Flames of the Sun God
A One Piece Fanfic by GreyNimbus
Author's Note:
First of all, I wanna say thanks to all the readers who favorited, followed, and left a review on my story. You guys are awesome. I'm having fun writing this fic, there's still so much more to come, and Writer's Block hasn't stopped me yet! (I hope I didn't just jinx it)
For some of you who may be wondering, I included the part about Dr. Vegapunk knowing the true identity of the Gum-Gum Fruit as my headcanon. It's possible that the Five Elder Stars could have informed him about it at a meeting or something. And with his Brain-Brain Fruit powers, his brain capacity could've also included a perfect memory, to which he later writes down the info about Luffy's Devil Fruit on paper, and then gave that info unintentionally to the Roger Pirates at some point. There are many gaps in the One Piece lore that fans could fill with whatever they want, and I'm no different. That's just what fanfiction is all about.
Also, to those of you who are concerned about shipping, my absolute favorite couple is LuffyxNami, but I don't think I'll include any pairing in this story, because that would ruin the chemistry that makes up the One Piece world that we all know and love. Sorry if this disappoints you romance fans out there, but this is my story and it's mine to do with as I please.
Hope you guys enjoy this next chapter and have a good day!
GreyNimbus, out!
OP/Luffy, Mature/Luffy, EarlyDFAwaken/Luffy, NoPairing
Disclaimer:
One Piece is owned by Eiichiro Oda. I do NOT own anything One Piece related. Obviously(!)
Chapter 3 — Destroyer of the World
Another brutal day of Haki training goes by for the Legendary-Pirate-in-training.
Come nightfall, Luffy was in the middle of devouring another huge chunk of meat off the bone. With the restriction of his baseline rubbery body, Luffy had been eating less food than he normally does.
…at least 5% less.
After quickly getting used to wearing Sea-Prism Stone handcuffs for the last couple of days, Luffy no longer felt like he was being drained of energy, although he still can't stretch. This intensified his training to new bounds.
Today, he attempted to improve his "Armament: Hardening" by fighting the colossal animals of Luscaina. He could no longer afford to keep taking hits from the beasts since his Devil Fruit powers had been canceled out, so he was forced to resort to constant dodging - something he was not the best at. But Rayleigh told him it was the perfect excuse to train his Observation Haki, by predicting where, and, eventually, when the attacks would strike.
Luffy's first opponent was a massive blue gorilla the size of a house. Following Rayleigh's instructions, Luffy prioritized speed over strength, and let the opponent make the first move. Luffy's speed was growing by leaps and bounds. Before the revision to his new training regiment, Luffy demonstrated Second Gear to his mentor, explaining how it made him move at mind-boggling speeds. Rayleigh later identified this speed feat as Shave, one of the Six Powers.
The Six Powers is a special, superhuman martial art style that is mostly used by agents of the World Government. Anyone who could master the Six Powers is said to have the strength of a hundred men.
Shave allows the user to move at extremely high speeds, making them seem like they disappeared. This technique is mostly used for avoiding attacks, as well as to attack at higher speeds, which can generate greater power.
The first time Luffy witnessed Shave was when it was used by Blueno, a member of CP9, back at Enies Lobby. After carefully observing how his opponent moved with the technique, it was revealed that the principle of executing it properly was to kick off the ground at least ten times in the brink of an eye. Unable to pull it off in his base form, Luffy utilized his Second Gear, by pumping up his metabolism and allowing him to move at disappearing speeds, which surpassed Blueno's.
After explaining how Second Gear works, Rayleigh decided to make the technique redundant. Consecutive use of Second Gear was really dangerous and taxing to Luffy's body. His increased blood flow gave his body more oxygen and nutrients, which is what makes him move a lot faster. Since his blood vessels and organs were made of rubber, he was able to handle it.
But he never noticed the price that came with it.
The more Luffy used Second Gear, the more oxygen and energy he ends up burning through, which can be quite straining on the body.
In his Second Gear form, Luffy's body glows a light shade of red, and steam starts billowing from his body like a steam train. The steam is the result of his entire metabolism rate going up so high that his sweat evaporates.
