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5 minutes earlier
Luffy was running down a long, narrow, stone hallway. It was dark with only a few lamps lighting the way. After he'd been shown the way by Ezio, Connor and Chimmeny he ran ahead in hopes of saving Robin.
"Robin!" Luffy screamed at the top of his lungs. He received no answer, but kept going. No matter what, he had to reach Robin before she passed through the gate and be lost to them.
Eventually, Luffy could see a door ahead. Without any hesitation, he kicked the wooden door down, breaking it in half. The room appeared to be a type of storage room. There was nothing remarkable about it except for, Lucci, who sat on one of the nearby crates waiting patiently for him. Lucci looked up and the Rubber captain and a large sadistic grin formed on his face.
"I found you, pigeon guy," Luffy exclaimed as Lucci smirked at him.
"Straw Hat, let me congratulate you on making it this far. I underestimated you. I never imagined that someone as lowly as you could make it this far," Lucci said without a hint of teasing. "And by yourself no less."
"I'm not alone," Luffy answered.
Lucci gave him a questioning look and tilted his head to look down the tunnel behind Luffy. It was empty and there was no eco or sounds that indicated that Luffy had come with allies to help him fight. Not that it would change the outcome if he did.
"Unless you have a crew member who is invisible then yes you are alone,"
"No, I didn't come alone," Luffy repeated "I wouldn't want to come alone. I'm different from you guys. I have my Nakama so that means I'm never alone,"
"What foolish logic,"
"Where's Robin?" Luffy demanded.
"The other side of this door," Lucci answered and he stepped back and looked at the door "It leads to the northern tower and the start of the Bridge of Hesitation. A ship is waiting for her and will leave in less than 5 minutes," Lucci explained.
He then turned back to Luffy.
"Do you understand Straw Hat? You have less than five minutes to defeat me. If you, can't you will lose Nico Robin forever," Lucci finished in a very exited yet sick voice.
"Is that all, that's easy," Luffy said and got into a battle stance. At that moment, his pigeon flew off his shoulder.
Luffy took this as his cue and charged Lucci. He attempted to kick the CP9 agent, but he easily blocked it with an elbow. "I am not going to let you through," Lucci said nonchalantly.
Luffy doubled back and punched Lucci in the gut, but the man didn't move. All the attack did was knock his hat off. Lucci stood there and blocked every blow Luffy made with no effort and returned them with his own devastating blows that sent Luffy crashing backwards into the wall or supply creates scattered about.
The fight continued like this of several minutes. Both fighters traded blows, but neither of them managed to really hurt each other. Luffy attempted to break away from Lucci several times, but to no avail. Lucci was always able to block his path and push Luffy aside. The pigeon man, however, was the perfect gatekeeper and nothing Luffy did gave the captain the opportunity to pass Lucci or hurt him enough to have any real effect as the Luffy's blows were either blocked or defected by Lucci's Tekkai.
"Shit, I can't get hit!" Luffy cursed. "And Robin is waiting for me..."
"Give it up," Lucci said. "You will never see her again. You will not be going past here."
Luffy growled as he charged Lucci again.
Luffy attempted to punch him, but Lucci blocked the punch with a kick. He then used his other leg to kick Luffy in the chin before sending him flying back with a roundhouse kick. Luffy crashed into a pile of crates but he immediately recovered. Without missing a beat, the rubber captain ran in and performed a Gatling on Lucci. Not one of the punches managed to hit Lucci as he seemingly transported across the room.
"That is not going to work on me," Lucci said through yawn as he stopped moving and grabbed both of Luffy's arms in mid-punch.
Luffy's mouth dropped open in surprise. No one had ever stopped his Gatling by grabbing him except for Enel and he did it using Mantra. Ushing the pirates captured arms, Lucci swung Luffy around before slamming the rubber boy into a nearby wall. Just like all the other times, Luffy was not badly hurt from the exchange, but he knew his time was running out. Robin was getting further away from him.
"If you think I am tough now," Lucci said and slowly shifted into his Hybrid form. Once complete Lucci took the form of a large, very muscular bi-pedal Leopard "you have not seen anything yet,"
Luffy wasn't fazed by this at all, he was about to get back into the fight when, when Lucci turned his attention towards the door that Luffy had burst through a few minutes ago. Two unexpected people came running through the doorway. The sight of a certain white hooded robed man was enough to make Lucci freeze in both shock and fear.
Luffy's head whipped around to see Franky and Ezio had run into the room. However, he didn't have time to be relieved to see them.
"Franky, do you have the keys?" Luffy asked urgently the moment he saw the cyborg.
"We got 2 of them, the others rest are on their way," Franky responded, he then raised his arm aiming it at Lucci "Let's take this guy down,"
"No, get to robin," Luffy ordered. Right before one of Lucci's attacks blew Luffy back to the opposite side of the room, away from Franky and Ezio. Lucci then turned his attention to the two newcomers, however the moment his eyes fell on Ezio the CP9 agent froze and focused solely on him.
"You," Lucci sneered "How did you get on this Island?"
"I've been here for a while. Honestly this Islands security needs work. Why I was no more than 10ft from you and you didn't even notice me. Not good for a government agent like yourself," Ezio answered light-heartedly.
Lucci shifted his wight and got ready launch himself at the white hooded man. His eyes scanned for any openings while his mind quickly played out possible ways to attack, however Lucci made no move to engage either Franky or Ezio.
"If your here than it's no wonder these pirates have acquired those keys. You probably delt with my fellow CP9 Agents for them," Lucci stated.
"Hmm…nope, I didn't actively participate in any of the fights, it was all his crew," Ezio claimed and gestured to Luffy "I can't take credit for beating CP9 this time. Not that I would ever consider beating you or your little band of phoney assassins a challenge,"
"We are the most deadly and dangerous assassins in the world," Lucci declared.
"That's the spirit, keep telling yourself that. Don't give up, you'll get there one day," Ezio encouraged and gave Lucci a thumbs up.
"How dare you mock me and the government this way,"
"Then please tell me how you would like to be mocked," Ezio smiled "I take requests,"
Lucci just growled but made no move to strike Ezio. Instead Ezio looked over at Luffy. The rubber captain was pushing himself up out of a stack of boxes that he had been thrown into "Do you want help, I could take him out in two minutes if you wish,"
"Eh? Two minutes?" Franky yelled "your joking?"
Ezio looked at Franky and then Lucci and then back at Franky.
"Your right," he smiled "that is being generous and we do not have time for me to enjoy myself. 22 seconds,"
"22 seconds of what?"
"That is how long it would take me to beat Rob Lucci if I was serious," Ezio said casually.
