinned. Or, at least, she thought it was a grin. He didn't have enough face left to do it properly. His lips were gone. Vivi just stared at him like he was a repulsive bug that refused to die. She felt her stomach churn sickeningly, and it had nothing to do with his appearance.
"Well hello there, beautifu-" He gasped, but he was cut off just as a wave of sand slammed out of the ground. Perhaps he was expecting a light, nervous attack, but this was a murderous backhanded swipe that took him off his feet.
There was no hesitation in Vivi anymore. Just cold, determined fury as she glared at him and thought about all the people he had hurt.
"COME ON!" Marcus screamed madly, struggling to pull himself off the ground. His shimmering aura flared. "I'LL TAKE WHATEVER YOU—"
The blade of sand sent him crashing towards the ground. The rest of the group stared at Vivi in amazement as she walked towards Marcus slowly. Around her, the sand was swirling furiously.
"I won't die!" Marcus screamed, spitting out globs of blood. "I will never die! You can't kill me! You can't ki… oh…"
The sand writhed around him, thrashing upwards to the sky in huge pillar of fury. For half a second, Marcus looked nervous, just before he was swallowed by the sandstorm. The furious sand crushed him from all directions, holding him in place as the churning sand slowly ground him down. His shield shimmered brightly, but the sandstorm grinded against him like a buzz saw. He wasn't laughing anymore.
Vivi stood outside the sandstorm, arms outstretched, pumping more power in as the sand whirled faster and faster. Her blue hair flew madly in the wind. Strangely, it had never been easier to use her powers. The churning inside of her was gone, replaced by a calm clarity as she channelled more and more power out of her body.
Nami stared at her best friend in shock. The dust in the air was gone, sucked up into the vortex of sand. There wasn't any doubt or hesitation in Vivi's eyes.
"That's…" Nami gasped quietly. "… That's Crocodile-level power…"
Conis wasn't crying anymore. Sanji slowly helped her to her feet, while around them the raiders gathered around the vortex in amazement. Usopp woke up back in human form, and slowly walked towards the column of sand.
From the other side, Robin watched from a cautious distance, keeping Aisa safely out of harm. The sand howled through the air, grinding its way through the earth.
Vivi expression was focused and her teeth were clenched. Her breathing was steady and her pulse was calm. I don't know how long it's going to take, she thought quietly, but I'm just going to grind this man away until he finally just dies.
The storm lasted another three minutes before Vivi finally relaxed. She could feel the strain catching up to her, but the sand just flowed around her so easily. Perhaps its personality, she thought simply, recalling the deserts from Alabasta. The sand is merciless and doesn't like weakness. It eats anyone who's unprepared. You've got to be attuned to your element before you can use it properly …
The sand disappeared into the air, as quickly as it materialised. The mood was quiet as they all closed in around the figure at the centre of the eroded earth. There was barely anything left of Marcus. The sand had flayed off the skin and half the flesh of his body, half his organs weren't even there any more, he was more a skeleton than a man, both his eyes were gone, but his debrided, partly broken skull still glared at Vivi with nothing but fury.
"… I will kill you…" He gasped weakly. "… I will kill you all…"
She stared at him, wondering how she had ever been afraid of such a creature. Even now, there was nothing but hatred and murder left in him. Vivi just looked down at him in disgust. "You're pathetic," she said simply, slashing out with a blade of sand.
Marcus' shield flared as he blocked the blow, but the impact still took him off his feet and sent him skidding across the ground, leaving a trail of blood and pieces of organs behind him. The eyeless skull somehow glared at Vivi with berserk rage, but now there was finally a tremble of fear.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" He screeched madly, struggling to pull himself up. "I'LL MURDER YOU ALL!"
From across the ground, Wiper stared at the Devil fruit hunter quietly, feeling a shiver roll down his spine. Marcus—was his heart even still beating? He was dying, he was dead, a walking corpse, but he still just wouldn't fall down. He wasn't a man, maybe he never had been. He was a blood revenant, a creature living under a mask of humanity, living solely for battle and murder…
Despite himself, Wiper felt a twinge of empathy for the devil fruit hunter, and that galled Wiper; he really, really wasn't comfortable with staring at this kind of a monster and seeing anything similar, any kind of relation at all. It felt like a if he were staring at himself, or what he might have become. A monster.
The pirates slowly surrounded Marcus, and he gulped unwillingly. The fury in his eyes was starting to fade, replaced with frantic desperation. Bloody foam and bile poured from the edges of Marcus's lipless mouth.
