Chapter 32
"So you've finally shown up, Sir Crocodile." Psycho said softly with a smile.
Crocodile held his giant golden hook in his right hand and looked down at the DEATH leader.
"Sorry I took so long, Psycho-san." Crocodile said.
DEATH members cheered and shouted.
"CROCODILE IS BACK!"
"ARE YOU MARINES SCARED YET!?"
"HA HA HA HA! YOU GUYS ARE DONE FOR!"
Crocodile smirked. Teach looked up at Crocodile and smiled. Robin stared up with fright.
"Psycho killed him! Didn't he? That's what Sabo told us… he wouldn't lie would he? How is he here?" Robin thought.
FLASHBACK
"Crocodile and Onawagi were the only ones to come back to base the other day after the loss in the Sand Village and Psycho killed Crocodile for the deaths' of Uzanda and Kumama."
The Straw Hat Shinobis' eyes all widened.
"Crocodile is dead?!" Robin asked.
Sabo nodded.
"Killed him in cold blood… pierced his body with that big black sword he always carries." Sabo finished.
END OF FLASHBACK
"Ze ha ha ha. Why are you helping Psycho, Crocodile? I heard word that Psycho betrayed and killed you after you failed miserably to kill that princess from Alabasta and got two high ranking DEATH officials killed." Blackbeard taunted.
Psycho smiled.
FLASHBACK
Crocodile groaned in pain as Psycho knelt by him. Psycho's sword penetrating Crocodile's back.
"There are punishments for failure. Two of DEATH's strongest died because of those weaklings… I'm going to ensure that doesn't happen again." Psycho said, yanking the sword from Crocodile's body.
"Onawagi. Take care of him. I want you to report to me the instant you feel better." Psycho ordered.
Onawagi helped Crocodile to his feet.
"What… job are you wanting me to do?" Crocodile asked.
Psycho crossed his arms.
"You won't be doing any jobs. You and I are going to train, hard. I told you we were going to make sure you didn't fail again, and this is the number one way to ensure it. Together, you and I…" Psycho stopped.
Crocodile and Onawagi waited for Psycho to finish.
"Are going to awaken your devil fruit!" Psycho yelled.
Onawagi and Crocodile couldn't believe what they had heard.
"Awaken… my devil fruit?" Crocodile asked himself.
"Now go. Get some rest, Sir Crocodile." Psycho said, walking away.
END OF FLASHBACK
"I did kill him. The old him. What you see now is a brand-new Crocodile, courtesy of the DEATH organizations number one training." Psycho boasted.
Sakazuki and Blackbeard continued to look up at Crocodile in anger. Crocodile's eyes roamed the battlefield. Doberman, Tashigi, Smoker, and Coby were all beaten as well as two of Blackbeard's captains. Jesus Burgess and Alvalo Pizarro.
"Looks like the new recruits are no small fry." Crocodile said, looking at the new recruits: Kaku, Lucci, and Doflamingo.
Doflamingo chuckled.
"It's been quite a long time, Crocodile-man." Doffy said.
"I've heard about the former warlord Crocodile before. I was familiar with his ability to control sand, but this black sand is new to me." Lucci said.
"This war just gets better and better." Kaku noted.
Crocodile held his head back, blew smoke, and closed his eyes.
"Yes… thanks to Psycho-san's mercy and his incredible training… I've been able to awaken my devil fruit. The sand that I produce now is as hard as iron and any sand-based attack I use is much more powerful." Crocodile explained.
"Awaken his devil fruit?" Robin asked herself, "What kind of training did he put him through?"
Everyone continued to stare at Crocodile.
"If you truly want to thank me, then how about you lend a helping hand here? I'm currently engaged in a fight with Teach, you can pick your opponent." Psycho said.
"YOU'RE FIGHTING ME!" Sakazuki said, charging Psycho, "HELL HOUND!"
Sakazuki charged Psycho with a magmatized arm and attempted to punch him but punched an iron hard wall of sand. Psycho stood behind the wall with his arms crossed. Sakazuki looked up with annoyance and gritted his teeth. Slowly the wall of sand started to grab Sakazuki's arm in the form of a hand. Little by little Crocodile formed out of the black sand until he was completely his real self in front of Sakazuki. His right hand was still covered with black iron sand to protect his hand from being burned.
"Psycho…" Crocodile said.
Psycho looked up at Crocodile.
"I've chosen my opponent." Crocodile said.
Psycho smiled.
"Then show them the results of your training. What are the rest of you fools doing? This is a war!" Psycho yelled out.