So Rayleigh decides to teach Luffy how to use the Six Powers in place of Second Gear, which will benefit Luffy in the long run. This was one of the reasons Rayleigh had Luffy get used to the feel of Sea-Prism Stone, to overcome hypothetical situations where his enemies try to restrain his powers, but still, give him the strength to fight back. After all, the sea only cursed Devil Fruit users while Haki and the Six Powers can still be used.
Unfortunately, Rayleigh didn't know very much about the Six Powers, except for only knowing how to use Shave and Finger Pistol.
Finger Pistol is a close-range combat technique that allows the user to push their finger into their target at a very high speed, leaving a wound similar to a bullet hole. This technique is more deadly than most bullets, as it is sharp and agile enough to penetrate even iron-hard defenses.
Rayleigh decided to hold off on this form of training until after Luffy completely mastered Haki. He had planned on teaching Luffy how to combine Finger Pistol with the long-range capabilities of his stretchy powers.
Luffy had a rocky start when fighting the blue gorilla, along with some other animals later on, for he also had to wear the blindfold again to train his Observation Haki, making things a whole lot more difficult. But that's exactly what Luffy wanted. No matter how many times Luffy slipped up, he always got right back up.
After the vexing day he had, Luffy was currently venting his frustrations out on his dinner, while recalling the events that occurred. He was able to deflect and intercept most of the attacks from the large animals, while at other times he got away with a few scrapes and cuts. After fighting the blue gorilla, Luffy ended up having to avoid the jaws of a massive alligator, to the crushing paws of a titanic lion.
Luckily, his teacher was there to step in if things ever got out of hand.
"Damn…" Luffy complained through a mouthful of meat, "I swear, all the animals are ganging up on me!" He swallows before taking another bite, "I'll get 'em back as soon as I'm done eating."
"You think that's wise?" Rayleigh asked, with a mug in his hand, "Going back for Round 2 before giving your body time to recover?"
"Yeah! I'm tired of getting beat by those-MMM!" Luffy gagged as choked on his dinner. Dropping the half-eaten bone, he pumps his chest to help swallow what was stuck in his throat until he finally managed to make the food go the right way.
Luffy let out a relieving sigh.
Rayleigh let out a disappointed sigh.
"Keep that up, and it won't be the training that kills you. Your body's not used to eating as much as you're used to yet, so don't talk while eating," the old man asked, enjoying his drink.
"Got it," Luffy said, feeling a little embarrassed.
Luffy then finishes the rest of his meal, this time at a more moderate speed, then chugs down the rest of his drink.
He then immediately picks up his blindfold and ties it back on before standing up and marching off toward the dark jungle, "Later."
"I see. Try not to die," his teacher casually said with a smirk.
"Right!" Luffy responded, punching the air above him while continuing on his way.
Keeping his senses on high alert at all times, Luffy made his way through the dark jungle, which isn't saying much for a man with a blindfold on. After trekking through for while, it would seem that the animals have decided to call it quits for the day since he hasn't been able to pick up any trace of their presence.
"Huh. Where did all of them run off to? They didn't go to sleep, did they?" Luffy asked in annoyance.
"Hey, Mister Gorilla! Mister Alligator! Mister Lion! I'm ready! Come out and fight me!"
Stopping in his tracks, Luffy sniffed around, "Hey, what's that?" Catching a whiff of something, his mouth began to water.
"Whatever it is, it smells really tasty!" Luffy muttered, following his nose, "Where's it coming from?"
He then walks off to do a little "private investigating" of the scent. Suddenly, his train of thought had shifted, "Hold on a sec…"
Luffy stopped, realizing that something wasn't right. Since he just ate, he was no longer hungry enough to fall for the tempting aroma of delicious food. Whatever it was that allured his nose, it smells a hell of a lot better than meat cooked over a fire. There were traces of spices and seasonings mixed in as well.
