Well, here I'm with one more chapter, the last one of the current arc.
Let be known that I'm doing a double update today, if you reading this today (July 10th-2023) know that I already posted a chapter a couple hours ago. So if you haven't read it go there and then come back here.
Well, hope you all enjoy the chapter. With lots of fights it was quite the fun one to write.
DISCLAIMER: I don't know if I should do this or not but whatever, I don't own anything here apart from my OC's.
May have grammar errors
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Meanwhile
On the other side in the forest the battle between the agents of justice and the forces of the criminal underworld of Mel Island also raged on with great intensity.
Early with the help of Lucas's sharp nose the second group had been able to spot the ambush set for them from the distance, with the enemy unaware of their trap being already found out the marines following Lucas's plan did a counter-ambush.
The group's infantry lead by Tashigi did a turn around the enemy, coming unnoticed from the side they all jumped the enemy forces and swiftly took them down before they could react. They however hadn't been stealthy enough, the enemy forces more up ahead guarding the secret entrance found out about the failed ambush.
"Damn marines!"
Enraged when seeing their plan foiled they threw any stealth idea out the window and began attacking the marines, the marines in turn reacted accordingly and moved forward to engage the enemy in combat.
From there things escalated quickly as each side tried to eliminate the other.
The marines advanced forward in a slow but steady pace, the riflemen under Torlo would take cover behind any rock or tree while trying to snipe the enemy from afar, they're basically responsible for a good bulk of the damage their group did to the enemies.
The close combat specialists led by Tashigi wouldn't be far from them, making up the frontline they made sure to stop any enemy forces from approaching from the sides, at the same time thanks to the riflemen in the back giving support they'd slowly but steadily make a move forward through the enemy lines.
What about Lucas?
Well, just like he previously said Lucas was spearheading the attack, having rushed forward he engaged the enemy forces head on. Surprising none of the marines their white haired leader was like a wolf amongst sheep, too strong for any of the enemy's soldier to stop he disrupted the enemy lines and allowed his group to have a way easier time advancing.
"Get away from me your monst-" POW!
An enemy solider tried to attack him with a sword, he weaved that and round housed kicked him away. Turning around he saw another group of enemy soldiers engaging his infantry, seeing that he smiled "Just the right distance"
Seeing the opportunity he rushed in, he leaped high in the air and appeared above the enemy group. Right arm raised and fist tightly gripped he prepared one of his 'AOE' moves.
[Dragon Wave]!
His arm shot forward, aiming at the ground the expected result was for a powerful shockwave to raise from the cracked ground and to blow away all enemies around as it'd storm all over the place.
That, however, wasn't what happened.
CLASH!
Before his technique could land something unexpected happened, like a phantom a big figure rushed with great speed from somewhere and appeared right before him. Arm raised it launched a palm strike that blocked Lucas's attack, the shockwave resulting from their clash pushed the combatants from both sides around them away!
"Hmph!"
Without a moment hesitation Lucas followed with another attack, his left leg whipped forward aiming at his opponent's head. His elevated stated off the ground should've made harder for the enemy to avoid his attack, but his opponent begged to differ, with a seemly slow but actually fast move the opponent raised his other hand and blocked his attack again.
At the same time Lucas noticed his opponent other now free hand coming after him, a palm strike aimed at his calf, now that was definitely an attack Lucas wasn't too keen in receiving. Using the same hand blocking his kick as platform he pushed his opponent back, avoiding the attack and also disengaging from his opponent by launching himself back, flying back in a flip he adjusted his posture and landed safely back on the ground.
"What's going on?!"
"What happened?!"
Everything happened quite fast, from the class to now only a few moments had passed. When people all over the battlefield reacted and turned towards them both Lucas and his opponent had already disengaged.
Now back in the ground Lucas finally took the moment to look at who had stopped him, what he saw stunned him for a moment as he didn't expected to see this person there. Still, shaking his surprise away he looked at his opponent with a smirk.
"Well, well, well… If isn't my 'worthy opponent' from the other day? Fancy seeing you here"
That's right, the person who stopped Lucas's [Dragon Wave] technique was none other than the man who he fought in his last arm wrestling match one week ago in that underground bar, the martial artist Guo Jing!
"I could say the same" the corner of his mouth was curved into a happy smile "To think that my opponent would've been a marine in disguise. I'll admit, I was surprised when I found out about that"
"In my defense I never said I wasn't a marine, if you thought otherwise it isn't my fault" Lucas chuckled "Though I'm also surprised in seeing you, but considering that you were in that bar I probably shouldn't"
"We can say both of us hid many things then"
"Indeed"
As the two exchanged some banter as though if not in a combat situation they slowly positioned themselves in front of their respective groups, that way they could be able to protect their allies in case the other tried to pull a fast one and rush for an attack.
"You're alright Lucas?!"
From behind Tashigi finally found the chance to rush forward towards Lucas, her trusted 'Shigure' in hand she came to check on her friend after she saw the clash from before.
"It's that strong guy from the bar I talked about before, he's on the enemy's side"
Tashigi was surprised with that, though she failed to recognize him at first since she only saw him from afar when she returned to the bar, now that she looked again she could indeed recognize the man from what Lucas and Torlo had previously told her.
"You saw our clash right? Fighting here wouldn't be a good idea. I'll try taking him away somewhere else where we can fight without affecting you all, you and Torlo stay here and help the others. The secret entrance is on that rock in that clearing over there, we just need to push forward a bit more and we'll have this battle in the bag!"
While explaining his plan to her Lucas's head was firmly looking forward at his opponent, eyes locked at him he made sure to never allow Guo Jing to leave his line of sight!
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On the other side of the field Guo Jing was doing the same as Lucas, he too for not even a second allowed his opponent to leave his sight.
"Senior Brother"
From behind him the sword wielding Danfeng approached him, noticing that Guo Jing said without turning his head.
