Hi all! Final battle here. Finally! Just as a heads up, Luffy and Ashley won´t be a couple. Ever. They will be good friends, almost sibling like. But no, no romance between the two of them. Luffy really needs like twenty years of mental maturity to understand love. Any pairing won´t have any important significance until muuuuchhh later in the story. Post timeskip time mostly. I have possible ideas for Ashley pairing, none involve boys, sorry, but it involves her friends from the Pokemon Regions. So, let the Shipping Wars start!. Remember, most canon events of Pokemon, unless I say they are changed, happened up until the end of Pokemon XYZ. Because I´m disactualized with the anime and still prefer until Gen 4. Alola and Journeys will be changed. A lot. Hope everybody enjoys this story
6
"Five minutes? Please, I just need five seconds to deal with you." Zoro pointed one of his swords at Kuro.
"Try it," Kuro sneered at his challenge, showing his claws.
While everybody was distracted by Kuro's threat, Nami made her move. She ran straight for her stupid captain, who was stupid enough to be hypnotized and wouldn't wake up!
"Where do you think you are going, girl?!" Jango was the first to realize that she was running somewhere. He didn't know what she was planning, but it didn't matter. If he didn't start killing these kids, then he would be the one dead.
"Like hell, you will!" Ashley struck Jango when the man tried to throw one of his rings at Nami. The man was forced to evade her attacks and lost his chance to kill Nami.
"Wake up, fucking idiot! We are all risking our lives here!" Nami stepped right in Luffy's face with all her force.
"AHHHHHHH!" Luffy woke up screaming in pain. Nami's heel was really sharp.
"What the hell, Nami!? Why did you do that?!" The rubber captain asked his navigator.
"That was your fault! You're the idiot that fell for that hack hypnotist trick for a third time!"
"Still, why did you have to be so rough?" He whined while rubbing his cheeks. He looked around. Most of the pirates were down; Ashley was circling Jango, with Pikachu and Hawlucha at her sides. Usopp was at the top of the hill, holding his slingshot and trying to look brave, but his knees shook in fear. And Zoro was glaring at the butler.
"So he came," he muttered.
"I'm not a fighter. Not like Ashley, even less like you and Zoro." Nami admitted nonchalantly, "Most of the pirates are done; Zoro and Ashley already took care of two of their strongest. That means we just need to take care of that hypnotist and Kuro."
Luffy smiled. "Don't worry, I will kick that butler's butt."
"You better."
"Kurahadol, stop this right now!" Everybody looked at the hill. Right there, behind Captain Kuro, was Kaya.
The heiress was panting; her face was pale and sweaty, and one of her hands was holding her chest.
Usopp stared in horror. Why was Kaya here?
"Kaya, run! He wants to kill you!"
"Wait, that's the girl we have to kill?" "If she is here, then we don't have to beat these guys!" "He is right; we just need one bullet, and that's it."
Kaya couldn't believe what she was seeing. Even after finding Merry all covered in blood, even after Merry told her how it was Kurahadol who tried to kill him and that her butler intended to murder her in order to steal her money, she still didn't want to believe it. A part of her wanted this to be a nightmare, a bad dream.
For the past three years, Kurahadol has been her loyal protector. And after her parents' accident, he had been like a second father. And now, it turned out that he wanted to kill her? Just for money?
"Why? Why did you attack Merry?! Why are you doing this, Kurahadol?! " She knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from him.
"Merry survived? It seems I did get rusty in the past three years."
The way he talked. His lack of interest. Of empathy. This wasn't the man she knew. This wasn't the Kurahadol she knew.
"You want to attack the village, to kill people, just to get my money? Then have it. I don't care. Just leave forever and never come back!" She wanted to cry. To cry under her bed like when she was a little girl. To be held by her father and soothed by her mother. But she wasn't a little girl anymore; she was a woman. And she had to be strong.
"Miss Kaya, if only it were this simple. I just want one thing. To live a quiet life with a fortune. If I steal the money, then the marines will come after my hide. But if you die in the middle of a pirate raid, then nobody will think much of it. For my dreams to come true, you must die."