Wiping the drool from his mouth, Luffy steeled himself, reminding himself that he and Rayleigh were the only two humans on the island. So why would there be the smell of cooking here? The animals he had been fighting on Luscaina always behaved like wild and destructive beasts, clearly incapable of something as advanced as cooking. It could only mean one thing.
"Someone else is on this island," Luffy muttered cautiously.
Not far from where the smell of food was coming from, a group of women are hiding in the dense foliage at the edge of the jungle, looking out into the ocean of the Calm Belt. They were all dressed in provocative warrior-style clothing, such as bikini-like straps to cover their breasts, very short loin clothes on their lower regions, and thigh-length boots with stockings on their legs. Some were even wearing long capes from shoulder to ankles.
These were but a few members of the Kuja, a tribe of all-female warriors and residents of Amazon Lily. Each warrior carries a large snake wrapped around them, which the Kuja use as a bow.
Amazon Lily and the Kuja Pirates were ruled by the three Gorgon Sisters, with the eldest, Boa Hancock, as their ruler and Captain. She is known as the "Pirate Empress", for her status as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. She is considered the most beautiful woman in the world.
Among those that were hiding in the foliage is the middle sister of the Gorgon Sisters, Boa Sandersonia. She is a large woman who resembles a snake, due to her long forked tongue sticking out of her mouth. She has a curvaceous figure and large breasts. Her head, while disproportionately large and wide to her body, is topped with long green hair. Unlike her subordinates, she does not have a snake to use as a weapon.
Second was her younger sister, Boa Marigold. A large, bulky woman, with a build similar to that of a sumo wrestler, with large breasts to go with it. Her orange hair is arranged in a way to make it look like the pattern on a cobra's hood.
Below the two Gorgon Sisters were three of their subjects.
The first, and tallest, was Aphelandra, an extremely tall woman with childlike facial features. She has long orange-brown hair, falling past her shoulders, with a plumed morion-type helmet with cheek guards on her head. She carries a sheathed sword horizontally over her lower back.
Next to her is Sweet Pea, a very large, corpulent woman with a masculine-like build with brown pigtails. She's one of the many Kuja warriors who carry a snake as a weapon.
And finally, there's Margaret, a young Kuja lady who is quite tall for her age. She has short, unruly blond hair, long slender legs, and a slim, curvaceous figure. Compared to the other women present, Margaret's the most normal-looking one. She keeps her snake wrapped around her waist.
The group of women was sent to Luscaina at the request of their leader, Boa Hancock, to deliver some supplies to Luffy, which mostly consisted of freshly-cooked food. He didn't want to accept the food, since it would just spoil him, but the Pirate Empress couldn't help herself.
After sorting out a misunderstanding when Luffy was sent to Amazon Lily by Bartholomew Kuma, he gained the trust of the Gorgon Sisters for protecting a traumatizing secret that they hid from the rest of their subjects. Luffy understood the story behind their dark secret and declared that he despises the ones responsible for the sisters' suffering.
As a result, Hancock fell helplessly in love with Luffy, as well as pledged her loyalty to him.
The young man was oblivious to her affections and never returned them in kind. But that didn't stop the Pirate Empress from trying to win over his heart. She was worried that Luffy wasn't getting enough to sustain his health, so she sent her crew to deliver food for him discreetly, despite the promise she made to Rayleigh not to interfere with Luffy's training by pampering him.
A buffet was laid out on a small plateau overlooking the sea. Nearby, the Kuja Pirates are hiding in the darkness of the trees, waiting patiently for Luffy to arrive so they could observe him and report his condition and status to Hancock.
While they waited for their mutual friend to arrive, Sandersonia was holding an active Transponder Snail, a species of telepathic snail that is used for vocal and/or visual communication throughout the world. Connected on the other side of the snail was Boa Hancock's voice,
"Well? Is he there yet?" Hancock asks worriedly, her voice coming out of the snail's mouth.
"Not yet," Sandersonia answered, "We're still waiting for him."
"Ooh, I hope she shows up soon. I don't want the food getting cold!" Hancock whined.
"Don't worry, sister. There's no way Luffy can resist the smell of gourmet cooking," Marigold reassured her sister, "He'll show up."