"You will not kill me!" He screamed, looking between his enemies with insane rage. "You will not kil—"
"Enough!" A voice thundered across the field. Everyone turned in shock just to see Luffy limping towards them. Luffy was staggering and bleeding badly, covered in blisters and dirt.
Vivi felt her heart jump as he saw her captain. The relief shattered over them like a tidal wave. "Luffy!" She shouted happily. Next to her, Usopp was jumping for joy.
Luffy grinned like a fool, still wobbling with every step. "Hey. It's over," he muttered gently, before turning to Marcus with a harsher look. "It's over. Just let it end already."
His gaze was deadly. Marcus was panting like a rabid animal. "It's never over!" He shrieked, flaring his aura up to dangerous levels as he charged madly. "Not when. I'm still... breathing!"
Marcus leapt towards Vivi, swinging his remaining arm madly. Vivi raised a shield of sand to block, but Luffy was faster. Luffy's hand shot forward, and suddenly the air cracked with power.
The lightning caused the whole island to flinch. Vivi just stared in awe as the yellow blast of electricity shot by her, sending Marcus skidding across the ground. Luffy was standing perfectly still, his fingers crackling with electricity.
One by one, they all turned towards him. Nami felt her mouth drop open. "Luffy… !" She gasped.
Wiper's eyes bulged. "That's Enel's power!" He panted, struggling to his feet.
Luffy shook his head. "No; this is my power now," he said coolly, still limping towards Marcus. The Rumble Rumble fruit had tasted horrible; like the residue of a storm-charred corpse, all ash and char and fire. His tongue was still screaming from the taste. "It's over."
The Devil fruit hunter was wheezing for breath as he tried to pull himself up. "You can't kill me…" He murmured weakly, empty eye sockets staring blindly, straight at Luffy. "I won't die… I can't die… I'll kill you all—"
He dragged himself off the ground, before blindly shambling towards Luffy like a berserker. Luffy just stared at him quietly. "When I say it's over…" He muttered quietly, eyes glimmering. "Then it's over! "
The words rang with so much power that everything seemed to go quiet. Everything halted. A few of the Shandorian raiders collapsed, while Conis fell to the ground unconscious. The power hit Marcus straight on, causing him to falter and trip. Luffy suddenly transformed into pure, brilliantly bright lightning that crackled through the air in a roar of thunder.
"I won't die…" Marcus whispered weakly as he felt the fear drench through his body. The lightning charged towards him. "I won't di—"
Luffy's fist rematerialized in the air and charged towards him at the speed of lightning. In an instant, his knuckles turned pitch black. He ripped through the shimmering aura like a hot knife through butter, as Luffy's hand collided straight against the bone of Marcus' bare skull.
And didn't stop. The Devil fruit hunter's skull cracked like an egg.
"Just go to hell already…" Luffy muttered dismissively, rematerializing in a flash and walking away. "… You'd probably enjoy it there."
Marcus' limp skeleton slumped against the ground. The sandy ground splattered red with blood. For half a second, Luffy was sure he felt a presence spill out of Marcus' bones; a brief flash like a billowing, invisible ghost with blood red eyes. Still, there was no time to dwell on it. Luffy turned weakly towards his friends and forced a smile.
"Hey, sorry I couldn't get—" he murmured under his breath. He wasn't even able to finish the sentence before they crashed into him.
In an instant, Vivi and Nami had wrapped their arms around him, squeezing him so tightly it felt like his remaining ribs were about to crack. They were both crying as hugged him tightly, and Luffy felt his heart skip.
Next to him Usopp was dancing on the spot, screaming happily. In human form, Usopp looked a lot more frail and his bruises were more obvious, but he still seemed happy. "You're alive! I knew you were alive!" He screamed. "I knew you would do it!"
Sanji sighed as he dropped to the ground in relief. "You always have to make us worry…" He said coolly, lighting a cigarette.
Luffy couldn't breathe as he felt Nami tighten her grip. Her head was resting across his chest, while Vivi was sobbing gently into his shoulder. "… You!" Nami shouted. "You always have to go so far… we were so worried… !"
Her arms tightened even further. Luffy gasped weakly. "This really hurts!" He exclaimed, his body trembling madly.
The girls jumped off him quickly. Luffy wobbled dangerously. Nami smiled apologetically, wiping the tears from her cheek. "I'm sorry!" She squealed as Luffy clutched at his chest.