"Junior Brother, this fight will not be easy. I'll have to focus all my attention on my opponent and will not be able to assist in the battle, stay here and make sure to help Michael's forces win. I know you don't like the man but Master told us to help him, so that's what he will do"
"I'm well aware Senior Brother"
Tracing his eyes along the marines he gave them a quick evaluation, not much impressed he smirked in confidence "None of them is really my match"
"Don't be overconfident Danfeng, that's a dangerous thing to do"
Remarked Guo Jing with some reproach, his junior brother was quite skilled with the sword but he suffered from arrogance, the only times he humbled himself are when he is talking to him or their Master.
"Don't worry Senior Brother, I get it"
Something told Guo Jing that he didn't really get it, however he didn't had much time to deal with that.
His fight was about to start!
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"Got it?"
"Yes, don't worry"
Back on the other side Lucas had finished telling Tashigi about his plans, he then waited for her to move back towards their group before going for the second round against Guo Jing.
Reaching inside of him Lucas called upon his devil fruit.
Roar!
In an instant his entire arm changed, his skin became hard black scales and his hands sharp dragon claws. His 'partial transformation' gave him a minor boost in strength, but most important of all it essentially gave him a piece of armor in the form of his scales.
Other than the obvious defense and new weapons in the form of his claws, that state also allowed him to unleash more of his strength without holding back in fear of damaging his hands due to his own strength, a great relief for someone like him who fights with his bare fists.
"So that's a devil fruit…?"
Lucas could hear his opponent murmuring in some wonder when seeing his actions, very likely surprised by the display of something so rare in the South Blue as devil fruit.
Dash!
Ready Lucas wasted no more time, flash stepping he piratically blinked and arrived before his foe in an instant where he launched a punch with his right!
Bang!
Guo Jing once again blocked the attack with the same seemly slow but actually fast move, the clash between the two just as impactful as the first one. This time however things felt a bit different for Guo Jing, with his brow creased he internally grunted a bit as felt the attack of his opponent being heavier and harder this time, like if he suddenly had donned a pair of heavy steel gauntlets.
'The change on his arms aren't just for show'
He didn't allowed that to stop him however, adjusting himself according to this new development he proceeded to keep meeting Lucas's attacks.
Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!-
The two exchanged a dozen more blows like that, at one point Guo Jing went for a palm strike with his right, which Lucas blocked. Another one followed from the left, Lucas went to block again with fist but then something changed. As they attacks were about to clash Guo Jing suddenly moved his hand out of the way.
The attack was a feint!
Lowering it his palm strike was now aimed at Lucas's gut, he wouldn't be able to dodge!
"Argh!"
Lucas was sent skidding back!
Putting a hand over gut he winced a bit on the pain, that was a strong blow! On the other side Guo Jing also winced in pain, looking down on his arm he could see a red spot pulsating with pain.
'What a quick reaction'
Before when Guo Jing attack was about to land Lucas did a quick counter, moving his arm downward he elbowed Guo Jing's arm right as he landed the hit, with that although he got hit his opponent didn't left that exchanged scot free either.
Lucas once again came after his opponent, Guo Jing expecting another punch raised his posture in preparation to counter it, that wasn't what Lucas went for however, as he arrived before him Lucas did something unexpected and actually leaped into the air with a flip, right as was above Guo Jing his arms shot down and grabbed the same by the shoulder.
Yeet!
As he fell to the ground he used the momentum he had built to lift his opponent off the ground and then yeet him away into the forest!
Lucas off course didn't stayed still and followed after into the distance!
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The people left in the battlefield could still hear the two boss-level men fighting from afar, the sound of their attacks clashing although grew distant could still nonetheless be heard by anyone that paid attention.
Though stunned by the sudden development the marines nonetheless still had great discipline, they soon reorganized themselves and then following the plan and kept pushing their enemies back.
"Alright everybody, let's keep pushing! Lucas is doing his part so it's time for we to do ours!" yelled Torlo.
Torlo in specific as the one leading the group's riflemen had a very important role to play In the moving forward of their operation. He was able to quite skillfully keep tabs on all his mates's ammo, through that he kept a rotation system going where in the exact moment someone ran out of ammo they would switch with another who had their clips full, that away the marine side kept a constant firing flow that overwhelmed their enemies!
"Tashigi! It's time for that move we planned!"
"Roger!"
Following that signal Tashigi and some of her team moved out of their cover, In their hands each one had a makeshift bag made with the blue neckerchief of their uniforms filled with sand taken from the ground.
After walking some meters they all coordinately launched the 'bags' into the air towards the enemy forces, Tashigi that was alongside them after throwing hers did another move.
slash!
Quick drawing her sword she made a slash in the air, following her move a wind blade flew forward from her sword. Sailing through the air it quickly arrived at the bags still in midair, it cut the fabric open with ease thus making all that sand fly like a cloud downwards towards their enemies.
"Cough! Cough! What's with this sand?"
The enemy was confused by the marines move. they didn't understand what's the point of their strange action, the answer however would quickly came.
Click! Click!
All of sudden they noticed their guns not firing when they pressed the trigger, looking down to their horror they saw their rifles jammed!
That certainly wasn't good!
After defeating one of the enemy's soldier Torlo picked one of their guns, with that not only he was able to double-check the fact of the enemies using marine-level weapons, but he also was able to find out a very interesting thing.
"Their maintenance is crap!"
While the enemy had marine issued weaponry they didn't had the necessary knowledge or equipment to properly maintain these weapons, Torlo also noticed the model of the rifles they wielded. An outdated version of the same rifles they themselves wielded at moment, which although quite potent had the notorious reputation of jamming rather quickly when not properly maintained.
Though normally not a problem for the marine who had the proper means to maintain it, it practically spelled doom for the enemies who didn't had the same means!
"We could capitalize on that!"
With that knowledge in mind Torlo devised a plan alongside Tashigi and the others, the conditions for that notorious design flaw to pop were prime on that battlefield. A humid dense forest, they really only needed one small factor to hopefully push those guns beyond their limit and make them momentarily stop working, and with that a golden opportunity would be presented to their group.