"You can't be serious,"
"I am, and Lucci. You should be proud, 22 seconds is far longer than most last against me," Ezio said darkly "my usual targets don't live past the first 3 seconds. and there is lovely Bella waiting for us just up ahead, it would be rude to keep her waiting,"
"No, I got him, get Robin,"
"As you wish," Ezio than tuned his attention back to Lucci. "Apologies signor, but we will have to pick this up at another time. I have a date,"
Franky and Ezio began to move into the room, however Lucci was not going to let them pass. Whatever held the head of CP9 from attacking the pirates seemed to no longer be an issue as he launched himself directly at Franky. The cyborg had no idea Lucci was coming at him until Ezio moved in front and drew his sword.
Blocking Lucci's deadly blow. Lucci stared at the white hooded man in shock, it was if he had expected the man not to engage if he wasn't attacked.
"That was most unwise," Ezio said in a low tone. His eyes shifted off to the side. Lucci followed his gaze only to see a rubber foot slam directly into the side of his face, Lucci was blown away from Ezio and Franky as the two ran through the room. By the time Lucci had recovered, he watched Franky and Ezio dash into the opposite hall.
"Told you," Ezio smiled "Have fun Luffy," he called back as both he and Franky ran out of the room and towards the end of the tunnel.
Once Ezio and Franky were gone, Luffy saw that encounter had caught Lucci off guard and wasted no time shifting into his Second Gear. "Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol!"
The second attack stuck as the CP9 agent was trying to recover from the kick he'd received. It took Lucci off-guard and the CP9 agent was knocked senseless into a pile of crates as smoke began to waft of Luffy's body as it had turned a hot reddish colour. When Lucci regained his senses, he didn't look angry at all. Instead, he seemed very pleased by this development.
"Now that is interesting, you appear to be stronger?" Lucci commented "But did you forget, Straw-hat Luffy? In this form, I defeated you in a single blow at the Galley-La mansion."
"Yeah, that. I was pretty hungry then," Luffy informed casually "I hadn't had dinner so I wasn't at my best,"
This information annoyed Lucci. He disappeared again and attempted to stab Luffy with his claw finger. It was now Luffy's turn to vanish and he reappeared hovering behind Lucci's back.
"Jet Whip!" Luffy yelled as he kicked Lucci, knocking him into the wall.
Lucci quickly picked himself up. But Luffy was already next to him and poised to strike. "Gomu Gomu no Jet Bazooka!"
Lucci barely had time to do a Tekkai, but it made little different. Luffy's attack went right through the defence technique and knocked him over. When he recovered, Lucci noted something off about the Rubber Captain.
"It seems you are breathing harder now. Whatever you are doing seems to be taking its toll. Is it because of the steam?"
"If I can beat you, it doesn't matter," Luffy responded.
"Of course," Lucci smirked. "How stubborn." He then disappeared.
"Bastard!" Luffy yelled as he quickly did the same.
The two fighters moved so fast across the room at breakneck speed. Luffy managed to nail Lucci with a Jet Whip to the gut, knocking the leopard man into a wall, stunning him. Luffy, however, didn't follow up as he attempted to catch his breath. Gear Second was already taking its toll on him.
It was at this moment that the room they were in began to tremble as if it was affected by a small earthquake. Even Lucci who could have taken the opportunity to strike a devastating blow at the rubber pirate stopped and looked at the ceiling. Since they were in an underground tunnel surrounded by water, Lucci would be in trouble as well if the walls cracked or broke due to the damage their fight had caused.
Thankfully the walls settled without any water leaking in, Lucci assumed the shaking was caused by the start of the Buster call as he could faintly hear the echoes of an evacuation alarm coming from down the corridor.
The battle quickly resumed and Lucci attempted to stab Luffy with multiple attacks with his clawed finger. Luffy made sure to dodge each of them since Lucci's finger pistol could now pierce his body. Luffy jumped out of Lucci's range and did a Jet Stomp from right on top of him. Lucci quickly evaded, although it wasn't a graceful dodge since he landed onto some crates. Luffy didn't follow up for a second time as he was forced to take several deep breaths. Lucci slowly got up with a huge grin on his face he was clearly enjoying this battle.
Lucci observed Luffy for a moment longer before his eyebrows rose, almost as if he came to some type of realization. Within seconds, they both went back to fighting, but Luffy was noticeably slower and his attacks didn't do the same level of damage as earlier.
Suddenly, Luffy's Gear Second timed out and the rubber captain fell to his knees in exhaustion.
"Hmm…Just as I suspected. That form is like steroids," Lucci stated. "You used your legs as a pump to speed up the flow of blood, so it is like you are doping yourself on your own blood. If you were a normal human, that much rise in your blood pressure would be enough to cause your heart to explode. However, as your organs and blood vessels are rubber, you can handle it. An ability only usable to a rubber human. It is quite the ingenious technique,"
Luffy glared at him but didn't respond; he just kept breathing heavily to catch his breath. It was very concerning that the CP9 agent had figured out the technique only after a few minutes of its use.
"You are pushing your body to its limits," Lucci continued his observation. "And it is barely withstanding it. You are not very smart. You are undoubtedly in pain and you are also shortening your own life just for a few minutes of strength. I meant what I said about it being ingenious…but it is a double-edged sword and not suited for long drawn-out battles like this one,"
Luffy was fully aware of the dangers of his Second Gear, he'd only come up with the Idea after on the train ride over here. However, he didn't think it would take him out of commission so quickly. "It's better than having everything taken away from me! I'll do whatever I can to keep that from happening!"
"You wish for too much! You have still lost even if you do defeat me," Lucci informed.
This statement startled Luffy.
"That shaking earlier," Lucci went on. "That was most likely caused by the marines' headquarters battleship doing a warm-up attack. In mere minutes, a full-scale bombardment shall begin. Your crew in the Tower of Justice will die. But if, somehow, there was someone who was running through the underground tunnel to reach us..." He suddenly stopped and smiled viciously.
Luffy's eyes widened and he watched in horror as Lucci performed a Rankyaku and cut one of the walls. Within moments, water began pouring into the room.
"What? What did you do!?" Luffy demanded. As he struggled to stand up, even standing he was already ankle-deep in seawater.
"You might defeat me, but this seawater will fill the tunnel and drown anyone who happens to be in there," Lucci informed "even if they are not in the tunnel there will be no way for them to make it off the Island,"
Luffy's eyes widened in horror. "You..."
"Face the facts. Nothing will go your way, Straw-hat," Lucci said in a matter-of-fact voice. "Let us see how far you will go to achieve your silly hope of saving everyone and escaping safely."
At that very moment, the entire room began to shake violently again. The Buster Call had begun but neither fighter had time to worry about the Buster Call since the room was rapidly flooding. Both Devil Fruit users were forced to find higher ground before they drowned and each one tried to trap the other in the flooding room.