"Oh, I hope so. The longer we wait, the more likely you'll be discovered by Rayleigh instead."
Despite his suspicion that an intruder could be nearby, the overwhelming aroma of the scent that Luffy was following was too much to resist. His nose eventually led him close enough to the source that he began drooling again.
"That…" Luffy sniffed, "smells like food! Okay, I gotta see!"
He excitedly rips off his blindfold to behold a large spread of food set up on a low table.
"Ah! I knew it!", Luffy exclaims before running to the buffet, but quickly slowed down, "Is all this stuff for me? Who could've…?"
Luffy stopped to inspect what was laid out in front of him. The most noticeable dish he recognized was a large pot of Penne Gorgonzola with Sea King meat, a dish that Luffy fondly remembered eating back on Amazon Lily.
"Not those guys again… Hancock…" Luffy groaned, finally realizing without a doubt who the intruders he was sensing were, "I appreciate what they're doing, but I'm not hungry at the moment," he complained to no one in particular.
Closing his eyes, he focused his Observation Haki to locate the auras of anyone he was familiar with. It didn't take long for him to feel the presence of five figures hiding nearby.
"Found 'em!" he thought, turning his head towards the jungle. He casually matches towards the spot where he sensed the group… when he sensed someone else.
Someone unfamiliar…
Someone hostile!
His concerns were realized when three people, Margaret, Sweet Pea, and Aphelandra, were suddenly flung out of the dark foliage and slid painfully across the overlook until they were right next to Luffy, who was shocked at the state they were in.
"Girls!" Luffy called out, "Are you okay?!"
"Luffy, run away!", Margaret cried out fearfully to him.
"Run from what?", Luffy asked worriedly crouching down to examine their beaten forms, "Who did this to you?"
Before he could get an answer, he heard and felt the sound of heavy footsteps as he looked up.
Emerging from the trees was a very tall and broad man with thick arms and thin legs. He had a beard and a W-shaped mustache, both a different shade of green. He wore a horned helmet with the left horn broken off, an open black and purple sleeveless coat revealing his chest, green pants, a brown belt, and brown shoes. Under his coat, he had a thick iron chain from his left shoulder to his right hip.
Sitting on his left shoulder was a short and scrawny old man with a long white beard and mustache. He wore a green coat and a short-horned helmet with the right horn missing, similar to the larger man. He was carrying what appeared to be a portable support pole holding an IV drip that was injected into his right arm.
Standing back up straight, Luffy leered at the newcomers, for he noticed that the larger man was carrying Sandersonia and Marigold's unconscious bodies underneath each of his arms.
"Hey, you!" Luffy shouted, eyes full of rage, "What did you do to my friends?!"
"Byojack, who's he?", the larger man asked, raising an eyebrow at Luffy in annoyance.
(Earlier…)
Before getting ambushed by the unknown intruder, Margaret, and the girls, were carefully waiting for Luffy to appear. He finally showed up, wearing only his sandals, shorts, and a blindfold.
Taking off the blindfold and noticing the food they laid out for him, the girls began to giggle in excitement.
"Luffy has found the food," Sandersonia whispered into the Transponder Snail, "Yeah, it's him alright."
"Haaooaah~," Hancock moaned in delight from the other side of the connection, as if she was about to faint, "Luffy's there~."
But when the girls noticed that he didn't start stuffing his face right away, they got a little concerned thinking something didn't seem right.
"Luffy usually has such a big appetite," Aphelandra said worriedly, "I wonder what's wrong?"
"Why, I don't think he even notice the frilly Spring outfits we made for him," Sweet Pea added.
"Hmm…" Margaret frowned.
"What's going on?" Hancock asked, "Did he like it?"
"Something's wrong, sis. Luffy's not eating, he's just standing there, glaring at the food," Sandersonia answered.
"Maybe he's not hungry?" asked Marigold.
"I'm looking for the Empress…" said a deep voice from behind, "The leader of Amazon Lily."
The Kuja Pirates turned around, gasping at the sudden presence.