And as anyone can see, that plan worked wonderfully!
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From afar the swordsman in white, Danfeng, watched the battle unfold from a hidden vantage point. Having promised his senior brother to help Michael's forces he thought of observing how the fight would unfold before stepping in, and needlessly to say he wasn't at all impressed by what he saw.
"Those guys are truly useless"
Though he had a low opinion of Michael's forces, they worked for that stupid man so what else was to expect? He nonetheless felt disgusted by their lackluster performance, with the marines on the other hand having performed in way that honestly surprised him a little.
Not that defeating useless trash like Michael's forces amounted to anything worth bragging.
Still, he wasn't a man to break his word so he began thinking of what he could do that quickly end all that sad display.
"That heavy guy on the rear, he is the one leading their riflemen. If I take him down things should probably flow more smoothly for our side"
With a confidant smirk Danfeng acted on his plan, moving through the woods like a phantom he set out to deal with his target.
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Having done their part Tashigi and her infantry retreated back to behind their cover, the opportunity they gave their comrades worked like a charm and was surely taken advantage of.
"Good work Torlo, your plan worked wonderfully!"
"Thanks, it was really lucky that it worked though not gonna lie. Now we just need to double d-"
Slash! Parry!
From the shadows a blade suddenly appeared and headed straight for Torlo, taken by surprise the heavy weapons specialist barely had time to react. He would've surely been hit if not for the presence of his bluenette friend, in an instant Tashigi moved and parried the sneak attack, with a grunt she flicked the assailant away and assumed a fighting posture between him and her friend.
"Oh? Someone here actually has some skill"
"You?!"
The assailant before her was none other than Danfeng, who she was quickly able to recognize as being the same man in white she narrowly escaped back when she had infiltrated Michael's office one week ago.
"You recognize me? Seems like my fame precedes me" as stated with a smug expression he finally took notice of Tashigi's blue hair "Wait a minute... you're the girl from one week ago, right? The one that took down that guard, no wonder you felt familiar. Didn't expected you to look so girly"
She huffed "What about you stop talking and we fight already!"
Her words made him smile.
"Quite to the point, huh? But I like it, as that's the way of we who walked the sword's path"
Saying that the man wasted no time, dashing forward with great speed he stabbed forward at her! Tashigi however was ready and was able to block it, flicking the blade to the side she went for a slash.
With a step back however the man was able to easily avoid it.
Not wanting her enemy to catch any breath Tashigi dashed forward at him, sword raised she went for a [Kiri Shigure] move. Soft autumn breezed blew forward alongside her, cherry blossom leaves could practically be seen flowing in the wind around her.
Danfeng, however, saw her attack coming and deflected it away.
[Sword Piercing Misty Mountain]
Still with a smile on his face he pressed on, this time he performed many stab in sequence in a form of barrage of attacks. The girl with blue hair attempted to counter his attack with one of her own, in a similar manner to her opponent she performed a multi slash move.
Parry! Parry! Parry!
At first the exchanged looked even as both techniques cancelled each other out, however the situation changed when Danfeng increased his speed in way that slowly began to overwhelm Tashigi. Some of them went past her guard and grazed parts of her hand and arms.
"Argh!"
"What's wrong girly? Giving up?"
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!"
Anger flared due to her enemy's words she went forward for another attack.
The battle raged on!
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While Tashigi fought Dandeng, in the distance Lucas had his one-a-one against the man's senior brother.
Bang!
Another clash happened and the same result from before occurred, it quickly became clear to Lucas that while the man didn't had the same strength as him, his defensive capabilities were quite impressive. The aura around him was one of unmoving steadiness, through his unknown technique the man stawardly refused to budge under his punches.
Lucas honestly felt like he was fighting a mountain.
"Sadly for him obliterating mountains away with our fists is the Monkey D. family way!"
As Guo Jing parried another punch he felt something definitely not right! The hand he used to receive Lucas's attack was now tingling, a sort of numbing feeling spreading through his entire arm.
Zap!
Looking again he saw his opponent's arm sparkling blue with lightning that coiled around it, his opponent smiled widely as an aura like no other that he had felt enveloped his entire being. If Lucas felt like fighting a mountain, Guo Jing at that moment began to feel like he was fighting some sort of ancient predator, one of the likes that you find in old myths and legends.
'This guy!'
He disengaged from Lucas, the same however wasn't about to let him rest and pressed on. Fists coated in lightning fell one after the other in Guo Jing's direction, if before the man'd had tried to block the attacks and then attempt a counter, now with the wrath of heavens on his opponent's side he had no better choice other than to trying to dodge.
Midway his attacks Lucas tried to catch his opponent off guard by doing something he actually hadn't done yet in their fight, with his left hand suddenly opening mid-swing he went for a upward slash attack using his sharp claw.
Slash!
Caught off guard Guo Jing was only able to barely dodge this time, the tip of Lucas's claws grazed his chest tearing a gash on his robe a line of blood could be seen dripping from there.
On Lucas's right arm the lightning around it flowed down to his hand, there it changed into one spear from his [Lightning Dragon Twin Spears] technique.
Grasping the spear Lucas tried to stab his enemy with it, his opponent however did a special move of his own. Stomping down hard at the ground Guo Jing made a burst of shockwave go around him, it pushed Lucas's arm wielding the spear away thus disrupting his attack.
Taking hold of the chance to go on the offensive Guo Jing pressed on with steady but fast palm strikes, first one at Lucas's spear wielding arm, the pain made Lucas wince while also making him let go of the spear which flew away and imbedded itself in a nearby tree.
With the following attacks landing on Lucas's midsection and chest an arrow of blood was shot out of his mouth, like that Guo Jing was more than successfully got his 'get back' for the cut on his chest.
His onslaught however would soon come to a stop
" ▃▄▅▅ !"
Getting his bearing back Lucas raised his left and blocked an incoming attack by grabbing his opponent's hand, Guo Jing would think nothing of it and would follow with another palm strike from his other hand. At the moment, however, Lucas sprung forward one of his hidden weapons.