Kaya wanted to vomit. He was a monster. A demon.
"Kaya, run now! You can't reason with him!" Usopp tried to warn her, to make her understand.
"Usopp," she said, looking at her best friend. Her only friend. She winced at the sight of the bandage around his left arm, remembering how Merry had shot him yesterday.
"Usopp, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have listened to you. I should have believed you." She couldn't control the tears that fell.
"That doesn't matter right now, Kaya! You need to leave!"
Kaya shook her head. "I'm the cause of all of this. And I will finish it." She drew a pistol and pointed it at Kurahadol. No, Kuro.
The ex-pirate didn't flinch. He didn't ask for mercy. He chuckled.
"Miss Kaya, I have known you for three years. I made you laugh, I took you sailing, and I treated your illness. For three long years, I have played the part of the devoted butler, of the loving father figure. All with one purpose. To win your money. Do you have any idea how humiliating it has been to take care of a spoiled whining brat? To pretend to care about you, Kaya?" Each word broke Kaya's spirit more and more. By the end, her gun fell to the ground, and she was crying, not even pretending to hold it together.
"KUROOOOOOO!" Usopp ran straight for the traitorous pirate, his fist held high. He didn't care that the man was a feared pirate, that he could move at high speed, or that he could kill him easily. All he cared about was that Kaya had been hurt, and he wanted to punch his smug face.
Kuro evaded his punch way before he got close.
"Now that I remember, I still owe you one good punch, Usopp." The pirate leapt right at Usopp, ready to rip him in pieces, when a stretched fist collided with his face.
Luffy grinned wildly. He had wanted to hit that smug bastard for a while. The Kuroneko's pirates were terrified. They remembered their captain's temper. The last time he got hurt… it was horrible. What he did to that marine. Not even Jango's hypnotism had been able to wipe that memory away.
"Let's do it, boys!" "Here we come!" "AAARRRGGGHHH!" Nijiki, Tamanagi, and Peaman leapt from the forest and began to hit Kuro with their 'weapons'. A baseball bat, a pan, and a shovel. The more they hit him, the more scared the Kuroneko's pirates became.
"What the hell are you three doing?! Leave now!" Usopp was angry. What the hell were those three idiots doing here?
"Captain, why did you lie to us?" "We are the Usopp Pirates; we fight together!" "This is our home too!"
"Leave now! This isn't child's play!. This is real life!"
"What was with that punch?" Kuro was standing as if nothing had happened. Even though his glasses were broken and his face was bruised and scratched, he moved as if he had just woken up.
He ignored the kids and just moved towards Luffy.
"You boy. You ate a Devil Fruit?" "Yep. I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi. I'm a rubber man."
"Devil Fruit?" "Those things exist?" "No wonder he is so strong."
"Jango, kill the kids and Kaya. Make sure that Kaya signs the will before killing her. I will take care of this brat."
Jango nodded and began to move towards the heiress. Kaya was frozen in shock. She couldn't move. She was going to die.
"Kaya!" Usopp covered her body with his, trying to protect her as much as he could.
"Oy, we still have a fight left to finish, Jango." Ashley intercepted the hypnotist. When Kuro tried to attack her, Zoro clashed his swords against his claws.
"This is their fight bastard; learn some manners."
"Oy Zoro, I want to be the one to beat him!" Luffy complained.
"Tch, fine." Zoro pushed Kuro back and sheathed his swords. Luffy was his captain; he will follow his orders.
"Usopp, Nami, get Kaya away from here. You three too." Zoro's orders were followed quickly.
"Talonflame, go with them," Ashley added. Her fire Pokemon nodded and flew above them.
"Everybody, follow them! Kill them all except for the blonde girl! We need her alive for now," Jango ordered his remaining men. Even though they were tired and injured, they should be able to handle them. Kaya was a weak and sickly girl; the brats were just children, and the other two weren't really fighters. Maybe if they manage to finally kill the group and then the girl, then Kuro won't kill them all for not sticking to the original plan.
