Ruby reformed on the deck of the Baratie with Zoro, examining her friend as she did and only capable of thinking one thing even as her back ached.
If this was a warning, she didn't want to see what Mihawk considered a killing blow. Zoro was cut so deeply that she could see red stained bone through the deep slash. There was only one thing she could consider doing, and that was… Yes, she'd do it, she had to save at least one person today, otherwise she wouldn't be able to sleep with herself.
Laying her hand over the cut, she closed her eyes. Sync up, sync up. Ruby let out a frustrated growl as it wasn't immediately working. She had never done this before, but it shouldn't be that hard!
"Are you actually trying to staunch the bleeding?" The man Ruby was supposed to be fighting laughed. Ruby didn't answer, focused on her work, "Give it up, girl, he's going to die. And so are yo-!"
The shield with a pearl embedded in it stopped dead as Ruby turned the back of her neck to wood and reinforced it with Auric Shielding. He tried again several times at different spots, each time hitting steel hard wood, "What?"
"Do me a favor," Ruby gritted out and grabbed Crescent Rose, smacking him across the half sunken ship with the haft of her beloved weapon, "and shut up!"
Dropping it back against the deck of the ship, she turned back to Zoro and focused on what she was doing. Maybe some sort of plant? Like a root system or, or, that was it!
Red vines of energy spread across Zoro from her hand, roses blooming along them until finally, finally green energy flashed around him and he gasped, the edges of the wound slowly sealing shut. Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned around, just in time to dodge a flaming punch from the armored man. Had he eaten a Devil Fruit?
"It's a defense mechanism Pearl created from growing up in the jungle!" One of the crewmen conveniently said.
What. That was… What?
This world was one where she should just throw sanity to the wind, wasn't it?
Dodging each flame-covered strike, she didn't want to know what happened when a plant person got hit by fire for as long as possible. Thank you.
… Hadn't there been something in nature class about woods that were resistant to fire? She should look into that, probably. Finally, she activated Gambol Shroud, turning her hand to a spike covered vine, wrapping it around his neck, and dragging him into a wood covered headbutt before letting him drop unconscious.
—
Sanji drove a Collier into Gin's tonfa, which shook with the force of the kick. Shifting downwards, Sanji smacked an Épaule down into Gin's shoulder. The Man-Demon grimaced, "Sanji, we don't have to do this-"
"You led these people to Baratie?" Sanji said seriously, taking a drag from his cigarette as he did.
"Yes?" Gin said, unsure, only for another Collier to slam into his tonfa, this one smashing it into his neck.
"Then yes, we do," Sanji said, before launching a Côtelleta into Gin's ribs. Gin grimaced at the blow, driving his tonfa for Sanji's side at the same time and knocking him off his leg and flying across the deck. Sanji staggered up, coughing as he did. Nothing was broken, but it hurt like a son of a bitch.
Glancing around, he noticed Ruby wrapping mosshead in bandages, the nameless mooks charging her and slashing her. Before Sanji could abandon the fight to help her, he noticed the wounds sealing shut as fast as they could deal them. Ruby looked up, silver eyes flashing in the sunlight before spikes exploded out her body, impaling the mooks through the shoulders, knees and other non-lethal areas.
Sanji went back to focusing on his fight just in time to dodge a spinning tonfa from Gin. Slamming his hand into the ground, he drove another Côtelleta into Gin's ribs. The spinning tonfa slammed into his side, this time definitely cracking something as Sanji lost his balance and slammed against the ground, curling up.
Gin towered over him, eyes shadowed as Sanji fought to stand through the pain, spinning his tonfa rapidly.
—
Luffy pulled back his fist before launching it forwards as Krieg shot at Hawk-guy, snapping it forwards and at Krieg's head. Krieg snapped up one hand, blocking the punch on his wrist and turned towards Luffy, "Did you really think that would work, brat!? My armor is made of Wootz steel, it's a high carbon armor as tough as diamonds!"
"That's literally impossible," Ruby said, voice flat.
"What'd you say, girl?" Krieg demanded, turning towards her.
"High carbon content would make it harder, yeah, but if it was as hard as diamond it wouldn't be possible to move in it. Armor flexes minorly when you move, same with a weapon, without that flex it would be more fragile, not less."
Luffy decided somewhere halfway through the explanation that it wasn't important, and whined up another Gumu Gumu Pistol. Krieg's teeth ground, and he pulled out a pistol, shooting Ruby in the head. The bullet dropped to the ground, a round ball rolling on the deck at the same time Luffy's fist smashed into Krieg's face.
"You brat!" Krieg staggered up, shooting at Luffy. He caught the bullets in his body, before shooting them forwards and slamming them into Krieg.
"Gin!" Krieg yelled, "Hurry up and kill that brat, then kill the girl! I want this little shit to learn what happens when you fight the Krieg… Pirates…"
Krieg stared down at where a branch was punched through a gap in his armor. Everyone still standing stared at the hole as the branch pulled back in and became Ruby's finger.
"Ruby!" Luffy said.
"Luffy, I'm not just gonna sit back and relax while you fight him, especially if he's gonna threaten me," Ruby said, stretching out, "We're pirates, aren't we captain? We don't need to play fair!"
"GIN!" Krieg howled, "KILL THE GIRL! I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE BRAT ANYMORE!"
Ruby turned into rose petals, rushing past Luffy and turning back into herself, her sister's weapon on top of her fist as she punched Gin in the face so hard he slammed through the ground and into the water, before reaching down, grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him back out without his tonfa.
"Kill who now?" Ruby asked, turning her hand back into a regular hand as she turned towards Krieg, "Let's hurry this up, why don't we captain? We got a date with Nami."
"Yeah," Luffy nodded, before throwing himself up with his arms stretched back. Krieg pulled a cloak of spikes out around him, laughing at Luffy.
"You won't get through this-!
"Gum Gum Bazooka!" Luffy slammed through the spike and into the man. Krieg staggered up with a gasp, eyes burning with anger.
"You-" he snarled, putting on a gasmask, "You little shit. Just hurry up and die!"
—