"That's-that's a tail?!"
Using his 'partial transformation' Lucas made his dragon tail spring forward, coiling around Guo Jing's arm it caught his attack and completely surprised the man. With one arm in the clutches of Lucas's left claw, and the other arm firmly grasped by his tail, Guo Jing was suddenly open for a powerful counter attack!
[Lightning Dragon Fist]!
With his right fist furiously crackling with lightning Lucas gave Guo Jing a mean gut punch, the air left the man's lung and got shocked as the lightning from the fist went through his body. He was shot flying backwards, a couple of trees that stood in the way got broken in half as he flew through them with the momentum of someone hit by the punch of a True Dragon.
Guo Jing however was made of some sturdy material, swallowing the blood that rushed to his mouth and heavily wincing from the pain he was still able to raise from the ground in order to continue with the fight.
ZAP!
What he saw when he rose however was the scene of his white haired opponent with his hands raised parallel to one another in front of him, intense lightning gathered between his hands and condensed itself into a mesmerizing sphere of crackling blue energy.
'Not Good…!'
Even a blind man would be able to see that tanking whatever 'that' was definitely wasn't a good idea.
Clapping his hands together Guo Jing began to chant a mantra, words flew from his mouth with great speed, but even so they somehow maintained a firm and steady rhythm, the aura around his body increasing as a feeling of total unmoveness enveloped him as he prepared for the incoming attack.
[Lightning Dragon Sphere]!
With a roar Lucas shot his attack forward, at the same time Guo Jing who had been preparing himself for that also sprung forward a move. With a shout he raised his left foot in a manner not too dissimilar to a sumo wrestler, then with what appeared to be the weight of a mountain behind him he slammed the foot down!
[Mount Tai Rising from the Earth]!
The force behind his foot cracked the ground beneath him, and to Lucas utter surprise a huge rock was pressed upwards by his foot. It looked and felt like an unmovable mountain, standing before Guo Jing it received Lucas's sphere of heaven's wrath head on!
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BOOOMM!
The battle happening between the marines and Michael's forces came to a momentary stop as the thunderous rumbling of what could only be described as a 'thunder hitting the ground' was heard all over the battlefield.
Turning to the side all could clearly see blue light coming from the woods in the distance, those that looked up actually also had been able to see some streaks of lightning shooting upwards towards the sky.
"What was that?"
Danfeng who had been having some fun fighting Tashigi also stopped what he was doing when the thunderous sound rumbled across the battlefield. Like everyone else he was also caught off guard, stunned he wondered what that could possibly have been.
His opponent meanwhile actually had quite the easy time figuring out what was going on, looking towards where the sound came from she mumbled in worry "Lucas…"
"What you mean by that?"
Her words however had been heard by her opponent, confused for a second his mind soon put two -and-two together and figured out what she meant.
"You mean to say that's that friend of yours doing? Diffidently stronger than expected... b-but Senior Brother wouldn't lost to someone like him, that's impossible…!"
Danfeng got lost on his thoughts for a moment, turning back to Tashigi his expression had completely changed as that playful and smug smile vanished from his face. In its place a grim expression of anger with veiled worry appeared.
"Play time is over little girl, out of my way!"
Wishing to quickly finish his task so he could check on the fight happening in the distance Danfeng dashed forward at Tashigi with renewed vigor, thrusting his sword forward he once again used his barrage attack.
Cut! Cut! Cut!
Tashigi tried to parry his attacks like before, however this time Danfeng wasn't holding back. Whenever she went to block his attack she missed, flowing past her guard his stabs kept landing on her sides causing small cuts to slowly accumulate on her body.
'He's too fast!- simply too fast!-…'
As Tashigi desperately tried come up with a way to block her opponent's attack a certain memory from early that day began to surface on her mind.
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The two girls watched with amazement as he hit every single ball without moving from his spot, his speed such that from an outsider's perspective his arms seemed to have multiplied. Their perception wasn't the same as that of normal people, but even they couldn't keep up with all the punches.
"You think his arms is in one place, when in reality it's already on another"
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'That's it!'
Grasping that moment of enlightenment Tashigi acted on it!
Jumping some meters back she sheathed her sword and assumed a quick drawing stance, however what was most surprising was what she did next!
She closed her eyes!
"The despair from the prospect of losing must have overwhelmed her, Pitiful" Danfeng momentarily stopped his attack when seeing Tashigi's action, sighing at first he then snickered "To think I actually had a tiny bit of respect for your sword's path, guess that's what I get for putting any hopes on someone not trained by Master. NOW DIE!"
Dashing forward like a phantom he in an instant appeared before Tashigi, sword thrusting he resumed his attack now with immense killing intent!
However something totally out of his expectation happened!
Parry!
The eyes closed Tashigi performed a quick drawing slash with her sword 'Shigure' and perfectly blocked Danfeng's attack!
The man however thought nothing of her successful move, arrogantly huffing he performed his barrage of myriad sword stabs.
[Sword Piercing Misty Mountain]
Parry! Parry! Parry!
The scene from before repeated itself, however this time no matter how many stabbing moves he performed none of them were able to land on Tashigi anymore.
On the contrary, as the seconds went on it was he that slowly but surely became overwhelmed by Tashigi. Her arms moving with great speed, if one was to blink they would certainly see many cheery blossom leaves rushing towards the enemy alongside a lone blue butterfly.
The scene happening looked similar to the one from just a minute ago, however now the tables had been turned, Danfeng was the one being overwhelmed while Tashigi was the one having the big upper hand.
"How is this possible?!"
Angry and frustrated Danfeng went forward for one last desperate thrusting move, however Tashigi brushed it aside with her blade and now opening her eyes did an uppercut slash that landed square on her opponent's chest!
[Ranga Cho]!
Danfeng was sent flying away by her last attack, he flew up a couple meters in the air before landing with a thud in the ground not far away from her, eyes now in the shape of swirls it was clear that he lost consciousness.
She had won!
