As faint echoes of the bell's tolling rang through the trees, Izuku splinted up Luffy's arm. Luffy kept wriggling, quite literally as his rubbery body bent and coiled every time Izuku tightened the knots on the makeshift bindings. With Luffy's arm as secure as it could be, Izuku started on his own leg.
"They are coming," Gan Fall said solemnly.
Izuku gritted his teeth around a strip of bark from a cloud tree. Its springy consistency made it an admirable mouthguard. "How many?"
"Too many to count. Their voices drown each other out."
Izuku screamed into his clenched teeth as he yanked the knot tight. He stood, tentatively tested his weight on his leg, and immediately pulled it back.
"I don't know about you two, but I can't hold off that many. They took my lance. And you two…"
Gan Fall's eyes flickered over the splints Izuku and Luffy wore. Izuku looked up at the treetops and said, "We could ambush them. Jump down from the tree branches while they're distracted. Luffy, could you help us up?"
Without a word, Luffy sprang into a tree. His good arm stretched down and pulled Izuku up, then Gan Fall. Once they settled into the denser foliage, Luffy leapt back down.
"Luffy, what are you doing?" Izuku hissed. "They'll be here any second!"
"You do your thing," Luffy said. "I'm not letting them touch this bell."
"Why?"
"Because it's important to him. Right, old man?"
Gan Fall nodded. "You have my thanks. More importantly, I think this will help our ambush."
Izuku looked down at Luffy then back up at Gan Fall. "They'll be distracted."
"That, and they know someone rang the bell. If they found the bell abandoned, they would expect an ambush."
Before Izuku could ponder the Skypiean's point, the first of the pirates arrived. His eyes went wide as saucers as he saw the giant golden bell.
"Over here!" he shouted. "I see it!"
A flood of pirates surged in after him. They stopped just short of the steps, weapons drawn as they stared up at Luffy.
"You're not getting your hands on this bell!" Luffy roared.
Laughter bubbled up from the pirates. One man sauntered forward, easily three times taller than any of the other pirates. The ground shook with his every step, and he held a cannon over one shoulder like a rifle. "Clug the Cannon, First Mate," the oversized man said brusquely. "You've got guts kid. I'm not particularly picky if they're inside or outside of you. Which will it be?"
Luffy didn't answer him. He stood, arms awkwardly crossed, and waited. Gan Fall leaned forward, ready to jump down, but Izuku held him back. At the older man's questioning look, Izuku held up a finger and pointed at Luffy.
Clug aimed his cannon with a sigh. "Alright boys, fire everything you've got!"
Clug fired the first shot, but the pirates around him weren't far behind. Luffy spread out his arms, and his whole body ballooned backwards as the cannonball slammed into him. Individual bullets made their own tiny divots, while throwing knives and axes either clanged off the embedded bullets or sank into Luffy's skin.
"Oh shit!" Clug shouted. "Devil Fruit! Take cover!"
When Luffy bounced back, the cannonball shot straight for the first mate. Clug blocked with his cannon, and he stumbled backwards as the weapon took a huge dent.
The other pirates faced a hail of their own bullets and thrown weapons. While the bullets only left bruises instead of holes, at best breaking some teeth or knocking a few unconscious, the axes and knives returned with interest. Blood went flying as the sharp weapons careened into the crowd. Some of the pirates that fell didn't get back up.
When the last of the projectiles landed, Izuku dropped out of the tree. Kicking frantically against the air, Izuku softened his landing enough to avoid upsetting his leg. Gan Fall landed a scant second behind him, stumbling a bit from his wounds, but taking the moment he spent on the ground to find himself a sword.
"It's an am-" The Lion pirate cut off with a gurgle as Izuku's fist sank into his throat. Even that much was enough to warn the rest of the pirates. Heads turned, and Izuku soon found himself back to back with Gan Fall while desperately fending off a horde of pirates.
"You know," Gan Fall said, as he deflected an axe strike. "Never did I think I'd find myself fighting side by side with a pirate."
Izuku ducked under a knife and elbowed a man in the stomach. "How about side by side with a friend?" Izuku quipped.
"Friends?" Gan Fall asked as he sliced off a pirate's hand. "We only just met each other, and it is only in our perilous circumstances that we are even working together at all. Is it customary to ascribe friendship in such circumstances where you come from?"
"It's a reference," Izuku started explaining, before going through the logistics of telling someone who lived on a cloud about Lord of the Rings. "Actually, yes." Izuku headbutted a pirate that tried to grapple him. "Yes it is."
"Oh. Then I am honored."