The captain's eyes were quickly swelling up with tears. "No, it's alright," he murmured. "It's good pain."
She sniffed. Luffy just stared at her gently, his eyes inspecting the injuries across her body. All of his friends were wounded. "Please don't cry," he whispered weakly, his eyes wide as he stared between them. "I really can't take it when you cry…"
Nami smirked. "Idiot," she chided, slapping him across the head very weakly. "They're good tears."
Luffy turned, just as Robin approached him from the other side, walking with Aisa. He tried to open his mouth to speak, just as the dark-haired archaeologist cut him off with a gentle, tender hug. His heart nearly stopped as their bodies pressed together softly. Her cheek pressed lightly against his.
"You said you'd be right back," she whispered in his ear.
"I'm sorry," Luffy murmured.
She smiled. "Don't be," she replied. Her lips brushed against his cheek so gingerly that no one else even noticed. Luffy's grin widened as a moment passed between them.
Robin pulled away. Sanji stood up slowly, grabbing a hold Luffy just as he looked like he was about to collapse. "Come on, captain," the chef said quietly, wrapping Luffy's arm around his shoulder. "Let's go find Chopper and get you patched up."
Vivi squealed as instantly she noticed the injuries across Luffy. It was hard to see under the dirt and ash, but every inch of Luffy's skin was blistered and raw. He was shirtless, and even his shorts were burnt and ruined. It looked like he had been barbecued.
"Luffy, you... are you alright?" Vivi asked nervously.
He smiled at her. "I am now…" His eyes were flickering tiredly. Without the adrenaline powering him through, it was so hard to even move. His legs felt cumbersome and weak as Sanji half dragged him away.
Usopp hesitated, casting a glance towards the Shandorian raiders, still milling around the ruined earth. The raiders were stared at them with utter confusion and shock, while the smoke, dust and sand drifted across the air. "What about them?" Usopp asked uncertainly.
Luffy glanced towards them, but he couldn't sense any will to fight remaining. A strange sort of peace settled over the land, as if everyone was out of fight. In the sky, the black clouds were slowly breaking against the rays of light cutting through.
"It's fine," Luffy replied simply, loud enough so that everyone could hear him. There was a just a hint of warning in his voice, particularly as he focused on Wiper. "It's all over."
One by one, the raiders all turned to look at their chief. Wiper was barely conscious on the ground, struggling to move as he locked eyes with Luffy. Wiper squirmed, before his eyes flickered between the twisted remains of the God-Slayer and the mutilated body of Marcus.
"Chief?" Braham asked cautiously, clutching his guns.
"He's right," Wiper said quietly, a small flicker in his eyes. "There's nothing left to fight."
Sanji and Robin took either side of Luffy as they helped him stagger away. Nami and Vivi hesitated, before picking up the unconscious Conis of carrying her gently. In the distance, Luffy saw the shape of the Going Merry, and he felt his knees wobble weakly. His body was instantly very, very exhausted.
"Umm… guys?" Luffy murmured with a gulp. "I'm going to collapse now. Will you catch me?"
Sanji smirked. "Course we will, moron."
Luffy grinned, just as his eyes closed and his body shut down. "Good," he muttered weakly, and that was the last thing he remembered before everything went pitch black. His legs buckled and he toppled downwards.
He never hit the ground.
Twelve hours later…
The sun was slowly setting over the horizon, highlighting the island in a bath of orange and red. Wiper sat on a small hill overlooking the forest, slowly scratching at the dirt. His entire body was covered in bandages, his arm was in a sling. He wanted to sleep, but he just couldn't. The berserker inside of him wouldn't let him close his eyes, not yet.
The Upper Yard looked was a completely changed place. The island had been split straight down the centre, cut straight in half by one of the former god's, Gan Fall's last acts - leaving the Shandorian ruins on this side and the rest of the island, including Angel Island, on the other. The earth had eventually stopped trembling, creating a hundred-foot chasm between the two halves of Upper Yard. The island used to be almost circular, but it was now left as two semicircles
The Giant Jack, the beanstalk, had toppled, and was the only thing bridging the two chunks of land. The huge plant draped across the land, and was long enough to stretch from one side of the island to the other. The beanstalk hung across the rift like a bridge, allowing the raiders to cross as they searched island thoroughly.
Huge chunks of forest had been decimated. Much of the ruins were obliterated. Their homeland had been nearly destroyed.
Still, Wiper didn't even feel angry as he hold a handful of soil in his hand and let the precious, rich black loam, Vearth run through the cracks between his fingers.