"You're absolutely amazing Tashigi!"
"Ah!"
From behind a cover came out Torlo who had a smile that stretched from ear to ear, approaching Tashigi he caught the tired bluenette in a tight hug and hoisted her from the ground.
"Urhg..T-Thanks Torlo. But, could you…?"
"Oh, Sorry"
Seeing his friend wincing Torlo came back to reality, putting her back on the ground he gave her an apologetic look.
"I didn't came before because I didn't wanted to get in your way, I thought of helping you by shooting him but you and him moved so fast and close to one another that I feared hitting you by accident. Still, I had my gun traced at him at all times in case an opportunity showed itself, though I'm happy I didn't need to"
"It's alright" swallowing a small wince she looked at her downed opponent "He was certainly fast"
"Yeah" saying that his ear to ear smile returned "But not as fast as our meito specialist! Speaking of which, what was that move in the end?"
"Not really sure..."
Scratching her head she thought back to the moment of enlightenment from earlier.
"I thought back to Lucas's training from this morning, how his arms looked like they had multiplied, that's was when it hit me. My opponent was moving so fast that he was leaving after images, the stab attack I went to block wasn't actually where I saw it, it was already coming at me from another angle. To counter it I couldn't completely rely on my eyesight, so I closed my eyes and tried to use my 'sword's path' to sense and counter them"
Torlo nodded in understanding, getting what she meant. Some things still flew over his head though.
"Sword's path? What's that?"
"Sigh Don't worry about that for now, I'll explain to you later"
"If you say so…"
Walking to the side Torlo picked Danfeng from the ground and cuffed him with some handcuffs he had on him, while he was doing that he also happened to see the fancy sword he had wielded laying on the ground, something that later he would learn was a 'Tang Dao' type meito.
Calling a nearby fellow marines he asked the same to keep a very good eye on the defeated swordsman in white, last thing they needed was him waking up and running away. He also gave him the man's sword for the marine to safeguard.
He was going to give it later to Tashigi.
Returning to Tashigi the two scanned the battlefield, they saw that despite Danfeng's sneak attack having stopped the two for some a time, the rest of the marines had been able to use the golden opportunity from early to press back the enemy forces greatly.
With the remaining enemy forces grouped together around the secret entrance all they needed to do was make one last push.
The battle was almost over!
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A Couple minutes earlier
BOOOMM!
As Lucas's move landed on the 'mountain' that rose before Guo Jing it did this usual thing, the sphere expanded upon contact and all the destructive power inside got unleashed. Sparks flying everywhere the blue light from the attack briefly engulfed the area, when it subsided Lucas was able to see the result of his attack.
"Damn! Still didn't get him….'
The move that blew a giant hole in the side of two ships actually got tanked by the 'Mountain', though it lost more than two thirds of its mass the huge rock pushed up from the ground by Guo Jing was able to successfully block Lucas's attack!
"I knew devil fruit users could be strong, but this guy definitely something else. No way he's a normal user!"
On the other side of the rock Guo Jing mumbled with some shock after what happened, though he was unharmed by the attack the intensity of it still left him shook. Still, the fight hadn't ended!
Bang!
Palm striking the rock before him Guo Jing was actually able to tear a chunk of the rock and launched it forward in the same move, it shot in Lucas's direction with the speed and potency of a cannon ball.
On the other side Lucas saw the attack coming his way and reacted, just like he had done thousands of times when training with his grandpa he perfectly punched the rock out of the air, turning it into a cloud of dust that blew harmless past him.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Guo Jing however wasn't finished, his arms moving with great speed he performed the same move over and over again without pause, essentially creating a stone gatling gun he drowned Lucas in attacks.
On his side Lucas also didn't relented, assuming position he launched his own version of a 'gatling gun' attack and destroyed all and every rock that came hurling his way.
Each rock he destroyed turned into a small cloud of dust, normally not a problem the sheer number of them at that moment made hard for the wind to blow them away in a short time. They accumulated and soon Lucas was completely covered in a cloud of dust, his view of Guo Jing getting blocked.
'Shit! I need to move befor-'
His instincts alerted him of the incoming danger, but he was unable to react in time. From above, masked by the cloud of dust, came Guo Jing!
Hand raised for a palm strike he came at Lucas's direction with the weight of mountain behind him.
Zap!
In an attempt to intercept the attack Lucas flared his lightning all over him, the draconic energy flew all over the place and actually landed some bolts at the incoming Guo Jing. The man, however, just endured the lightning with gritted teeth and went forward with his attack.
BAM!
The blow landed heavily on Lucas's left shoulder, feeling his arm go limp Lucas swallowed a roar of pain and counter attacked.
His Right shot forward at an attack but it was deflected by Guo Jing, the same followed with another heavy strike but Lucas weaved to the side with a twirl, his tail brushed Guo Jing's arm aside leaving an opening that Lucas used.
With a draconic roar he uppercutted Guo Jing in the jaw sending him flying up in the air, with his tail as another boost Lucas shot in the air after his opponent. Both flew high, above all the treetops in the area there he actually was even able to see the others fighting in the distance.
'Wait, the others?... That's right… the others are still fighting!'
At that moment Lucas felt his mind shaking as a trance he didn't even realized he was in got broken.
If someone else had been there watching his fight they could've been able to see his smile, the draconic smile that not for even a second left his face.
Without realizing he had been entrapped inside his instincts, the chance to finally have a fight with a worthy opponent after so long roused his fighting spirit so much that he got swallowed by it.
In the adrenaline of it all he unknowingly allowed himself to be blinded by his own draconic instincts, forgetting everything else besides the fight it was only now when he saw his friends righting in the battle that raged on in the distance that he was kicked out of that self-inflicted trance.
'I have to end this fight and go back to the others!'
Time however didn't stopped while he was in his realization, Guo Jing who was in the air just in front of him saw his opponent getting distracted and capitalized on it. One hand above the other he raised both his arms back above his head, then with all the strength he had he delivered an mountain heavy hammer palm strike that landed square on.