Izuku felt himself getting worn down by the press of bodies around them. His leg sent lances of pain up his spine every time he moved, but Izuku refused to back down. He told himself that Mei was coming, that he had to hold on just a bit longer, over and over, clinging to the mantra as he stumbled over fallen pirates and took cuts across his arms and chest. Gan Fall fared no better, his battered armor falling apart as repeated blows chipped away at it, and his breaths came in ragged gasps.
"Alright you louts," Clug's voice boomed over the cacophony of the battle, "Out of the way. Time to end this."
Izuku's eyes widened as he stared down the barrel of a cannon. He had seen the dent Luffy put in it, yet the cannon looked brand new. And different. Did Clug get a new one?
The cannon went off mid-thought. Izuku's body contorted wildly. The cannon shot past him, scraping the skin over his ribs raw, and smacked Gan Fall squarely in the back. Izuku turned, trying to reach him, when a gray blur came at him from his peripheral vision. Izuku planted his feet and stiffened himself. The cannon smacked him squarely in the arms. Izuku ducked back, absorbing the force of the blow, when his broken leg gave out. The cannon carried him up into the air and flung him across the clearing.
Clug stomped over his fallen comrades, hefting the cannon in his hands like a baseball bat. "Time to die, kid. Can't let a pipsqueak like you give the Lion Pirates a bad name."
As Izuku tried to scramble to his feet, his hands closed around a familiar tuft of grass. His hands came away sticky with Tear Balm. His mind whirled with options. Could it fix his leg? What would he even fix it with? Could he make a weapon out of it? What about gunpowder? How much more powerful would it get?
But fact was, Tear Balm was all he had. This time, he didn't have a convenient cabinet of herbs to rummage around in now that death stalked towards him. As sweat trickled down his face, Izuku raised a hand to wipe it away, and stopped. Water. He had water. What could he do with water? Could he enhance it with Tear Balm somehow?
His eyes trailed over to the cannon. It had the dull gray sheen of iron. All at once, Izuku struck. Mashing together the tear balm with his sweat-covered hand, Izuku flung his fingers out and spattered the liquid at Clug. Clug ducked behind the cannon. He examined the droplets running down its surface.
"Was that supposed to do something?"
Izuku's spirits fell. Had he overestimated Tear Balm? Was water not a valid substance for it to enhance? Out of options, Izuku tried crawling away, but Clug stomped towards him, crushing Tear Balm underfoot. Izuku heard the massive cannon rise into the air. He braced himself, hoping against hope that he would somehow survive a cannon crushing him flat.
The world burst into brown powder. Izuku hacked and coughed as he pushed through the rusty haze. Stumbling back to his feet, Izuku turned and saw Clug staring dumbfounded at the rusted stump of his cannon.
"That was a neat trick," Clug said. One of his arms morphed into a cannon, and he pointed it at Izuku. "Too bad for you, I'm a Cannon Man. You see, if I didn't carry around a cannon all the time, people would wonder why I'm called Clug the Cannon. No one expects the Devil Fruit."
Izuku tried to ready his leg to kick away, but it had gotten caught under a tree root. He pulled and yanked desperately, but realizing he would never make it away, Izuku turned back towards Clug, hoping he can somehow make him miss.
Just as Izuku turned back, a blur raced out of the trees and barreled into Clug. The Lion Pirate turned and shot, catching his assailant in the leg as he stumbled back.
As the first man hit the ground, another swooped out of the trees and dragged him out of danger. More followed, brandishing spears as they zipped along, on Cloud Dials attached to their feet.
"Today, we keep our promise!" their leader, bedecked with orange and green face paint shouted as he raised his Dial-tipped spear high. "For Noland!"
"For Noland!" the others echoed as they descended on the pirates.
Izuku watched the fight unfold as he got his foot unstuck. The pirates were clearly the better fighters, but between their exhaustion and wounds, and the mobility of the unknown fighters, the pirates found themselves hemmed in at all sides. Even Clug struggled, cannonballs firing wildly in the trees as his targets dodged his shots.
Izuku barely made it back onto his feet when a spear lashed out at him. Spinning on his good leg, Izuku took a shallow cut along his ribs and knocked the spear aside.
"What are you doing?" Izuku asked. "I'm on your side!"
The painted man sneered. "You don't fool me, pirate. You want the bell, just like the rest of them! It belongs to us! And today, we will finally take it back!"
The spear lashed out again. Izuku blocked it with his forearm, but his punch fell well short as the man simply drifted backwards. While they sized each other up, Izuku hazard a glance back towards the bell. Luffy still held the top of the stairs, with a mountain of bodies covering the stone steps. Spearman drifted in on Cloud Dials, trying to jab at Luffy, but his stretchy arms kept them all at bay.