As they climbed up the tower leading to the Bridge of Hesitation, Lucci kicked open some other parts of the walls to increase the water flow while always staying above it. Luffy stretched his arms and grabbed a ladder that led upwards and followed the path that Lucci had taken.
Once they were both out of danger from the flooding and in a bear open room. The sounds of cannon fire was prominent now, it could be heard all around, yet no damage was being done to this tower from the outside. Lucci must have noticed Luffy's worried look.
"We are above sea level, so the water will not reach us," Lucci informed. "Can you hear them? The sounds of the battleships' attack?" Lucci's grin grew and his eye became wide with excitement and sadism "What happened to the pirates? What happened to Nico Robin?" Lucci asked mockingly, almost like he was reading a teaser for a story. "You must be worried for them all…are they dead? Did they drown? How long till they burn?"
Luffy glanced down the passageway he had just taken. It was now completely filled with water.
"If you wish to go to save them, you can," Lucci said nonchalantly. "I will not stop you, but we both know you will drown before you get back to the room we just escaped from. What will you do Captain Straw Hat Luffy,"
"I'm not taking my eyes off of you," Luffy said as he turned to face the pigeon man. "No matter what's happening right now, they'll survive," Luffy claimed without a shred of doubt in his voice. "But if I run from you now, you'll go and kill my crew! So, I'm not taking my eyes off of you,"
Lucci was generally surprised by that answer. Another rumble shook the room, causing pieces of the roof to crumble and fall.
Lucci chuckled at Luffy, but it was not a mocking laugh. "You got some determination. You have a high calibrator befitting of a leader. I would have liked for a certain idiot to hear that. It is almost a pity that you are on the wrong side of the law," he said with an air of admiration.
"Before you barely had my interest…now you have my full attention. I am curious to see if you can back up those big words," Lucci challenged with a huge grin on his face.
With those words, the battle resumed.
Just like before, the two fighters were even, although Luffy had a slight disadvantage since he couldn't use his Second Gear at the moment. Luffy took several hard hits from Lucci that would have shattered his body if he were a normal human.
"Can you really beat me?" Lucci asked as he moved in for a powerful kick.
"If I don't win, I can't protect anyone!" Luffy screamed as he caught Lucci's kick with his leg. He then wrapped his limb around Lucci's leg, immobilizing him. "Gomu Gomu no Rifle!" Luffy screamed as he slammed his fist into Lucci's chest.
Lucci was ready and performed a Tekkai, making the attack useless. In fact, the recoil blew Luffy back. The moment Luffy landed, Lucci disappeared and reappeared in Luffy's face. Before Luffy could move, the Zoan user wrapped his tail around the boy captain's neck and lifted him off the ground.
"You did well to stand up to the World Government, but it seems that you, like all other pirates, are simply unable to stand up to me in battle," Lucci said. "You got guts, but it takes more than that to defeat someone like me."
Luffy gasped for air before he started to spin his body rapidly. He grabbed Lucci's tail and let himself unwind. Lucci was completely shock to find himself being spun like a top before Luffy flung him.
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy shouted as he shot his fist at the flying Zoan user.
Lucci was able to recover and evade the attack. Luffy charged in again, but Lucci grinned at him.
With a flick of his thumb, Lucci shot was looked like a bullet at Luffy, causing him to reel in pain as the object hit him.
"What's wrong Straw Hat? Dose it hurt? Is the big bad kitty too much for you?" Lucci said in a mocking voice. "Did you lose all your power after that attack or did you waste them on those leg pumps earlier?"
Luffy regained his balance and steam started to flow out of his body one more.
"Power huh," Luffy said with a grin "If you like power then I'll show you another strategy," Luffy said as he bit down on his thumb. "Gear Third, Bone Balloon!"
"Bone?" Lucci questioned.
Luffy's right arm expanded in size until it was as big as a giant.
"The power to move air from one bone to another," Luffy explained as he moved the air to his chest and then his left arm. "Watch, my left hand! This is the hand of a giant!" He threw his punch right at the Zoan user.
Lucci looked less than impressed as the giant fist approached him. "Gomu Gomu no Giant Pistol!" Luffy yelled.
Lucci performed a Tekkai, which proved to be a big mistake. Luffy's giant punch rammed right through Lucci's defence and threw the Zoan user out of the tower after Luffy punched a giant hole in the wall.
The Bridge of hesitation
On the bridge, the rest of the straw hats, Ezio and Franky were desperately fighting off the marines. Nami stayed on the ship to protect Chopper, Kokoro, Chimmeny and Connor. Her lighting abilities zapped anyone who passed the main fighters on the bridge and came running down the stairs.
Up on the Bridge, everyone battled with the marines, Zoro and Franky backed each other up while Usopp supported Sanji with his tricky ammo and did his best to help control the crowd. Ezio seemed to be having the least amount of trouble as he was parrying and taking marines one after another. What was even more impressive was he only seemed to target those that had devil fruit abilities and commanders. He would use the sack he carried as a distraction before following up with his own singular deadly blow.
All of his strikes were precise and fatal, it didn't matter that they were facing up to over 2000 marines across the Buster Call fleet. Ezio parried and counted all attacks that came towards him with ease. Bodies fell one after another around him and Zoro noted that some of the Maries were shaking in fear of even being in his presence. To the point that they were not fighting out of fear or duty; but desperation to survive.
Ezio's stance, techniques, strikes, foot work and awareness of his surroundings was impeccable. He was clearly experienced with combat and it showed. He hadn't sustained any real damage at all and even more so he was able to move the sack out of harms way as well.
Zoro noted that Franky was being bombarded by a Marnie who spilt his body into small bouncing balls. He was about to go help when Ezio rushed forward and in one swift movement he stabbed of the balls with his sword. The marine let out a blood curdling cry as his heart was now on the end of Ezio's blade. Ezio swiped his sword back out clearing the heart and thrust it behind him, taking out another marine who had was in a fox Hybrid form. In this Ezio had dropped the sack but after the body of the Zoan Marine fell it changed back, Ezio picked the sack up again and moved onto the next Marine.
Zoro wondered how Ezio was able to move so fluently in combat, it was like he knew what was going to happen or what marines had devil fruits and what their powers were.
Unfortunately, Zoro didn't have time to worry about it as he was too preoccupied with his own battle. One of the Marine captains challenged him to a sword fight, unfortunately this particular captain had eaten the Rust-Rust fruit and all-metal he touched turned to rust.
Zoro watched one of his blades turn to dust before his eyes. He needed to be careful with this opponent, one wrong move and Zoro would lose both his reaming swords. However, before he
"Incoming," Ezio's voice shouted.
Zoro and the captain turned just in time to see the sack Ezio had been carrying slam into the captain's chest. The Marine caught it naturally but it occupied his hands and because it wasn't metal. Ezio suddenly appeared next to the captain in the air and sliced his head off.