"YEAHHHHHHHH!" DEATH members yelled before they continued their fight.
Sakazuki attempted to move his arm but couldn't. Crocodile smiled and spoke.
"Let's see how much you've improved in two years, fleet admiral." Crocodile said, raising his hook arm.
"Black sand wave!" Crocodile yelled.
The black sand that covered Crocodile's arm fell to the ground and turned into a sea of iron sand that rose and swallowed the fleet admiral, carrying him across the battlefield, Crocodile pursued. Psycho watched as the sea of iron sand carried the fleet admiral away. Psycho looked out the corner of his eye and raised his elbow to block Blackbeard's punch.
BOOM!
Blackbeard's punch put cracks in the air and shook the ground. Blackbeard stared at Psycho with full intensity.
"When's the last time someone's made you as angry as I have, Teach?" Psycho said.
Blackbeard attempted to grab Psycho, but Psycho pushed Blackbeard's arm away and flipped away. When Psycho landed he did some hand signs.
"Fire Style: Fire Annihilation!" Psycho yelled.
A humungous area of fire was expelled from Psycho's mouth and covered a large area of the battlefield. Psycho squinted as he noticed the giant flame was getting smaller. It was revealed that Blackbeard had sucked it all in.
"So that darkness can suck just about anything in then? Looks like all I truly can do is hand to hand combat then… or maybe weapons?" Psycho thought to himself as he reached into his pocket to grab some shuriken.
Psycho grunted and looked down to see he was stuck in darkness. He looked up to see Blackbeard with his hand on the ground again.
"Black hole!" Blackbeard yelled.
Psycho looked up with a smile.
"This again Teach? I thought I told you why this wouldn't work." Psycho said.
Blackbeard smiled.
"You underestimate my abilities Psycho Uchiha! Ze ha ha ha ha! Not only can my darkness suck things into it… it can also expel them!" Blackbeard yelled.
Psycho's eyes widened and he looked down.
"LIBERATION!" Blackbeard yelled.
Almost instantly, every single flame that Blackbeard absorbed from Psycho's attack blasted out of the black hole and straight into the air forming a huge pillar of intense fire.
"ZE HEH HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Blackbeard laughed.
"Psycho-san!" A DEATH member yelled.
Cyclone stared at the giant pillar of fire.
"Blackbeard just swallowed Psycho up in a wall of fire!" A marine noted.
Blackbeard stared at the wildfire with happiness.
"There's no way he survived that! Men keep fighting! We need to fight for our fallen vice admirals!" A marine captain ordered.
The marines yelled a victory shout and continued to fight DEATH members. A Big DEATH member knocked away a bunch of smaller marines with a giant mallet.
"HA HA HA! You fools think you can stop DEATH!?"
Fighting continued around the battlefield as men were shot and sliced down. Sakazuki and Crocodile continued their fight even with the giant fire wall happening behind them.
"MAGMA CANNON!" Sakazuki fired multiple magma fists at Crocodile who just walked calmly towards the fleet admiral. The magma fists ran through Crocodile's body with no affect. Sakazuki clenched his teeth.
"MAGMA EXPLOSION!" Sakazuki yelled as he both his fists together and fired a giant magma fist at Crocodile blowing up the entire top half of his body.
Crocodile's legs stood up perfectly straight and Crocodile's hook hand rest on the ground next to them. Sakazuki knew Crocodile was faking.
"Come on… Crocodile… I know you're faking…" Sakazuki said through heavy breaths.
Right after the fleet admiral said this, black sand started to come from Crocodile's waist and connected to his hook. The hook lifted slowly off the ground and shot at Sakazuki. The fleet admiral couldn't dodge fast enough and was pierced through the body.
"HUH CUACK!" Sakazuki groaned.
The black sand slowly formed Crocodile's body and the giant man finally appeared back to normal, minus the fact that his golden hook was inside Sakazuki's body. Crocodile stood a good 15ft away from Sakazuki.
"You… guack… you… can extend sand away from your body?" Sakazuki asked.
Crocodile laughed.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah… of course I can. I can stretch my golden arm as far as necessary to cut down my target." Crocodile said, walking up to Sakazuki, "Also…" Crocodile stopped, finally reaching the fleet admiral.
Crocodile raised his right fist and it became covered in iron sand. The fist slowly started to change shape and formed a sledgehammer appearance.
"AH AH AH AH AH AH AH!" Crocodile laughed.
Sakazuki's eyes widened.