Izuku had no such reach. With one leg broken, he couldn't rush forward, and with the reach of their spears, they could stay out of reach while jabbing at him. The spearmen, realizing this, crept every closer. Izuku twisted around spear strikes, trying to grab a weapon, but the one time he got a hand around a spear shaft, it slipped out of his grasp. Taken off-balance, Izuku couldn't dodge as a spear darted towards his back. He tensed his back muscles. The spear sank half an inch into his upper back and stopped. Izuku twisted, and the point slashed a line across his shoulder before Izuku caught hold of it.
This time, Izuku grabbed it just below the tip, using the leverage to yank the spearman forward. Izuku swept forward, punched the man's stomach, and wrenched the spear out of his grasp. Now properly armed, Izuku held the spear in an awkward imitation of his opponents and waited for their next move.
A tense stare-off ensued. The spearmen feinted, trying to lure Izuku forward, while he waited in between two trees, using them to cover his back and sides. The spearmen exchanged glances, and as one, they lowered their spears. Izuku tensed and lowered his own, trying to read how they would stab them.
Right before the Shannarans charged, a loud, primal shriek broke through the silence. Trees crunched as a giant scaly body crashed into the clearing. The spearmen screamed and broke ranks, narrowly avoiding getting crushed. Izuku braced himself between the trees, getting rattled as a wayward branch slammed into his makeshift shelter.
As the dust settled, Izuku stumbled away from the snake, catching its attention. It drew itself up, hissing and baring its jagged teeth. Izuku froze. His first thought was to run, but a painful twinge from his leg reminded him that wasn't an option.
Steeling himself, Izuku braced the butt of the spear against the ground and held the point. The snake reared back, ready to strike, when frantic screaming caught the snake's attention. Mei's makeshift jet ski careened into the snake's jaw, and its passengers tumbled to the ground.
"Bye bye, Mei Waver Mk1." Mei saluted the wooden splinters and shattered Dials. "You were one of the finest babies I've ever had."
Buggy groaned and grumbled as he stood up. "Couldn't you have let us off first?"
"I don't know, that was pretty fun." Shanks drew his swords and looked around. "We weren't too late to the party, were we?"
The snake drew itself up, glaring daggers at the new arrivals as a bump swelled up on the side of its head. Shanks looked up at the serpent towering over him and said, "Hell of a party you got here, Midoriya. I hope you don't mind that I cut in!"
Sprinting forward as he made that awful pun, Shank's blades turned black and slashed at the giant snake. Mid-slash, Shanks whirled in the air and sliced a cannonball in half that had shot towards him.
Clug shrugged his shoulders as new cannonballs slammed into place in his arms. "Seems like I can't take it easy with you brats. Boys! Crack out the gunpowder!"
As the thin circle of pirates held off the spearmen, a few broke off towards Glug, bearing bags of gunpowder. Glug tilted his arms up and let the powder pour into his cannons.
"Watch it!" Clug roared as one pirate spilled a bag. "We're short on supplies as is!"
"Sorry sir!"
Clug's arms visibly distended as entire barrels of gunpowder got packed into a single shot. His arms turned black with Haki as he aimed them at Shanks. "Can't waste shots hitting one of you at a time. Let's try some grape shot!" A grinding sound came from Clug's arms as the cannonballs were broken into smaller pieces. Shanks glanced nervously around the wooded clearing. Despite the number of trees around, he held no illusions that they would stop a Haki-infused cannonball.
"I can't slice more than one," Shanks said. "Any ideas?"
Hatsume grinned and brandished her new Iron Cloud Dial. "Leave it to me!" With a wave of her arms, a thick wall shrouded Izuku and the others. As she added a second layer, Clug's arm erupted with a deafening boom. The metallic wall pinged and clanged noisily as the grape shot pounded giant lumps all across its surface. A few metal balls tore their way through, but Shanks deflected one, while Izuku dove at Mei and tackled her before another could hit her shoulder.
"Cute trick you got there," Clug sneered, "Let's see if it can handle something a little stronger!"
Buggy gulped and looked at the shredded wall. "We gotta split!"
Before Buggy could run off, Shanks grabbed his shirt. "That lunkhead's got another grape shot ready. Think you can dodge a direct shot of that stuff?"
Buggy's anxious shake of his head was answer enough. Shanks let go of him and cautiously peered through a hole in the cloud. "He's got both cannons trained on us. Is there any way we can distract him so I can get close?"