And that is when Zoro saw it, under Ezio's hood…glowing golden eyes. The same ones that he'd seen both Connor and Edward use. Ezio had Connors second sight.
The captain fell as blood leaked sprayed out of the captains decapitated neck. Ezio landed and thew his dagger into a nearby marines' chest. For a brief moment, Zoro and locked eyes with Ezio, he saw nothing but killing intent in them. Zoro gripped his swords tightly as Ezio took a step towards him but and picked up his sack from the decapitated captain; slinging it over his shoulder again. He moved away from the straw hats swordsman.
Zoro counited to fight the marines, doing his best to keep Ezio in sight but it was hard as the man moved so fast across the battlefield. Suddenly there was a loud crash as the wall of the northern tower blew outwards. The fighting stopped momentarily and all the marines cried out in shock, even the cannon fire stopped as everyone watched as Lucci in his Hybrid form was blown out of the northern tower by a gigantic rubber fist.
Lucci would have fallen into the water and died if a marine battleship had not been nearby. He landed hard onto the deck, breaking the wooden panels and he didn't get up again.
Up in the tower
Luffy had just blown Lucci through the tower wall, with it open he could see the battle on the bridge below, however he didn't have time to worry about his crew. He brought the air back to his chest, causing his rubber man's body to distort upwards making Luffy take the appearance of a giant egg. Once he had gotten himself halfway in order, he stretched his arms and rocketed over towards the battleship.
From the air, he could see Lucci on the deck of the ship, taking off his jacket and back in his human form. Despite taking a Gear Third to the face, he looked relatively unharmed.
"You want power pigeon guy!" Luffy yelled as he floated over the battleship "I'll give you power,"
The marines attempted to shoot Luffy, but the bullets bounced off as if he was made of steel. Luffy lifted his foot and allowed the air to travel up his leg, making it grow.
"Gomu Gomu no Giant Battle Axe!" Luffy exclaimed as he brought his foot down. The attack nearly split the battleship in half.
Despite the sheer destructive force for the kick, Lucci easily avoided it. The assassin jumped and performed a Rankyaku, which nearly hit Luffy. While the boy captain's guard was down, Lucci turned into a full leopard and mauled Luffy in mid-air, biting deeply into the rubber man's shoulder. Luffy brought the air back to his chest and repelled Lucci off of him.
"Gomu Gomu no Giant Whip!" Luffy yelled as his Giant Whip destroyed more of the battleship, but completely missed Lucci.
Lucci went back to his hybrid form and shot Luffy with his finger pistol, stunning Luffy for a moment as he moved behind the rubber man.
"Your power increased, but it seems your speed also decreased," Lucci observed as he kicked Luffy downward into the battleship. He followed up his strike with a Rankyaku in the shape of a bird that cut the ship up more, but Luffy was able to avoid the worst of it.
"That was close. He nearly sliced me in two," Luffy muttered. He then noticed that he was surrounded by marines who were staring at him in shock.
"Yo," Luffy said and gave them a wave.
Lucci narrowed his eyes watching the Marines do nothing despite the fact that Luffy was on their ship. He had practicality gifted the rubber pirate to them and yet they did nothing. "Useless all of them," Lucci tsked with his tongue while keeping himself airborne using the sky jumping technique. He was seriously going down there and killing all the marines for their treason.
But the other marine battleships in the area started to mercilessly fire on their fellow ship so there was no need. Luffy heard the cannonballs coming and released the air from his body, making him fly upwards like a deflated balloon. This didn't save the ship he'd landed on, a second later the battleship exploded from its own ally's attack.
Down on the bridge, the crew were having their own reactions to the Marines taking down one of their own ships.
"Are they attacking their own ship?" Sogeking asked in disbelief as he shot a marine who was getting to close to him. "Are they crazy!?"
"There're over a thousand people on one of those battleships!" Nami yelled in disbelief and horror.
"Despicable," Ezio scolded.
Franky growled under this breath. He couldn't believe that the marines could be so heartless. He may not like the marines, but those people had homes and families too. They deserved more than to be murdered by their own allies. Even worse the marines would probably pin their deaths on Luffy or write them off as traitors.
"Why would they do such a thing?" Zoro asked in horror "Those are their friends,"
"All in the name of Absolute Justice," Robin said darkly. "The Buster Call has no humanity,"
"Still, how cold-hearted," Franky said in disgust "Some marines are just as bad as pirates,"
Luffy eventually landed back on the damaged tower and had shrunk to the size of a child.
"That was close!" Luffy exclaimed as he attempted to catch his breath "Why are the battleships shooting each other? Are they that stupid? But I shrunk again." He looked his body over. He was more than a little annoyed at his helplessness. "Third's a cool idea and it's really powerful, but talk about lousy side efforts. Well, I was big for about a minute, so I'll probably be small for a minute."
Luffy ran back into the tower. "I need to hide until I turn back to normal, or he'll kill me!"
The small captain attempted to hide behind some crates, but Lucci was able to easily find him. Most likely, it was his increased senses that allowed him to find Luffy so fast.
"H... he found me," Luffy panicked.
Lucci looked amused at Luffy's current state. "Such an unbalanced technique. Still, it seems like a fair trade. One must always pay a great price for a great power."
Luffy slowly sat up to face him. Just as he sat up, Lucci disappeared. Luffy didn't have to wait long before Lucci stabbed him with his finger before slamming him into the wall.
"If you continue to use such foolish attacks..." Lucci started to lecture before Luffy punched him in the nose. It was so weak that it didn't even make Lucci blink. Lucci was not amused and embedded Luffy into the wall, trapping him.
"I...I'm stuck!" Luffy yelled in distress as he tried vainly to pull himself free.
"How unfortunate," Lucci mocked as he got ready to charge. "I apologize, but I have to kill you in that silly form."
He ran in to perform the killing blow by hitting Luffy multiple times with his claw finger. Luffy could only beg for his body to change back before he was killed.
Lucci suddenly stopped as his legs gave on him, much to the Zoan user's surprise.
Luffy also got another lucky break as his body finally changed back to normal.
"You see, it really did hurt you!" Luffy bragged. "It got your legs."
Lucci looked annoyed at him. "Just as I thought. It seems your fighting style was not simply a game. However, do not underestimate the body of a Rokushiki master. For such extreme power, a powerful body is required."
"Why does that matter?" Luffy asked as he charged Lucci.
He attempted to punch the Zoan user, but was blocked by Lucci's foot. He was then ruthlessly kicked.
The battle got intense again as both sides attempted to best each other. Lucci was slower than before, despite slimming his body, because of the damaged to his legs, but he still had the upper hand. Luffy couldn't land a solid blow, while Lucci managed to hit him several times during the course of several minutes.