With a wicked grin, the large, helmet-wearing man back-handed Sandersonia, causing her to slide roughly across the dirt and drop her Transponder Snail.
"Who are you?!" Marigold demanded, holding her giant polearm in both hands, while the rest of the female warriors readied their own weapons, "State your business!"
"Since you asked, the name's Byrnndi World," the large man answered, uncaringly, "I'm here to kidnap the Government's Dog, Boa Hancock. You heard of her?"
Marigold gasped, shocked by what she heard.
"You wish to kidnap the princess?!" asked Margaret, pulling back an arrow with her snake bow, and taking aim at World.
"She is not here, but we shall face you ourselves!" declared Sweet Pea, readying her weapon the same way as Margaret.
World flinched, "Uh! What…?" he said, glaring at the small, elderly man, Byojack, sitting on his shoulder.
"I, uh…" Byojack started with a raspy voice, "I didn't make any promises, right? I just saw the Kuja ship on the shore and thought she might be here. We just got unlucky this time, no big deal," the old man finished before taking a few sickly coughs into his hand.
"What a waste of my time," World said disappointingly before turning around and walking away.
"Hold it!" demanded Marigold, causing World to stop, "You can't come here to kidnap my sister and then walk away!"
Marigold's body then starts transforming. She grew larger with scales appearing all over her body, her legs were replaced with a long tail, and her face grew more snake-like.
A power granted to her by the Zoan-type Devil Fruit, Snake-Snake Fruit - Model: King Cobra.
"If you wanna fight, then you shall find one at the end of my blade!"
World slowly turned around and looked at her with mild curiosity, "You're her sister?"
"Hey, Sonia! Mari! Someone tell me what's going on right now!" Hancock's voice demanded, "Do you hear me?! Please, say something!"
"Balolololo!" World laughed, looking down at the snail lying on its side on the ground, "I see, the Empress is on the other side of that snail. In that case…"
World suddenly dashed towards Marigold. He drove his Haki-coated fist at Marigold, who stopped the punch with the blade of her polearm. The sudden movement kicked up a cloud of dust between the two.
"More-More Tenfold Shotgun!" World chanted, blowing some air at the dust, causing it to launch at Marigold's face like bullets. Marigold cried out in pain as the attack knocked her to the ground.
"You keep your hands off her, or else!" shouted Margaret as she and Sweet Pea unleashed their arrows at the man who attacked the royal sisters.
World easily evaded the arrows with blinding speed.
"Balolololo!" he laughed before pulling his fist back and charging at the three warriors…
(Now…)
"I have no business with the rest of you," said World, giving the group a threatening look, "...so time to die!"
"Fat chance, you bastard!" Luffy lost it and charged straight at the menacing man. He coated his fist with Armamnet Haki and slugged World right across the face… to which he didn't even flinch. At the last moment, before Luffy's fist made contact, World coated his entire head in Armament Haki, making it feel like he had punched a solid wall.
"Hey, kiddo," World said casually, glaring at him, "...what are you doing?"
Before Luffy could pull back, World swung his leg around and kicked Luffy in the gut, sending him flying and crashing into a large stone outcrop. The impact was strong enough to leave Luffy's broken body imprinted in the solid stone, stuck as he tried his best to struggle out and recover.
But World didn't give him that luxury.
He drops Sandersonia like a hunted game before picking up a small rock off the ground, "Say goodbye," He casually tosses it up and down in his hand before shouting out,
"More-More Hundredfold Gun!" and threw the rock right at Luffy.
"That won't work–," he started, but he briefly forgot that he was no longer made of rubber. And before he could react, the rock suddenly grew a hundred times its original size, becoming a huge boulder, and was coated in Armament Haki.
The hardened boulder slammed into Luffy, causing him to scream in pain before blacking out.
"Get over here, I think Luffy's awake!"
Luffy heard a voice as he was starting to regain consciousness. He knew the voice had to belong to Rayleigh since he recognized his face as he struggled to open his eyes.
However, Luffy blacked out once again, only briefly. After another minute had passed, he opened his eyes again, his vision now much more clear. It was now the break of dawn, and he spotted three more familiar faces, looking down anxiously at him.