BANG!
Lucas was shot back down towards the ground with great potency, as he landed the ground shook and a giant cloud of dust rose covering the entire field.
…
…
…
Back on the ground Guo Jing assumed a fighting stance in wait of his opponent, however for a time nothing happened.
As the cloud of dust dispersed he was able to take a look at where Lucas had landed, there only a pile of rocks could be seen. Suspicious he approached the sight without lowering his guard, however there was no sight of his white haired opponent even after he arrived right above where Lucas hand landed.
After a time Guo Jing was forced to accept that his opponent was truly defeated.
"Well, he was certainly a great opponent"
That realization made him a little sad.
Though not to the same extent as Lucas he too had lost himself a bit in the fight and was enjoying the thrill of it all. To having it come to end, while expected, was still a bit regretful for him. His opponent's aggressive fighting style was new to him, it contrasted with his style which made for a more than great fight.
"▅▅！-!"
Just as he turned around to leave something changed, a deep growl of an ancient myth-like predator came from beneath the rocks!
Before Guo Jing could properly understand what was happening he saw the rocks being thrown aside as a pair of big draconic wings rose from beneath them, still for second they gave a beat that created a powerful whirlwind that surged forward and blasted Guo Jing away without a moment notice.
Looking back Guo Jing's eyes widened as he saw a big scaly figure rise from the ground, quite imposing the figure from myths reared his head back and roared:
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅ -▅▅！"
This mythological being was, off course, Lucas who had now turned into his hybrid form. Not playing anymore after he took some moments in the ground to catch his breath he decided to bring out the big guns and assumed his hybrid form.
Swooshh!
With a beat of his wing for impulse Lucas shot forward, arriving before Guo Jing he raised his giant claw and attacked, the same tried to block like before but this time things went quite different.
Now in his hybrid form the strength behind Lucas's attack wasn't something he could withstand with his technique anymore, the unmovable aura around him got blown away as he was dragged backwards by Lucas, the ground carving under their weight and creating a trench following their path.
"Hmphh!"
With a huff Guo Jing slammed his foot in the ground in the same technique from before to create a shockwave that pushed the Dragon back, taking the chance he launched dozen of palm strikes in succession at the enemy's chest. The black scales covering his body however made his attack moot.
In the end the Dragon barely received any damage!
The Dragon would then bring down his claw at him, now knowing that blocking that wasn't a good idea Guo Jing stepped out of the way and avoided. His claw landing on the ground and leaving an imprint the Dragon went for a follow up attack, snapping his maw open he attempted a bite attack.
In a desperate attempt to avoid those glistening teeth Guo Jing leaped back, he was successful in avoiding the bite but the Dragon was relentless.
Turning around he swiped at Guo Jing with his now giant tail, it arrived at him in no time. He was hit and briefly pushed aside by it, but he soon recovered. Planting his feet on the ground Guo Jing grabbed the tail, his muscles bulging the man hoisted the Dragon off the ground and tried to throw him away.
Needlessly to say, while that was a good attempt, in the end it didn't worked. Lightning flared around the tail and stunned Guo Jing out of his attack. Lucas took advantage of that and wasted no time, flicking his tail he launched his opponent away.
A blue glow appeared from beneath the scales on his chest, it went up his neck and towards his mouth, sparks could be seeing flying frantically out the corners of his mouth.
[Lightning Dragon Breath]!
At the distance Guo Jing saw a torrent of blue lighting coming straight at him and tried to act, chanting his mantra in a speed even he didn't knew was possible he performed the [Mount Tai Rising from the Earth] from before, however this time it was of no use. The huge rock had been barely pushed out of the ground when Lucas's attack arrived.
It blew the rock away with ease and landed on Guo Jing! The man was engulfed in blue light.
Boommm!
Moments later when it went away Lucas was able to see his opponent on the ground, clothes almost completely charred there was no doubt when looking at him that he had lost consciousness.
Lucas had won!
"What a worthy opponent indeed…"
Looking at his defeated opponent Lucas couldn't help but sigh, though they stood in different sides he was still unable to see the man in a bad light. You could say that both gained a lot of understanding of one another through their exchanges, a strange bond between warriors that had clashed in the battlefield if you will.
"Anyway…" Picking the man up with his tail he began moving his wings around in preparation for a flight "Let me quickly go back to the others!"
Whooosh!
With a mighty beat of his wings he shot upwards and away.
…
…
…
…
"Is everyone accounted for?"
In the distance the battle between the two forces had actually already come to an end, with the many advantages the group stacked through the course of the fight their victory was all but inevitably.
At that moment the group, after securing all the defeated enemies by cuffing them and taking them to a safe location a bit more far away, met up besides the rock that hid the secret entrance.
"▃▃▄▄ !"
As they took a moment to rest a roar came from above, a lot of them knowing what it probably was had looks of relief. Right in front of the group a quite big humanoid dragon landed, right after it the scales around him receded and his size shrunk, in a matter of moments the figure of Lucas was once again before them.
"Everyone okay?"
""Lucas!""
His two friends Torlo and Tashigi tackled him from the side, he grunted a bit but then smiled, holstering them off the ground he gave them a tight hug!
"I assume everything went okay?"
"You could say that, yeah"
Turning Lucas looked around at his other fellow marines with a guilty look on his eyes, though none were serious or fatally injured most of them still got wounded quite a lot. Though he knew that was the nature of real combat, Lucas nonetheless felt something cut him in the soul when he remembered how he made them wait while he was in the distance enjoying the thrill of a good fight.
"Don't give us that look, you did nothing wrong. Only you could have dealt with that guy. Besides, everything turned out okay!"
His friends seeing the look on his eyes tried to reassure his worries, it worked a bit and he was able to focus back on the matter at hand.
The next minutes were spent with the two sides retelling what had happened; Lucas told everyone how was his fight with Guo Jing was, while everyone else took turns to relay their views of the battle they had won.
They had just finished resting and telling each other their experiences when Thomas, their radio operator, arrived besides them with updates from the other group.