Luffy quickly realized that he couldn't win like this. Lucci was simply too strong and too skilled to be defeated without using his Gears, whether his body was ready or not.
Once Luffy had an opening, he went into his horse stance and pumped his legs. Lucci did nothing to stop him.
"This is the end," Luffy proclaimed as his body turned red and steam began to emanate from it. "I'm not stopping until I beat you."
"Your body cannot take this. Do you plan on killing yourself?" Lucci asked nonchalantly.
"I don't know what will happen," Luffy answered honestly, although it was clear to tell that he didn't care. When it came to protecting others, Luffy placed little value on his own well-being.
The two fighters glared at each for a moment before Luffy rushed in.
"Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol!" Luffy yelled.
Lucci was able to jump back before Luffy threw the punch and curved some of the damage. He quickly jumped back towards the rubber captain and engaged Luffy in combat. They were both evenly matched again, except they were both much slower than before. Neither one of them disappeared and their movements were more predictable.
During their scuffle, Luffy slammed his fist into Lucci's forearm, crippling him in pain for a moment. A moment was all he needed.
"Jet Bullet!" Luffy screamed as nailed Lucci, sending him sliding backwards. "Twin Jet Pistol!" he yelled as he hit Lucci with two Pistols at once. This sent Lucci into the nearest wall.
Now Lucci looked really pissed.
Luffy quickly charged the leopard man, not allowing him to regain his bearings. "Gomu Gomu no ..."
"Let me show you the most powerful attack available to those with full mastery of Rokushiki!" Lucci shouted as he disappeared and reappeared right in Luffy's face. He placed his bald fists inches away from Luffy's chest. "Rokuougan!"
Within seconds, Luffy was hit by an incredible force of power that sent him flying across the room like he was shot out of a cannon. He landed hard on his back and stayed there for a couple of seconds.
Luffy slowly rolled over and struggled to push himself to his knees. "It's...like an Impact Dial. But...there's a heck of lot more...power!"
While he lay on the floor, Lucci attempted to finish him with a Rankyaku. Luffy managed to pull himself together enough to dodge and the attack spilt the tower opened.
Luffy pushed himself to his feet to face Lucci, who was breathing hard. Although the Rokuougan did not deal physical damage to the assassin, it obviously took a lot out of him.
The entire tower suddenly began to rumble again and the sound of cannon fire filled the room.
"What?" Lucci asked as the wall started to collapse.
Soon, they were both able to see the outside world.
"Hey, Luffy!" someone suddenly screamed. "Over here!"
"Everyone got to the bridge safely!" Franky yelled from the distance.
Luffy looked out the now collapsed wall and saw his crew including Sogeking and Franky standing on what was left of the Bridge of Hesitation. They were all alive, although they all looked like they had seen better days.
"We're all fine!" Franky continued to yell with a huge grin.
"There's no need to worry about us, Luffy!" Sogeking yelled.
"We saved Robin-chan too," Sanji shouted.
"Hurry up and beat him, Luffy!" Zoro suddenly yelled in encouragement.
Luffy smiled at hearing his friends' words and was relieved to know that Robin had been saved. His body slumped a little knowing that everyone was okay. It almost looked like he would have passed out where he stood.
Lucci looked strangely indifferent about this turn of events. "It seems it is just as you said. They all survived. I am impressed. Now, however, we will see how long you can keep this up," Lucci said calmly. "Evil will not prosper in the world!"
The battle resumed and Luffy was even weaker than before. His lightning-fast punches had been reduced to the point that Lucci was also not as affected when he took or blocked a hit.
"You seem to be losing heart and the power from that technique is starting to drop as well," Lucci observed as he easily blocked Luffy's attacks.
Luffy did a Gatling, but all his attacks did nothing to Lucci, who wasn't even using Tekkai.
"It is pointless to struggle," Lucci said. He sounded almost disappointed. "You really are too weak to defeat Enies Lobby after all. That is all there is to it!"
"Gomu Gomu no Jet Axe!" Luffy screamed as he raised his leg and brought his foot down.
Lucci effortlessly evaded it.
"Even if Enies Lobby were to be ruined," Lucci started to say as Luffy attempted to hit him with another Gatling. "That woman, who is in the way of the government's goal, I would chase down to the end of the earth to eliminate her! All in the name of Dark Justice!"
"We came here to save Robin from that!" Luffy screamed as he disappeared and came right on top of Lucci. He attempted a Jet Stomp, but the Zoan user evaded it. He then came to Luffy's side and put his fists together again. Luffy knew what was about to happen, but didn't have the time to dodge.
"Rokuougan!" Lucci yelled as he hit Luffy with his most powerful attack for the second time.
The attack was much more devastating and Luffy coughed up blood as he fell. He slammed into a nearby wall and it took him several seconds just to stand up. When he finally did, his movements were slow and sluggish. He was shaking badly and was having trouble breathing. He looked almost like a zombie. Lucci was breathing hard and watching the rubber man's movements carefully, ready to attack if Luffy tried anything.
After a couple more steps, Luffy fell to his knees before he completely collapsed. A dull thug echoed as Luffy hit the floor and blood streamed from his mouth, making a small puddle. His breathing was laboured and it sounded like it was close to stopping. There, he lay on the floor defeated. Still, he somehow managed to maintain his Second Gear. His vision hazed and Luffy was about to black out and the noise dimmed. He had to keep fighting, none of the others had the strength to hold Lucci off. If he stopped to rest now, Lucci would kill everyone on the bridge below. The darkness may have consumed him if someone's shouting hadn't brought Luffy back to reality.
"Luffy!" the voice called desperately. "What are you doing!? Get up! Luffy!"
Luffy slowly turned his head towards the voice. He knew the man, but his mind was too scrambled up to remember. Nonetheless, the man kept calling his name.
Finally, his eyes began to focus and became less clouded. Standing on the second tower was Usopp. He was still bandaged up from his encounter with the Franky Family, but he looked much better than he did the night of the duel.
"Usopp...you...you came too?" Luffy mumbled. He became teary-eyed, happy to see his lost friend.
Usopp also started to tear up. Despite the big fall-out and betrayal, Luffy was truly glad to see him. Luffy didn't know how Usopp got to Enis Lobby, nor did he care. But here he was and somehow, he had heard his former's captain fading voice.
"Don't get me wrong! I just came to save Robin! I didn't come to see you or anything!" Usopp yelled and then turned his attention to Lucci "Hey you, CP9 boss cat I'll be your opponent!"
Luffy's eyes widened in horror as Lucci side-eyed Usopp only the blasted in the face by one of Usopp's firebird stars. It didn't leave any lasting damage on the CP9 agent other than slight scorch marks on his suit. Lucci in response gave his full attention to the sniper. He wasn't the only one, Ezio now had his eyes on the sniper as well.