Crocodile swung his iron sand hammer arm and smashed Sakazuki's head into the wall.
BOOM!
Sakazuki laid inside of rock and rubble bloody and defeated. Crocodile stared down at him.
"I don't know why I'm disappointed. I showed up pretty late… Psycho-san had already did a number on him." Crocodile said, looking back at the fire wall.
Crocodile continued to look at the raging fire.
As fighting continued throughout the battlefield Cyclone closed his eyes.
"100,000 men came onto this island… about 45,000 remain. Five vice admirals: Coby, Tashigi, Smoker, Doberman, Helmeppo." Cyclone thought to himself, "Doflamingo took care of Coby, I finished off Tashigi and Smoker, and Kaku dealt with Doberman, I can't see vice admiral Helmeppo's body anywhere… where is he?" Cyclone continued to think.
Cyclone looked over and saw Lucci.
"Lucci! Where's vice admiral Helmeppo?" Cyclone asked.
"Kuro was supposed to handle him. I haven't seen either of them." Lucci said, dodging and punching a navy officer.
Cyclone looked up towards the Marineford palace and closed his right eye.
"BYAKUGAN!" Cyclone yelled.
Cyclone's vision became black and white as he looked through the palace. He saw Nico Robin watching the fight… with Helmeppo sneaking up right behind her! He looked a little closer and smiled.
"There you are." Cyclone said with a chuckle.
"ZE HA HA HA HA HA!" Blackbeard laughed, "Is that really it Psycho-kun!? Are you really defeated so easily!?" Blackbeard taunted.
The flames finally started to die down and Blackbeard tensed up waiting for Psycho's next attack, but he would calm down and that tension would turn into fright at what was inside the flames burning. Inside the raging inferno a giant white jacket was burning, but it wasn't taking any damage. Now this wasn't just any jacket, as men other than Blackbeard finally started to take notice. A navy officer looked over at the flames and gasped.
"AHHHHH ahhhhhh! That's…. that's!"
"HA HA HA YEAHHHH!" A DEATH member celebrated.
The five DEATH generals and Crocodile looked inside the flames themselves and smiled. The flames finally died down completely and everyone stared at the giant white jacket with the whitebeard pirates' logo on the back.
"HUUUHHHH HUHHH!?" Blackbeard whined, "What's that old man's jacket doing there!?"
Everyone stared at the former yonko's iconic jacket with fear and some even with respect. Blackbeard was the most terrified of everyone and couldn't take his eyes off the jacket. Faintly, a voice could be heard.
"Gum Gum!"
No one took their eyes of the jacket though, as some remembered the legendary war that happened in this exact same location just two years prior. Silence completely took over the war. Robin stared in shock.
"The whitebeard pirates' logo? What? How could his jacket be here?" Robin asked out loud, slowly behind her, Helmeppo snuck up to her with his two swords drawn.
Silence remained on the battlefield until it was finally interrupted by a man falling from the sky.
"MACE!" Pyscho yelled as he crashed his mace arm down onto the back of Blackbeard's head, slamming him down face first into the stone ground. Blackbeard's face popped back up and the pirate captain coughed up blood and lost more teeth, his face even more bloody now. Psycho stood to his feet and his arm cleaned itself of the busoshoku haki he used to harden it and the spikes he made from his rubber skin shrunk with his inflated arm. Psycho looked down at Blackbeard and up towards his men.
"I'm sorry men. I didn't mean to worry you." Psycho said.
DEATH members smiled and cheered on their leader.
"YOU DIDN'T WORRY US AT ALL SIR!"
"WE ALREADY KNEW WHAT TO EXPECT!"
"PSYCHO! PSYCHO! PSYCHO! PSYCHO!"
Psycho smiled and looked back down at Blackbeard, who was struggling to get to his feet. Psycho continued to watch him struggle before he looked over at Whitebeard's jacket. Psycho walked over to grab it and picked it up.
"Substitution jutsu." Psycho said.
Blackbeard got to his knees and looked over at Psycho.
"Huh?..." Blackbeard asked weakly.
"That's what I used to escape that fire. You see, after Sakazuki "killed" me I used my left eye to replace myself with an illusion. This technique is known as "Izanagi." Psycho explained.
"Izan…agi?" Blackbeard asked.
"A genjutsu casted on reality using my sharingan. This particular move can usually only be used once, blinding the eye that used it; however, with my sharingan I can use it once every 15 minutes." Psycho paused.