"The main group had defeated the enemy forces. Captain Ricardo was on their side and got captured by Commander Triscratches. Now our orders are to move in, sweeping the hideout and meeting with the others so we could finish this mission"
To the side Lucas rose from the ground, cracking his arms around he yelled.
"You all head the man, let's move out. It's time to put and end to Mel Island's criminal underworld !"
""Yeahhh!""
Now rested and their morale renewed the group of marines moved forward through secret entrance.
It was time to end all of this!
…
…
…
"Can't believe they all lost!"
In his office deep in hideout Michael, the leader of Mel Island's underworld, was panicking!
His worst fears came to pass, the main force lead by Triscratches defeated all his men guarding the main entrance, and you could say even more surprising was that Guo Jing and Danfeng lost to the second group attacking the secret entrance and got captured by them!
He could just imagine how furious their master will be when hearing about this.
'Why I'm worried about him? I still have my own skin to save!'
Mind going miles fast he scrambled his brain for any possibly move he could do to save his hide at that moment, but the more he thought about it the more he realized how grim his situation was.
Taking a look around his office he saw his operators frantically barking orders to the remaining men outside, a pitiful attempt of delaying the inevitable.
'I will not allow them to take all that I built away from me!'
His expression grave he opened a hidden drawer on his desk, with a resigned look flashing on his eyes he picked a strange device with a big red button from the drawer.
His last contingency plan... He was going to use it!
…
…
…
After some time marching forward Lucas's group was able to meet with the one lead by Commander Triscratches, with both sides having already shared brief reports through the radio they only exchanged a few words there, now regrouped into one single whole they marched forward led by Commander Triscratches.
They arrived in sort of warehouse, there up in the back wall was a railing that led to a room, they could see the figure of a small man in his fifties coming out.
Commander Triscratches recognized him immediately!
"Michael!"
The leader of Mel Island's underworld and main target of their mission, Michael, had finally revealed himself!
"Well, well... if isn't the intrepid heroes of justice. Having braved all obstacles they arrive here, in the last chamber of the dungeon, ready to face the Big Bad Boss… Me"
'Something ain't right…'
At the moment Lucas sensed something wrong with Michael. The man had a forlorn look on his face, being strangely calm for someone in his situation the tone on his voice had a wisp of something… dark, something... deeply wrong.
As someone that felt like he hit rock bottom and lost everything, Michael, the man that just a week ago puppeteer the whole island from his hidden place in the shadows, at that moment stood before them exuding a deep and strong aura of utter… Madness!
"Stop with all the jokes Michael! Let's end this charade, surrender now!"
Commander Triscratches, who still had his anger boiling due to what happened regarding his old friend Ricardo, was having none of Michael's bullshit. Hearing the man still joking made the usually calm and collected Commander to see red.
"HaahahA #Ha!"
Hearing those words Michael suddenly start to laugh, it was a dark laugh laced with some deep madness.
Lucas's instincts flared in his mind, roaring the Dragon inside quickly warned him of something really dangerous coming their way, his mind went a thousand miles and he tried to find from where the danger was coming, he eventually found when his gaze landed on the device on Michael's hand.
But by that time, however, it was already too late!
"You right on that one great Commander, absolutely right! Let's eND tHIs!"
Michael looked at all of them with a maddening grim on his face, without hesitation he raised the device on his hand and slammed the red button.
Moments later everything got engulfed in light!
…
…
…
…
Mel Island, South Blue
At that moment everything was going about normally on Mel Island, it was night and people went about doing their usual business. Some people went back home from work, some went out to have fun with their friends. Some were preparing dinner, while many had even already went to bed.
Everything was flowing about smoothly, that's off course until 'that' happened!
BOOOMMM!
Without any warning a giant explosion rumbled across the island, everyone awake or asleep had been able to hear it! There was a lot of panic, people rushed to the streets to see what was happening, was it a pirate attack? What could it be?
"Look, there's smoke coming from the north!"
It didn't took longer for people to notice the pillar of black smoke rising in the distance, and while most people didn't understood what was happening the remaining marines practically went white.
"That's where the Commander and the others went!"
Wasting no time they all hopped in any vehicle they could find and rushed north, following them a couple of onlookers went there too to see with their eyes what was happening. In Special amongst them was two women named Fey and Emely, they had gone to a party in the north part of the town so when they saw the commotion they decided to follow.
There up north those first to arrive got to see an amazing scene, there where Michael's underground hideout was supposed to be was a crater, giant in size and with smoke coming out of it the thing stood there like a scar amidst the green.
"▄▅▅ -▅▅！"
Suddenly a rumbling sound came from the smoke, what they saw next was something that probably would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
"D-D-Dragon?!"
From whiting the crater a giant black western dragon stepped out!
Absolutely massive two sharp horns come out from the sides of his head, extremely sharp spikes runned down the back of his neck with the same happening on its tail, blue lightning crackling back nd forth between them.
A blue glow came out from beneath the scales on his chest area forming a circle pattern, and most attention grabbing of them all were his giant eyes who gave the feeling of literally having an endless storm of lightning that stretched past the horizon towards the infinite beyond.
"Hmnn!"
The giant Dragon, although clearly one that walked on his fours, was actually able to balance himself to stay standing on his hinder legs as he stepped out of the crater, his front claws joined together he held something between them.
Zap!
Opening his hand he revealed a sphere of blue lightning, a moment later following his will the sphere began to vanish in blue sparks. From within dozens of figures appeared, wrapped by the sparks they slowly got hovered down and safely put back on the ground.
Having done that the Dragon turned to some marines gazing at him from afar and said with his voice that felt like thunder speaking.
"MCPO Monkey D. Lucas here, the mission we set out to accomplish was successfully completed. Requesting now for assistance in checking to see if everyone, marines and captured enemies, are safe and accounted for"
"…"
For a moment nothing happened, the marines and onlookers on the ground looked at the figure that made them feel like ants in absolute bewilderment, their minds barely being able to understand what exactly was happening.