"T...that's right!" Usopp went on, trying to hide his fear. "I'm your opponent! Okay? Listen carefully, I'm a great pirate, a warrior among warriors with, eight-thousand men, Captain Usopp!"
Sanji's attention turned to Usopp and he looked up in the tower to see that Luffy was done. "Shit, this is not good," he cursed and kicked a marine in the chest "these ships are a pain in the ass," suddenly Sanji got an idea and he looked up at the open Gates of Justice. A grin spread on his face and he turned and ran away from the bridge.
"Where are you going?" Ezio called out as Sanji passed him.
"To give us more time," Sanji shouted back. Ezio didn't have time to as more Marines came on him and he continued to fight them off.
Meanwhile, Lucci stared down at Usopp, he was unimpressed. He turned and looked down and Luffy and gave him a look. "How desperate were you for crew members when you chose him, Straw Hat?" Lucci asked.
"I've travelled the entire Grand Line, destroyed island after island, and if the World Government goes against me, I'll defeat every one of you with a single finger! If you dare, come fight me!" Usopp challenged. "You worthless little kitten!"
That last insult got Lucci's attention. Apparently, being called a kitten was crossing the line for him. He began to walk towards Usopp, ready to engage him in battle.
"Hey...hey...stop...stop, you!" Luffy attempted to scream, but they came out as weak whimpers. "Keep away from him! This...is between you and me!"
"I have no business with you now that you are defeated," Lucci stated. "I will kill them no matter what. You just watch from here,"
Luffy gritted his teeth in anger.
"Yeah, come on, you coward, I bet your claws aren't even sharp!" Usopp continued to taunt. "I'll send you flying!"
"What are you doing?" Ezio hissed. He knew that none of the pirates here was strong enough to take on Lucci, he could do it but it would leave, Zoro, Nami, and Robin to be overwhelmed. Since Sanji had fled from the battle moments ago.
Luffy coughed up some blood before he spoke. "Are you stupid!? Quit it, Usopp! He'll kill you!"
"Shut up!" Usopp screamed at Luffy. "What the hell are you going to do when you're so close to death!?"
Luffy grunted at him, but still couldn't will himself to move. "I'll kick his ass!"
"Then stand up! Stop looking like you're about to die!" Usopp screamed. He was closed to tears. Luffy attempted to stand, but ended up coughing more blood. It looked like a pint came out of his mouth alone.
"This isn't like you!" Usopp screamed desperately. "Even though the sky is blackened with explosions, we can still see the sky! We can still see the sea! THIS PLACE ISN'T HELL!"
Luffy stared at Usopp.
"Stop looking like you're going to die, bastard!" Usopp shouted as his voice cracked. "Stop making me worry, dammit!"
"Are you finished?" Lucci asked as he got ready to cross the distance and attack Usopp. "Then prepare yourself."
"EEPP!" Usopp squeaked out. He suddenly lost all his nerve and courage once Lucci was upon him.
Ezio gritted his teeth and made his decision. He moved, Lucci raised his finger to kill Usopp and stuck. However, instead of dealing a fatal blow to the terrified sniper, Ezio blocked the blow with his sword and stared up at Lucci with golden yellow eyes. Lucci monetarily froze allowing Ezio the opportunity to push his right hand forward, his hidden blade flicked out and stabbed Lucci in the shoulder.
Lucci stumbled back rendered weak from the blow and his arm went completely numb. He glared at Ezio before he smiled. Since Luffy was no longer able to fight, he could move on to those on the bridge. Lucci knew his reputation would go up if he defeated Ezio, but he was still weary of the man.
"Got it," Luffy said softly as he forcible stood up. Lucci must have heard him because his head turned away from Ezio and looked back to the tower where Luffy was standing. "This isn't Hell or anything,"
Luffy was shaky on his legs and he was trembling, but he stayed firm. Luffy was literally using the last of his willpower just to keep standing.
"Beat him!" Usopp yelled. "Then, we'll go back together, Luffy!"
"No matter what!" Luffy shouted as a mass of stream left his body.
"So, he can move again," Lucci muttered.
Luffy walked over to the edge of the tower and glared down at the CP9 Agent "I'm not going to give up," he declared "Not until I defeat you, I'm not going down!"
Lucci looked at the battle on the bridge, it would be easy to take out the reaming Straw Hat crew, but Ezio would be a problem. Even with his Zoan abilities. He then looked back at Luffy. He would find no joy in continuing fighting Luffy. To him, he was pretty much beating up on a dead man.
Still, a dead man was easier to deal with than an Assassin Mentor. Making his choice Lucci Jumped back over to the tower to face Luffy again, Ezio made no move to stop him and instead headed back into the endless conflict with the marines to support the Straw Hats.
"I grow tired of your refusal to accept you're defeat. I will defeat you in a single blow. Do not worry about your crew, Straw-hat. Just as you wish, I will allow you to be together." Lucci declared then gave a wide grin "I will send them all to Hell with you!"
Lucci vanished and attempted to punch Luffy, but Luffy blocked the punch with one of his own. Luffy's punch was no longer weak or slow, despite the injuries the rubber captain had sustained it was back to full power.
Within moments, both fighters were punching rapidly at each other so fast their arms appeared to multiple. Neither one of them were bothering to dodge anymore. It was a pure endurance test. They eventually broke apart and they battled evenly for several more minutes. Both were pushing their bodies to their limits.
"Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol!" Luffy yelled as he threw a lightning-fast punch that hit Lucci in the chest, knowing him off balance.
Lucci came to Luffy's side, ready to perform another Rokuougan. But Luffy was ready for it and attempted to jump away. The straw-hat captain was surprised to find, however, that Lucci foresaw his evasion and had ensnared him in his tail, making him unable to move away.
"Rokuougan!" Lucci yelled as he hit Luffy for a third time, causing blood to explode from Luffy's mouth and his eyes to roll back in his head.
Assured that Luffy was truly defeated this time, Lucci casually dropped the rubber man to the floor and started to walk away. Luffy stumbled around, looking like he wasn't even conscious. He stopped moving and it seemed he was about to fall again.
Suddenly, Luffy rebalanced himself but lost the red tint. Luffy's eyes rolled back and burned with an unbreakable fury. He turned toward Lucci.
Lucci stopped walking when he felt Luffy's presence. He turned back towards the straw-hat captain with a look of pure disbelief. Luffy gave him a cold glare. With a loud battle cry, Luffy used the last of his strength to do a Gomu Gomu no Jet Gatling. Lucci quickly got off a Tekkai, but it was all in vain. The attack completely shattered Lucci's defence and slammed the Zoan user into the wall, pinning him.