Izuku looked with him. A pile of gunpowder sat at Clug's feet. It wouldn't make more than a loud pop, but this world hadn't made smokeless gunpowder yet.
"Mei, do you have a Flame Dial and that crossbow?"
"Sure do!" Mei unslung her self-made crossbow off her back. "Haven't tested the new string yet. It might break on the first shot."
"One's all I need." He tore a strand of his ripped shirt and tied it around the bolt's tip. Then he ignited it with the Flame Dial. "You ready Shanks?"
"Don't miss."
Izuku aimed the crossbow through one hole while awkwardly peering out another. He took a deep breath, concentrated on the black pile beneath Clug, and fired.
The gunpowder went off with an ear-splitting explosion. Shanks stopped short, halfway to Clug, staring wide-eyed at the giant cloud of smoke rising where Clug had stood. "Holy smokes, what kind of gunpowder were they using?"
Thinking back to his fight with Clug, Izuku giggled and said, "He had Tear Balm on his feet."
Shanks shook his head. "What is it with you and finding the scariest uses for that stuff? What's next, melting someone alive by mixing it with lemon juice?"
When Izuku seriously started considering it, Shanks hurriedly said, "I was joking!"
A cannon shot rang out. Shanks fell sideways as multiple lumps of grape shot slammed into his side.
"Shanks!" Buggy rushed forward, only to hastily stop as another cannonball brushed past his nose. A gust of wind cleared the smoke, revealing Clug, smudged with soot, but otherwise unharmed by the explosion.
"Bad luck for you guys," Clug said. "I'm a Cannon Man. What kind of cannon can't handle a bit of gunpowder?"
"Well," Izuku said, "There were some cannons that exploded because they-"
Clug aimed at Izuku, cutting him off. "Nobody asked. Now, time for you to die."
The ground gave out under Clug's right foot. His shot went wide, tearing a circular hole through a tree. As Clug tried to clamber out of the hole in the cloud, more of it fell away under his fingers. Sinking into the ground, Clug clawed and scraped at the sides of the clouds. Someone tried to reach for him, only to get pulled in and fall screaming through the cloud island. Cannonshots rang out as Clug tried to push himself up by firing out of his legs, but the cannonballs ripping through the cloud underneath him only hastened his demise. Aiming one last time at Izuku, Clug never got a chance to fire before he slipped through Skypiea.
"Did we do it?" Buggy asked as he looked over Shanks' wounds.
Izuku peered over the edge of the hole in the clouds. His eyes widened and he hastily backed away. "No, no we didn't!"
The clouds erupted in a geyser of white foam. A golden ship breached through the clouds, hovering in the air. Clug stood on the prow the ship, glaring daggers at the group below him. To his right stood the second mate, Bozan, covered in snake bites and swollen bumps. Behind them both stood an imposing figure draped in a lion's mane, floating an inch off the ship's deck. He held two swords, while two more floated by his side.
"You certainly cut that one close, captain," Clug said. "Thought I was a goner for a second there."
Shiki gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder with the flat of a blade. "If I hadn't cut it so close, you would have put a hole through my boat with all that cannon fire you were throwing all over the place. Be grateful I even bothered to catch you. Next time you lose to a pack of children, I won't be so forgiving."
Clug narrowed his eyes at his captain. "They're children with Haki. Don't underestimate them."
"Haki, you say?" Shiki leaned over the railing and peered closely at Izuku. "Did Roger pick up a few strays along the way? I don't remember this brat." Then he grinned. "But I do remember that one! Clug, would you care to do the honors?"
"With pleasure, captain."
Clug aimed and fired. Buggy shrieked and tried to drag Shanks away. Izuku ran forward and tripped on his broken leg. Mei used her Iron Cloud Dial, but the Dial only produced a thin wisp of gray vapor.
As the cannonball flew through the air, Luffy leapt in front. He stretched his arms out to grab two trees and bent backwards as the cannonball sank into his stomach.
When Luffy slingshot the cannonball back, Clug fired another round. The two cannonballs collided in mid-air. Luffy's broke apart in a hundred pieces, while Clug's Haki-infused cannonball burst through intact. The cannonball slammed into Luffy's chest, and it sent him flying into the bell.
"That's one down," Clug said.
"And it only took you two cannonballs," Bozan sneered. "Congratulations."
Clug raised an eyebrow at him. "Fine. I'll use one to finish off the rest."
Clug brought both of his arms together, and they morphed into one giant barrel. The barrel bulged ominously, and a loud hissing noise came from Clug's shoulders.
Right has he fired, a red blur left out of the treetops. The super-sized cannonball went flying into the air as Gold Roger parried it with his sword. A second slash sent a razor-sharp gust of wind that bowled over Clug and Bozan.