"...Hancock?" Luffy said weakly, "What are you doing here?"
"You finally woke up," Hancock said, relieved that the man she loves is finally awake, "What a relief!"
Boa Hancock is considered the most beautiful woman in the world. She has a well-proportioned figure compared to her abnormally-sized sisters. She is tall and slender with long black hair that extends past her waist with locks that frame her face, showing off her forehead. She has dark-brown eyes with long-voluptuous eyelashes and pale skin, with a narrow waist and very large breasts.
Hancock wore a purple dress with gold trim and a great light purple image of her Jolly Roger at the bottom, black heels on her feet, and large, gold snake-shaped earrings hanging from both her ears.
Behind Hancock was her Snake Weapon, Salome.
Salome is a large, white female snake with big pink spots running down her whole body, while the underside was a pale yellow, with thin black lines across it. Her head was topped with a cracked, horned skull with blue hair jutting out from the back, like a lion's mane. She also wore a purple scarf tied around her neck.
The last familiar face was Gloriosa, more commonly referred to as "Elder Nyon", a short, wrinkly old woman with very thick lips, and white hair with a pink flower on the left side of her head. She wore a sort of green bubble belt, meant to hold up her short spotted skirt, as well as a cape around her shoulders. Her purple Snake Weapon acted like a staff, with the upper body curled up.
Luffy grimaced in pain as he struggles to push himself up into a sitting position.
"Don't try to get up," Rayleigh said, "You still haven't fully recovered yet."
Ignoring his teacher, Luffy jolted his head around and shouted, "Oh, yeah, what happened to the girls?!"
"They were treated for their wounds and nyow they're sleeping," Gloriosa answered calmly, before lowering her head in grief, "As for Sonia and Mari…"
"That bastard kidnapped them, didn't he?" Luffy asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, yes," Gloriosa nodded.
Luffy was furious at that fact, "Dammit! What the hell was that guy's deal, anyway?"
Hancock stood tall before answering, "From the sound of it, he wanted something from me because I'm one of the Warlords."
"Are you going to rescue your sisters?" Rayleigh asked.
"Of course!" Hancock said firmly, thinking how that was even a real question.
"Princess," Gloriosa interjected, "If he really is the nyotorious Byrnndi World, then even you're too weak to challenge him–"
"Hancock, take me with you!" Luffy interrupted, startling his elders, "If we fight him together, there's no way I'll lose to him!"
Hancock gasps in shock. Normally, she wouldn't expect her love interest to be so insistent.
"Luffy…"
"Hold on," Rayleigh spoke up, "The reason that we upped your training here is because you're not strong enough to fight opponents like him."
"I haven't given up on that!"
"You are improving a lot faster, but you still have a long way to go before you can completely master Haki. And without your Devil Fruit powers, you'll be killed!"
"I'm not gonna lose to him twice!" Luffy shouted.
"Luffy, think about it!" Rayleigh shouted back, "What have you been training yourself for all this time? If you leave now, you might never see your friends again!"
"But…" Luffy frowned, feeling like Rayleigh was using his friends as an excuse to stay put. He raises his right fist and gently presses it against his chest, taking a moment to remind himself why he took his training more seriously than before, "Hancock and the others are my friends too. If I just abandon them when they're in trouble, and I could've done something to help them, then I'd be turning my back on the vow that I made to Ace and my friends."
Luffy tightened his right fist… unaware that it was now coated in Armament Haki. Luffy then shouted,
"So how can you expect me to just sit here and do nothing while the people I care about are in danger?!"
"Oh, Luffy…" Hancock murmured, before turning her attention to the old man, "Rayleigh, I promise I'll keep him safe. With him at my side, we'll finish this quickly."
Rayleigh looked rather annoyed at her insistence but sighed tiredly.
"It doesn't matter what I say," Rayleigh said, "I'm not going to change your mind."
This got a smile out of both Luffy and Hancock. Rayleigh then stands back up on his feet.
"That's why I'm coming with you."
…
"HUH?!"