Most of the other raiders were out searching the island. The old chief had been the first warrior in over four hundred years to be buried in the ruins of their ancestors, in the soil of his homeland. The funeral had been quick and rushed, but it left Wiper feeling so emotionally drained that he could barely move. Instead, all he did was watch the sunset over the island.
We've been fighting for over four hundred years to watch this sunset, Wiper realised solemnly.
Slowly, there were footsteps from behind him. Braham walked cautiously up towards Wiper. "Chief," Braham announced carefully. "We've search the entire island. No sign of the golden bell, but a couple of guys say that they saw it fall off the edge."
Braham was expecting a violent outburst. Instead, Wiper just nodded quietly. "Right," he replied simply, staring out in at the sunset.
Braham shifted uncomfortably. "It might have caught on an Island Cloud in the White Sea," the raider suggested hopefully. "I'll send some guys down to look for it now."
Wiper shook his head. "Don't bother," he advised. "If it fell, it would have fallen all the way down to the Blue Sea."
Reluctantly, Braham agreed. A tense silence fell upon the pair, but Wiper didn't seem to notice. "I'm sorry," Braham muttered awkwardly.
Wiper sighed. The words of the old chief echoed in his mind. "Nah…" Wiper said quietly. "We'll just have to make a new light of Shandora. We'll find some other way to let Montblanc Noland know we're here."
Braham frowned. Without his hat, the large man looked weird with a thick monobrow dominating his face. "What about the trespassers?" Braham demanded. "They're making camp in their ship on the edge of our island, and we've got Skypieans flocking to us as well. Do you want to drive them out?"
He hesitated, glancing towards the soil. He had destroyed too much Vearth today to stain anymore of it with blood. "Leave them," Wiper relented. "We'll sort it all out later."
The doubt was clear on Braham's face, but he nodded and started to walk away. He only made it a few steps before Wiper called out loudly, "Hey, this isn't an accident, you know."
Braham froze, turning to look Wiper, still sitting cross-legged on the island as he stared at the other half of the island. "What?" Braham asked uncertainly.
"The old man, Gan Fall, he didn't do this by accident," Wiper said with firm certainty. "He spent most of his life trying to find a way to make peace between the Shandorians and Skypieans. He had no time to say anything to us at the end, but still, don't his actions speak loudly enough?" Wiper gestured at the halved Upper Yard. "With his last breath, that old man might have finally succeeded at bringing peace."
Braham's face was a portrait of confusion. Wiper turned to stare at him. "Gan Fall split the island in half," Wiper explained quietly. "Two islands, for two tribes. One half for us, one half for the Skypieans. I think our long, long war is over."
Usopp groaned as he staggered tiredly through the lower decks of the ship. The Going Merry was otherwise trapped in a state of paralysis. The only other member of the crew still able to move was Chopper, as he urgently rushed to treat his patients. Everyone else was in a near-comatose state of recovery.
The sniper slowly walked through the quiet ship. He done his best to make sure the ship wasn't going to sink, but there were still lots of repairs that were needed. And yet, somehow, the wood itself seemed to radiate a sense of satisfaction, or perhaps contentment now that everyone was safely on board.
Slowly, Usopp found his way into the storage room, and sat down onto the wooden floor with a wince of pain. Night was descending outside, and everything seemed so quiet and still. Usopp took a deep breath, before slowly starting to speak.
"I know you're here," he muttered quietly to the empty room. "But I'm not going to look for you anymore. If you don't want to reveal yourself, that's fine."
There wasn't a sound. Usopp paused, hesitantly. "I just… I just want to say thank you," he said weakly. "I know what you did for us, and I really appreciate it. We all do. You've always been there for us, so thank you."
He gently closed his eyes and leant backwards, feeling the exhaustion catching up to him. "You've always been our friend," he murmured sleepily, resting his head against the wooden floor as he slowly got comfortable.
He yawned as he felt sleep drop over him gradually. A few minutes later, Usopp felt a small, gentle, almost childlike hand rest on his shoulder.
Usopp grinned, but he never opened his eyes.
Nine hours later…
As the sun rose over the island, the pirates slowly began to stir. The most severely wounded were resting in the mess room, while Chopper watched over them like a nervous hen. Luffy was the most heavily bandaged of them all, covered in ointments for his burns while Chopper checked his pulse every thirty minutes diligently. Still, the captain was staying still, comatose in his sleep.