"Hey!"
Someone from amidst the figures lying on the ground brought by the Dragon suddenly broke the silence.
"Commander...?"
The green bearded man turned to towards the stunned marines and roared "What you all waiting for? Do what MCPO Lucas said and go help the others!"
"Right away sir!"
…
…
…
…
A day Later – Marineford, Grand Line
At the moment the legendary trio; Gap, Sengoku and Tsuru, was together in the living room from the Monkey D. house in Marineford. Alongside them was another illustrious figure of the organization, the always laid back Admiral Aokij, Kuzan for close ones.
It was one of those rare opportunities where these high profile figures had a chance to dial back and just relax, they came to Garp's house as it was the closes one to just relax and chat away without worrying about duties or anything, hence they didn't even wore their suits and just showed up in casual clothing
Aokiji was once Garp's protégé, hence he also had the habit of going to his house to chill out, it also happened that he really liked to hear these three legendary figures chatting away so to him it was all a win-win situation.
After some time the topic of Garp's grandson was eventually brought up as Sengoku began telling the others about a report regarding the young Monkey D. he had received that morning.
"… before the explosion happened Lucas was able to turn into his giant 'Full Dragon Form', wrapping everyone in a sphere of lightning for protection he was able to withstand the explosion with barely any problem. The other defeated enemies had also been previously secured and moved to some distance away from the base, so in the end surprisingly no one was killed by Michael's last mad move. All in all, the operation was handled quite well if I do say myself"
"As expected from Garp-san's grandson" Said Aokiji with his usual laid back tone.
He was alone in one of the sofas, laying on his side he rested his head against his hand and watched the TV.
it was tuned on a news channel that showed images taken the day prior on an island in the South Blue called 'Mel Island'.In it they showed from afar a gigantic black dragon helping a group of marines rummage through the rubbles of a crater in the ground "...A Lightning Dragon, huh? Now that's cool"
Sengoku also turned to the TV, seeing the Dragon helping the marines he nodded in approval.
"Truly more reliable than a certain someone"
That certain 'someone' looked at with his huge smile.
"Thanks my friend, but what can I say? My genetic it's-" he made a 'ok' sign with his hand "Marvelous!"
"What was that? I complimented him not you old geezer!"
"Old geezer? If that's the case you would be, what, a mummy?"
"Hmph... at least I still have black hair"
"HA! Easy when hair dye is a thing"
"You-" Ding-Dong!
The sound of the doorbell ringing stopped the two old friends bickering, Tsuru who had been mostly silent turned to Garp and asked "Have you been expecting anyone?"
"I actually am…" putting his chips aside Garp rose from the sofa "I sent Bogard to pick this someone from the port, it must be them"
Paying no mind to the curious looks thrown his way by the others Garp walked away to the door, opening it he saw his right hand man Bogard waiting for him. He was carrying some baggage, to his side a certain someone was looking at him with a smile.
"Thank you for letting me live here 'father'"
Pink dress, pardo skin, blue eyes, white hair…
Branca, Lucas's mother, had moved to Marineford!
…
…
…
…
And that's… it!
Man, I'm really tired.
What you guys think of the grand finale of the arc? And the fight scenes? I had quite the fun writing so to me they looked cool, but I'd love see your guys thoughts on it, were they cool or a bit too much? Let me know in the reviews.
Apart from giving Lucas an opponent that actually could fight back I wanted also to give the other two members of the main trio a good moment to shine, Torlo by showing his knowledge about weapons, and Tashigi by displaying her growth in the way of the sword.
Guo Jing and Danfeng had also been fun antagonists to write, made by me using the hundreds of 'cultivation' novels I read as base I tried to use well the superhuman levels of strength people here have to give them an interesting set of skills.
Also, they're from the 'Karate Island', something I kind forgot to put In the chapter for lack of chance.
I also got to reveal more of Lucas's devil fruit, showed more of the 'partial transformation' which actually is his default mode when fighting, it wasn't used much before because the enemies had been just that low level. I'll probably explain this later, but he can only call his claws, feet and tail when using this technique.
I also tried to play a little with the implied changes in personality Zoan-fruits may cause in their users, Lucas losing himself in the fight was a nice start for the ideas I have in store for the future in regards to that.
His full form was also finally revealed, though not during a battle it felt like a good moment to finally display this side of him. Btw, in my bio theres some link to arts of how this transformations looks.
Branca moving to Marineford was actually a recent idea, I honestly felt like my initial plan of just leaving her alone in Dragon Island was a bit wrong. With that I basically relegated her to be a minor character when, in reality, she was quite important for Lucas, with her now living in Marineford the times she'll be in the screen will greatly increase in number.
Anyway, that's about it.
Many days of work finally came to end, I wrote so much these last days that I probably will take a time before trying to write the next chapter. Still, hope this double update of today be enough to satisfy you all for the time being.
Thanks again everyone for sticking with me until now, the end of this arc feels quite special to me when I recall how many years had passed since I started the fic... it truly has been a long time.
Not spoiling anything but expect Lucas to soon enter the radar of a certain pirate big shot in the next arc.
Constructive critics are always welcomed.
Fiquem Bem!
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Omake: Strange Container (Canon!)
In one of the docks in Marineford a group of workers was busy loading some cargo in a ship for the South Blue, a container in particular attracted the attention of two of them.
"That's one big cargo"
"Yeah"
"Do you know what's inside?"
"Nope" one of the looked through the manifesto "Only says it's something belonging to Vice-Admiral Garp"
"Damn... must be something amazing then!"
"Probably" his friend nodded "so let's be extra careful"
Following that the two went back to work, hopping into a kong-lifter one of them went to move the contained to the ship while the other stayed from afar clear the path, moments later they safely put the container In the ship's cargo hold.
"-▅▅！!"
As they're leaving a deep sound rumbled from within the container.
"What was that?"
"What?"
"A deep growl sound"
"Probably your belly, I warned you to not skip breakfast"
"…yeah, you probably right"