"This weakness would be a big one if I didn't have the substitution jutsu in my arsenal." Psycho said, wiping dirt off the jacket.
Blackbeard finally got to his feet.
"You remember this jacket well don't you? The jacket of the man you murdered in cold blood… destiny has not forgotten." Psycho said softly, "It's my duty to defeat you here today Teach, that's why I won't die so easily."
Blackbeard became confused.
"You remember what I said earlier about those powers of yours don't you?" Psycho asked.
Blackbeard thought about it.
FLASHBACK
"Darkness… the power to destroy the world… you speak on those powers as if you earned them." Psycho said.
Blackbeard and Sakazuki were a little surprised.
"You killed an innocent man for that dark power you possess and your own captain for his power. You've committed two of the biggest sins a pirate could ever commit all because of your selfishness. After this battle, answer this question, was it worth it? Was stealing those two powers worth the path destiny put you on?" Psycho said.
END OF FLASHBACK
"Ze ha ha ha. Yeah I remember, what of it?" Blackbeard asked.
Psycho put on Whitebeard's jacket and turned towards Blackbeard to which Blackbeard became a little tense.
"Thatch, Newgate, and even… Ace." Psycho said quietly, with his eyes closed, "Can't rest in peace… until I take those powers away from you."
SABAODY ARCHIPELAGO
BOOM!
A man with black puffy hair underneath a pirate captain hat punched cracks in the air as his opposition flew out of the restaurant he dined in. The man put his peg leg on the table and crossed it over his regular leg while his arm rest on a chair and he held a cup of sake. The man cocked his head back and smiled.
"FEEEEE HEEEE HEEEE HA HA HA HA HA!" The man laughed.
"AH HA BEAUTIFUL PUNCH CAPTAIN!"
"YOU EXPECTED ANYTHING LESS?! HA HA HA!"
"HELL NO! NOT FROM OUR CAPTAIN!"
"MEN MEN PLEASE BE CIVIL! WE DIDN'T COME HERE FOR TROUBLE! ENJOY YOURSELVES! FEEE HEEE HA HA HA HA HA!" The pirate captain laughed.
As the pirate crew enjoyed themselves a man ran in with papers.
"CAPTAIN CAPTAIN!" The man yelled.
The captain looked at the man with a smile.
"What's troubling you lad?" The man asked.
"Look at the paper! Those two are back!" The pirate yelled.
The man snatched his feet off the table and stood up grabbing the papers. As he read them he crumbled the papers beneath his hands and the room began to shake.
"Uh oh! Captain's angry!" A pirate said, smiling.
"So… they are still alive then? Fee hee ha ha ha… I've been wanting to see you again… Psycho and Cyclone!" The man yelled.
The crew yelled and cheered as they stood up.
"War at Marineford?" The captain read, "That's right around the corner! Feeeee heeee ha ha ha ha! MEN! LET'S GO! WE'VE GOT A WAR TO JOIN!" The captain ordered.
The men all finished their sake and food and ran towards the door following their captain. As the man walked out the door a piece of paper fell out of his pocket and flew over onto a table. It read:
WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE FRANK G. JUNIOR, B 1,980, 543,000.
LONG RING LONG ISLAND
Arlong woke up inside the crater he was punched into, bruised and beaten. He clenched his fists and sat up.
FLASHBACK
Sakura slowly added more and more power to the punch until Arlong was launched away a terrifying speeds and crashed miles away.
KABOOOOOOOOMMMM!
Arlong's body laid in a giant crater full of smoke and rock.
END OF FLASHBACK
"Those damn women! GRRRRRR! How dare they do this to me! A DEATH general! I'll make them pay… I'll show them real hell!" Arlong yelled to himself.
The fish man stood to his feet and squatted then jumped high into the air. The women all stood ten toes down waiting for the fish man to show up. Hinata, using her byakugan, saw him coming from the air.
"In the air!" Hinata yelled.
Sakura walked up. Arlong charged down at them with his left fist extended. Sakura charged up her right fist and threw a punch. The two clashed with tremendous power that shook the island and all the men that were unconscious on it, except for Usopp, who was watching. The ground beneath the two shattered into pieces and Arlong landed to throw another punch, Sakura blocked the punch with her arm and threw a punch at Arlong's body that he grabbed and lifted Sakura into the air to slam her. Hinata jumped in and spun around to deliver a double air palm to Arlong's body pushing him back. Sakura charged a kick and kicked Arlong in the face. Sakura used this momentum to backflip as Nami fired another lightning attack at the fishman.