With a yawn, Zoro slowly pulled himself upwards, scratching irritably at the bandages across his chest. Chopper was on him in an instant, looking scarier than a tiny, fluffy reindeer had any right to be.
"No!" Chopper squealed warningly. "You are not going to remove those bandages! You are going to stay perfectly still until you're healed!"
Zoro groaned. "But I need to train!" He protested weakly, ignoring Usopp's sniggering from the corner of the room.
"I had to use a magnet to get the iron shrapnel out of your body!" Chopper shouted. "So you're going to do exactly what I say!"
"But—"
"Get back into bed, mister!"
The swordsman shoulders sagged, but he didn't have the energy to argue. He sighed as he dropped back into the hammock set up in the room. Across the room, Usopp was rolling on the floor in laughter.
"I'm going to kill you, Usopp," Zoro muttered tiredly.
"Hey!" Chopper shouted.
"After I've healed," Zoro added reluctantly.
Chopper nodded approvingly. "Good, you can kill Usopp when you're all better."
Usopp's eyes bulged. "Hey!"
The pair instantly started bickering, even as Vivi walked into the room to see to Carue. The duck was heavily sedated and injured, but still squawked happily as she approached. She giggled, muttering reassuringly to him as she stroked his feathers, discreetly feeding him fish when Chopper wasn't looking.
Downstairs, in the girl's bedroom, Conis was fast asleep. She was mostly physically unharmed, but Chopper had still sedated her to let her rest. Conis had been crying all night, and Vivi felt her heart ache for the poor girl. Vivi surrendered her own bed so that she could sleep better.
Robin was sitting in the corner of the room, next to Luffy, quietly reading a book. The dark haired woman had been helping Chopper tend all the injuries, and watching over the wounded. Sanji was in the kitchen, trying to salvage what was left of the food to make a steady stream of edible meals.
The Going Merry was pretty badly beaten up, with splinters covering the floor and a large hole burnt into the ceiling. The men's' bedroom had been demolished, while the mast still hung precariously of the edge of the ship. They wouldn't be sailing anywhere any time soon.
Still, a quiet content peace settled over the ship. All anyone wanted to do was sleep and clean up the mess.
Outside, Nami was busy surveying the damage. As Vivi staggered outwards to help, wincing slightly from the dull pain from her stab wound, she felt her mouth drop as she looked over the island.
Nami was leaning over the balcony idly, wearing a long, floral nightgown that drape over her body. The Going Merry was anchored at the side of the Milky Road, but on the field around the ship there were dozens of tents established. The plain was covered in men, women and children, all with stubby white wings, surrounding the ship. None of them looked hostile.
Vivi blinked, carefully approaching the edge. There must be at least two hundred people crowded around the Going Merry. At the base of ship, around the gangway, there was a large pile of items. Vivi glimpsed food, Dials, weapons, and trinkets all piled in front of the ship. The crowd kept a short, respectful distance, and there was almost a reverence in the silence that surrounded them.
"What's going on?" Vivi asked quietly, walking next to Nami. She saw men and women staring at them with wide eyes and speaking in hushed tones. "What's all this?"
Nami took a deep breath, her eyes staring at crowd. "Offerings," she answered plainly, motioning to the pile of items.
Vivi stared. "Offerings?!"
"Apparently, Marcus and his goons did a lot of damage to Angel Island when they passed through," Nami explained quietly. "Everyone had to flee. Some couldn't run fast enough. All the Skypieans were left floating around on the White White Sea when they saw Enel try to destroy the island, and then everything that happened after that. Apparently, word travels fast."
"So what are they doing here?" Vivi demanded, and she saw the quiet despair in Nami's eyes. Vivi glanced around the crowd, only to realise that they weren't all Skypieans. There were groups of Enel's Enforcers, White Berets, the former devotees, and the prisoners of Enel all scattered among the crowd, peacefully. "And why are they giving offerings?!"
Nami rubbed her eyes tiredly. She'd been out here for hours trying to think of a way to convince them all to go home. "Because they're here to pay tribute," she said simply, motioning to the mess room where Luffy slept on a table. "They're here to worship the new God."
Author Notes:
Well, this chapter marks the end of the big fight, and from now on the Skypiea arc is going to wind down. I really hope everyone has enjoyed it. It's been an experience to write.
Coming up next; new crew mates, new romances and new Devil fruits. Also, there are a couple of guys who I haven't forgotten about and are going to have to make an appearance…
Next chapter: 'The New God'…