Luffy didn't stop. He kept rapidly punching Lucci, not allowing the man to escape or even move. Lucci was forced to take every punch as his body withered under each ruthless fist. Lucci must have been punched at least five hundred times before the wall behind him finally collapsed by the sheer force of Luffy's assault. Only then did Luffy stop.
With nothing left to give, Luffy collapsed onto the floor, his body and Gears shutting down once more.
At last, the fight was over. Lucci laid in the rubble unconscious as his pigeon returned to his side. Lucci may have been a monster, but even he wouldn't be getting up from that. It was by far the most brutal beating that Luffy had ever given anyone. The closest comparison was his battle with Crocodile. In the background, the Straw hats could hear the marines announcing Luffy's victory over the speakers for the entire island to hear. There was a loud uproar from the marines. It was unbelievable that the strongest CP9 agent in history could have fallen to a mere rookie pirate. By the hands of one small crew, CP9 laid defeated.
"It's over..." Luffy said, barely above a whisper as he forced himself onto his back. He lay spread out as he had fallen from the sky. "That should be enough..." He took a deep breath. "LET'S GO BACK TOGETHER, ROBIN!" he shouted to the top of his lungs before he broke into a huge grin.
There was a second of silence among the Straw hats as they took in Luffy's victory.
"That was a super battle!" Franky cheered.
Usopp breathed a sigh of relief however he tensed up in fear as a hand landed on his shoulder. "You are a very impressive man, amigo. It took nerves of steel to stand up to Rob Lucci," Ezio complimented.
Usopp blushed at the compliment. "I didn't do much. In the end, it was Luffy's own will and strength that defeated Lucci," Usopp responded.
"Perhaps, but he would not have recovered to stand up to Lucci one last time without you," Ezio said "You do not give yourself enough credit, Luffy was add you to his ranks. If you were not already in service to him, I think I might just take you on my ship,"
Usopp was surprised at this, Ezio…wanted him on his ship? But he was weak and a coward and had no skills other than those with a slingshot. Sure, he tinkered a little but he was no shipwright or weapons master or anything special. He was just a plain ordinary liar.
Luffy was breathing hard and sweating badly. He was obviously past the point of exhaustion. He also seemed to be in great pain by the way he winced after each breath. It was a wonder that he was even still conscious.
"Luffy won!" Usopp screamed over the flabbergasted marines who stared at Lucci's body in disbelief.
There were suddenly several loud, joyful screams coming from the speakers. They didn't come from marines though.
"Good job, Straw-hat!" Zambai's voice came through.
"That's…" Franky said in shock.
"You idiot, everyone will hear us!" Paulie scolded over the speakers.
"It's fine! They need to know!" Zambai shouted in unrestrained joy. "Bro!"
Several more people from the Franky Family called to Franky.
Franky felt himself tear up as he listened to his family. To think, he thought he had lost all of them. If he had, he would have never forgiven himself. After Tom, he didn't want anyone else to die because of him.
"Stop it! We've already made them think we died while we ran away!" Paulie yelled "Geez, I thought I'd told all of you to stay quiet,"
"We're all okay!" a member of the Franky Family yelled over the speakers "The giants took all the blows for us! Sodom and Gomorrah are okay too and we're on our way, out to sea!"
"We can't stay here anymore," Paulie said taking over "If we do, the battleships will come. Hurry up and get out of there!"
If Lucci's defeat at the hands of Luffy was not enough, the marines from the Buster Call fleet had to be lived at this revelation. They'd failed to kill a single pirate. No one that Luffy had brought to Enis Lobby had died, not the Gally-la compony workers, the Franky Family, not the two children and above all none of the Straw Hats.
The marines had finally snapped out of their stupor and were determined to finish their mission. Even if CP9 had fallen, the pirates were still trapped by battleships and they were weakened from their fights. Luffy was too weak to care about any of that as his breaths finally returned to a somewhat normal rate. He didn't bother to move or get up. Instead, he stared blankly at the smoke-covered sky. It looked like he was on the verge of falling asleep.
"Don't take your eyes off of Straw-hat Luffy in the first tower!" a marine ordered. He obviously thought that Luffy was still a threat and he would be right under any other circumstances.
"Yes, but...the pirate Straw-hat Luffy appears heavily wounded!" a marine responded. "He still hasn't moved from that spot!"
Usopp ran as close as he could to the tower and stared at Luffy with what had to be panic and fear.
"Hey, Luffy!" Usopp screamed. "What are you doing!? Hurry up and get over here! We won't survive if we don't get out of here!"
Luffy took several deep breaths as he turned his head with much effort. He stared blankly at Usopp.
"What's wrong!? It's just a little further…Fly over here with your powers! I'll help you the rest of the way!"
Luffy continued to stare at Usopp.
"We're surrounded by nothing but battleships and ocean! If you stay here, you'll be killed!" Usopp yelled desperately at his captain. He no longer tried to hide his worries. "Luffy! Luffy! Can you hear me, Luffy!? Answer me!"
The Straw hats saw Luffy trying to obey Usopp's pleas, but he only managed to weakly twitched his fingers. Nothing else on his body moved. Usopp tightened his fists, upset at seeing Luffy in this state again. Luffy was too reckless pushing his body to this point. Luffy seemed to have given up as he stared at Usopp with shame on his face.
"I...it's no use... My body..." Usopp stared at Luffy in horror. Luffy gritted his teeth. "Won't move at all..." The crew could see the silent apology in their captain's eyes.
"Won't move?" Usopp asked in disbelief. "Don't be stupid! Didn't you defeat your enemy? And we've already saved Robin! Now, all we have to do is run! Please, just try harder!"
Luffy attempted to move again, but nothing happened. He winced and cringed in pain, but his body refused to listen to him. He might as well have been bolted to the floor.
"Usopp!" Nami yelled over the sound of thunder "We'll bring the ship over to Luffy! Everyone move! Get onboard!"
Almost as soon as Nami shouted that, a loud explosion caught the Straw hats' ears. They could see smoke rise from the end of the bridge where the ship was supposed to.
"What happened!?" Ezio cried out in shock.
"The marines blew up our escape ship," Zoro shouted back. "We were too obvious."
"Connor and Chimeney were on there," Robin cried out.
Thankfully Sanji appeared out of the smoke carrying Connor and Chimmeny while Kokoro ran with Chopper in her arms. He ran up the stairs and stopped at the top to catch his breath. "That was close," he panted.
"Oi Cook, where have you been this whole time?!" Zoro demanded.
Luffy seemed fully aware that something had gone horribly wrong by all the shouting from his crew. Still, he could do nothing about it.
"Force them to the second tower!" someone yelled over the speakers. "Fire!"