"LIGHTNING ROD! PHEONIX TEMPO!" Nami yelled.
A giant lightning bird shot at Arlong and pushed him away. Sakura landed on the ground and sprinted towards Arlong with Hinata behind her. Nami turned and looked at Usopp.
"Usopp! You look after these guys! This could get rough! Look after Law especially." Nami ordered.
Usopp nodded.
"Gotcha! But, I wanna help fight too!" Usopp said.
"You can! But just make sure these guys are okay. We'll deal with him close range you just snipe him!" Nami said.
Usopp nodded and readied Kabuto.
"Firebird star!" Usopp yelled as he fired a fire ball in the shape of a bird.
Arlong recovered to see the two women running towards him. Hinata and Sakura jumped in the air to come down and attack him, but Arlong caught the two in mid air by their necks. He started to squeeze them with the intention to break their necks, but was tackled by the fireball Usopp fired just seconds earlier. The fireball knocked Arlong onto his back and he was covered in flames.
"AHHHH AHHHHHHH!" Arlong yelled.
As Arlong rolled around trying to put himself out, Sakura and Hinata rubbed their throats.
"Goodness… he tried to break our necks…" Hinata said.
"Good thing that fireball knocked him away." Sakura said.
Arlong finally put the fire out and barely recovered before Nami came out of the air trying to land on him with the golden lightning rod. Arlong caught it with both hands and stood up. Nami tried to pull away but Arlong held onto the rod tight. He looked up at the orange haired woman and smiled.
"Nami… I've been waiting on this day!" Arlong boasted.
Nami grit her teeth.
"You got away from me two years ago, but now YOU'RE MINE!" Arlong yelled.
The fish man lifted the rod and slammed it into the ground. Nami crashed into the ground cutting her up and bruising her all over. Her pants ripped in different places as did her bikini top. Arlong lifted up the rod again, by one hand this time, and Nami barely held on, bleeding from her mouth and head. Arlong loaded up a punch and rocked Nami right in her exposed stomach. Nami's pupils disappeared as she coughed up blood.
"NAMI!" Usopp yelled.
Hinata and Sakura stared with shock. Sakura jumped up and caught Nami, but before she could land Arlong was on the ground waiting for her, loading up a punch aimed at the sky. Arlong didn't get the chance to punch her as he wanted however, as Hinata hit him with a heavy shot with her twin lion fist. Arlong almost fell over but regained his senses and returned Hinata's punch, hitting her square in the face with his massive fist. Sakura landed and set Nami down and jumped backwards into a wall, that wall would be Arlong. Arlong brought his fists back with the intent to crush Sakura's head between them. Arlong smiled as he slammed his fists together on Sakura's head.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Sakura screamed.
Arlong smiled and lifted Sakura up. Sakura bled from her mouth.
"If those punks didn't stand a chance against me, what made you think you could you bitch!? AHHHH HA HA HA HA!" Arlong laughed, "You did a number on me, but this is where it ends!"
Arlong threw another punch at Sakura, but a giant purple skeleton hand stopped it.
"Huh?" Arlong asked.
Sasuke was shown to have stopped the attack while Sanji picked up Nami and Naruto helped up Hinata. Sasuke's susano grabbed Arlong and slammed him into the ground and then threw him across the island into a group of long rocks.
BOOOOOOOMMMM!
Arlong crashed into the rocks and landed on the ground. Sasuke helped Sakura up to her feet and walked her over to Usopp, Sanji and Naruto did the same. None of the men said anything. Chopper, Brook, and Franky were all still unconscious.
"Look after them." Sasuke finally said in a serious tone.
Usopp gulped and then nodded. He looked back when he heard a noise. Trafalgar Law had gotten to his feet and put his fur hat back on. Sanji looked back at him.
"You sure you should be up?" Sanji asked.
Law looked at the cook.
"I'll be fine. I'm not gonna keep sitting back and watching you guys have all the fun with this guy. He needs to pay for what he did to me." Law said.
Naruto looked over at Law and then back at the recovering Arlong. Naruto activated his chakra mode, Sanji's body ignited in flames and settled in his lower legs, Sasuke's susano ribs covered him and held an Amaterasu flame sword in its hand, and Law held up his hand towards Arlong.
"You girls did a good job." Law started.
"But it's time…" Sanji continued.
"That we…" Sasuke continued.
"Finish this guy off once and for all!" Naruto finished.
All the men charged Arlong at once, who smiled.
"BRING IT ON!" Arlong yelled.