"Made it just in time!" Roger crowed. "Ready for another humiliating defeat, Shiki?"
"As fun as it would be to rub that smug smirk of yours into the dirt, I have more important matters to tend to. Boys! Grab the bell."
Shiki's pirates rushed forward, but Roger's own crew took positions at the foot of the stairs. As they stared at each other, Roger smugly shouldered his sword and asked, "Leaving so soon? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were scared."
Shiki snarled. "Fine! But this time, your head is mine!"
Izuku could only watch in awe as the two pirates clashed swords. A crimson maelstrom surrounded them both as a clash of steel and wills alike devastated the landscape. For all that Shiki hacked and slashed with the blades in his arms and on his legs, Roger wove through them all, seemingly unfazed by the razor edges passing within millimeters of his neck, as he forced Shiki back.
When Roger stabbed forward, Shiki caught his sword between two of his blades. Shiki's hand darted forward and touched the trapped blade. It floated up, leaving Roger unarmed.
"Ha! I've got you-"
Rogers arms snaked forward with a set of manacles. They snapped shut around Shiki's wrist, and the Golden Lion pirate hit the ground with a thud. Rogers' sword went clattering to the ground beside him.
"Sneaky bastard," Shiki grumbled. "Just you wait, when I get out of these shackles, I will make you pay."
"I sure hope not!" Roger said with a laugh. "I bet your ship is expensive!"
Shiki turned around. With dawning horror on his face, he saw his ship sink below the clouds and plummet back towards the sea. He shuffled towards the edge, and as he stared down, Roger planted his boot on his behind. With a quick shove, Shiki fell towards his ship.
Roger looked over the edge of the clouds for a moment. He held up the key to the manacles. He dangled them off his finger, thinking to himself, then tossed them over the side after Shiki.
"You let him live?" Rayleigh asked.
"He has a part to play in the future," Roger said. He'll get his come-uppance then."
"If you're sure. Speaking of things I hope you're sure about, you better think of what you're going to say to Crocus once he sees what's happened to our cabin boys."
Roger looked over to where Shanks still lay on the ground and Izuku barely held himself upright on his broken leg. Then he looked over at Luffy and winced at the giant bruise forming in the middle of his chest as he lay unconscious underneath the golden bell.
"Well," Roger said nervously, "I mean, only one of them is technically a part of the crew. Does it really count?"
Raleigh crossed his arms. Roger sighed and said, "I'll carry them back to the ship."
A/N: back on track, just as I promised. Don't really have anything else to say at the moment, so I'll just reply to reviews.
TheGreatBubbaJ: "The lad is coming into his own. 30 new world pirates and a second mate of a dangerous crew? That a hell of a score card."
Bardothren: well, those thirty were cannon fodder coming at him piecemeal, and he caught the second mate by surprise. Then again, his scorecard's only gone up since the last chapter. I don't want Izuku getting too powerful just yet – I'd put him at about Luffy's level at Loguetown, or maybe even Enies Lobby. He's got the Rokushiki, and just a sprinkling of Haki, but no Devil Fruit.
ProjectIceMan: "Sorry to hear about your parrot. Hope you are recovering."
Bardothren: It's still making me feel down a bit, but otherwise, I'm better. Thanks for the well wishes.
crazybeebee: "I almost forgot about this story and holy hell I love it! Had to re read it to remember what was going on, but now our girl is back on her way to our boy."
Bardothren: That's why I try to update at minimum every other week. Hard to keep things straight when you haven't read a chapter for a month. But then again, there was a story that hadn't updated for two years, a new chapter finally dropped recently, and I felt as though I had never left.
TheJoker96Italia: "I must admit it, at the beginning I was doubtful about this story. Two time travel with a crossover?! Weird."
Bardothren: There's a reason for that. This story started out as a one-shot for a contest on the discord channel I'm on. The premise was to write an isekai story. Not being content to do a mere isekai, I asked myself how I could put a twist on the premise and decided to do an isekai within an isekai. I didn't win, but I think getting a good story idea to follow through on is enough of a consolation prize.
jjdunk1: "This story has promise, but I'm not seeing the point of Luffy being in the past yet. If he goes back to the future and remembers this whole journey, I feel like that would be a bad move."
Bardothren: I have exactly four reasons for Luffy being in the past. They are – Garp, Asce, Buggy, and Luffy. As for Luffy remembering the journey, unless you're worried Luffy will see the Raftel (He won't), I'm not sure what your concern is.
Alright, that's all I got. See you all in two weeks!