There were several more explosions as the marines' rained cannonballs on the Straw hats. There was a lot of panicked shouting and the sounds of people running. The current Straw hats could also hear the screams and cries of marines who were being blasted by their own allies. Robin shook in rage as she listened to this. The Buster Call was truly a heartless attack. For the sake of killing a handful of pirates, they murdered countless of their own people.
The world government spend so much time making the Marines out to be heroes, those that joined were looked up to by the next generation and all the people in the world. They were supposed to be the good guys. So how could they be so cruel to their own. How could they kill their own men so easily? The truth was they were no better than pirates.
The sounds of shooting finally ended and there was nothing but silence. It wasn't a calm silence, however. It was the silence that followed in the eye of a tornado.
"Shit, they destroyed the bridge!" Sanji yelled. "We're stuck on this tower!"
They were trapped. The marines could kill them at any moment.
"Can't we do anything else!" Zoro shouted.
"We just have to fight..." Nami claimed. There was no trace of fear in her voice "get on one of those battleships, clear it out and leave,"
"Don't be stupid!" Franky yelled. "They'll just shoot and sink that ship too!"
"Prepare to fire on the first tower!" a marine ordered. The click of cannons being moved caught the current Straw hats' ears. They looked around to see several battleships pointing their cannons at Luffy's prone body. "Eliminate Straw-hat Luffy!"
Ezio gritted his teeth, he needed to do something…anything, he didn't have enough of a vantage point to get over there using the Parachute and it was too far for even him to Jump. If he did, he might be able to climb up but it would take to long to scale the tower.
There was no way to get to Luffy in time. Ezio looked up at the tower with his eagle vision active, he sensed there was now a third aura. Lucci's pigeon had returned and landed at Lucci's side, refusing to move away from its master. Pecking him lightly as if trying to wake him up. Ezio realised what was about to happen, as soon as the cannons fired, Lucci would die with Luffy.
Even though Lucci was one of the government's best assassins, they were more than willing to kill him too without hesitation. This was why Ezio hated people in power. The government didn't care as long as Luffy was dealt with, they didn't care who they blow away to protect their reputation and Lucci would be written off as another causality. It didn't matter that Lucci did everything for the government. Right or wrong, he believed in the government and their goals whole hardly he would go to any lengths for them…until he lost. Now that he had, Lucci was expendable. Just like the other CP9 agents who were left to die in the Judiciary Tower.
A part of Ezio wondered if any of the CP9 agents were still alive. He didn't like them at all, but they did not deserve this as their reward for years of service.
"LUFFY!" Usopp screamed in panic. Pulling Ezio out of his thoughts. Even now, Usopp was trying to encourage his captain to stand one last time; it was commendable, if they survived this then Ezio would make Usopp a life-changing offer.
Up on the tower, Luffy desperately attempted to move, but he still could barely twitch. There was now a panicked look on his face as he realized that he was going to die. "Crap. This is bad..."
"Straw-hat!" the Franky Family yelled through the speakers. "Stand up, Straw-hat! Stand up!"
"Hang in there, kid!" Kokoro yelled with the others while also holding Connor and Chimmeny close to her chest. If it came down to it, she could escape with the children into the sea. At least she could them to the Gally-la and Franky Family.
"Pirate-bro!" Chimney screamed.
"Luffy! Stand up, please!" Nami pleaded to her captain.
"Dammit! You got to do something, Luffy!" Sanji yelled.
Luffy heard all of his crew's cries and pleas, but nothing could be done. Nothing anyone said or did could force Luffy's body to move. Whatever will his body had was already spent on defeating Lucci. He literally had nothing left. The Straw hats felt their captain's frustration and helplessness. He did all of this to save Robin, and now he couldn't save himself or help his crew escape. His crew was going to be killed because they waited for him instead of escaping with Robin.
Luffy was close to crying. They weren't tears for his own death. He accepted that he might die when he came here. They were for his crew; they were going to watch him be killed and could do nothing to help him. He didn't want his crew to suffer as he had with Sabo.
"Luffy!" Ezio screamed as the sounds of fighting resumed. The ships maybe targeting Luffy but the Marines on the bridge were still more than willing to fight the reaming straw hats.
"Get moving! They're going to kill you!" Sanji yelled. He sounded unusually scared.
Luffy grunted for several seconds as he closed his eyes in acceptance. There was nothing that could be done. Just as Luffy accepted his fate, a strange noise reached his ears. It sounded almost like a whale call. Ezio's head snapped in the direction out to sea in surprise. "There is again…What is that?" he asked.
Usopp stared at Ezio in shock. "You hear it too?" he asked.
Ezio nodded. "This is the third time," he claimed.
Usopp turned and looked in the same direction and smiled. He then turned back to Luffy whose eyes were wide. He'd heard it too.
"A miracle," Usopp said softly.
"Five seconds until firing on Straw-hat Luffy!" A marine yelled.
"Luffy is...!" Nami screamed. She sounded like she was ready to cry…until she heard the call too and stopped fighting and looked around.
"Everyone, jump into the sea!" Usopp suddenly screamed at the crew.
"Four seconds!" the marine continued to countdown.
"What are you talking about?!" Zoro shouted "we have devil fruit users up here! If we jump, we won't…" Zoro trailed off as a call echoed in his ears.
"To the sea!" Usopp cried again, this time he sounded happy. "Robin, can you still get Luffy into the sea!?"
Robin stared at Usopp in confusion and then suddenly she too heard the call too. She smiled and nodded. "Leave it to me," Robin lifted her hands and several hands appeared around Luffy. The stunned rubber man was then lifted up and rolled him over to the edge of the tower.
"Idiot, you're trying to kill yourself!?" Sanji shouted, "There's no way that will help anything!"
"Three!" the countdown continued.
"We'll be okay!" Usopp assured. It sounded like he was crying. "She came to save us! We still have one more ally!"
"She?" Ezio questioned.
"Two!"
"I'm moving," Luffy said in awe. "Robin?" He grunted a bit from the rough treatment.
"One…FIRE ALL!
Luffy was tossed off the edge of the tower a split second before the cannon fire rained down on the tower. He fell like an anchor into the sea below. For a moment, Luffy was baffled as to why Robin had thrown him to what would be a watery grave. He got his answer when looked into the sea. He was shocked by what he saw.
"Follow Luffy!" Usopp screamed and he jumped off the bridge.
The Straw hats all jumped into the ocean with Ezio and Kokoro following. The latter still held onto the children. There in the ocean stood the Going Merry. Despite looking like she had been through a war, she had come to save them. The crew grinned like maniacs from seeing their precious comrade.
Ready and waiting to receive them as she had always been.
"MERRY!" Luffy screamed in pure joy.
"Let's go back everyone," a voice echoed. It sounded like it came from Merry. "Back to the seas of adventure!"