'Not that it was their fault. How would they have known that a strong group of strangers would suddenly show up and choose to protect this town,' he thought bitterly.
The pirates ran towards the group, hope in their minds. They didn't have to fight that monstrous, super-strong devil fruit user. Neither the weird electric mouse nor the masked bird. Not those things, owner or swordsman. They just had to kill three kids and two teens. That's it. Simple.
Of course, that was when the swordsman chose to step in the way and smirked while holding his swords. Despite their fear, they kept running. If they stopped, if they failed, then they were dead. They just needed a few of them to get past the swordsman. Just a few of them.
None did. Zoro was brutal in his attack. Unlike the Nyaban Brothers, these guys were cannon fodder. It was just brute force that was used to distract the enemy. If he only used a sword, then he would have been in trouble; with two swords, maybe a few would be able to slip his guard. But with three swords? They had no chance.
Kuro watched impassively how the remaining Kuroneko pirates were sent sprawling to the ground, bleeding from multiple wounds, some not even moving.
"Useless idiots. They can't even follow one simple order," he glared at Jango, promising a painful death if his former first mate did not complete the job. Jango flinched. He seriously doubted that even if they managed to kill all these interlopers and the heiress, Kuro would let him go away with no punishment.
If he wanted to walk away with his life, then he better kill this annoying girl.
"Death Rings!" He threw as many of his rings as he could at Ashley and her Pokemon. Pikachu swatted them aside with an Iron Tail while Hawlucha used Steel Wing. Ashley simply skipped aside and ran straight for the hypnotist. She quickly began to launch punches and kicks. Her fighting stance was completely different from before. When they had first fought, it seemed more like the normal brawling style one learned from street fights. Now she kept leaping around him, poking his blind spots, and evading his rings easily. Hell, she used her forearms to tank his kicks. And she didn't even grunt at the effort!
Jango began to spin in the spot, gaining momentum in order to confuse her and land a devastating move. Ashley's eyes tracked his spin. Waiting for the right moment.
There!
Jango's leg surged forward, right at her head. Ashley brought her arms up in a boxing stance, and at the last second, she bent backwards and grabbed Jango's leg. With all her strength, she pulled and threw him against the wall; the impact left him breathless and in pain. Before he could move, he felt immense pain. Her knee was practically digging in his stomach; he was in so much pain that he wanted to barf. He fell to the ground, gasping for air.
Jango didn't have a strong body. He never had. That's why he focused on his hypnotism and his speed. He knew that it only took one good punch to defeat him. Only the fear of dying at Kuro´s hands kept him conscious.
"You really don't want to give up. I can respect that," she said. She understood that feeling. She knew it. But this wasn't a Pokemon battle where the only thing at chance was some money or a title. Lives were at stake here. And she couldn't lose.
Ashley started to climb the rocky walls around the path. It wasn't difficult; she had lots of experience on similar terrain. Besides, she wasn't trying to make it to the top; she was just high enough. When she made it to a good altitude, she looked at Hawlucha. Her dual type gave her a nod, approving her plan. Ashley grinned and jumped.
"Hawlucha Press!" She jumped and fell vertically on top of Jango´s body, feet first. The current captain of the Kuroneko´s Pirates couldn't take it and finally fell unconscious.
When she stepped down from her opponent, she gave a look to her two Pokemon. Both cheered at her improvised move and drew numbers on the sand.
"A 8 and an 8.5!? Come on, guys! That move was great!" She defended her skills.
"Haw, haw, lucha," he pointed to his chest emphatically. Pikachu nodded. He imitated his friend by also showing off his chest and falling to the ground.
"It's not like I have your pectoral muscles, Hawlucha. Even the females of your species have much stronger pecs than humans," she pointed at her breast. She didn't have Nami's privileged bosom, but she wasn't exactly a table. She was a more regular size.
Both of her Pokemon nodded at that, and Hawlucha changed his score to 8.5 as well. Their trainer just scowled at their understanding.
"Sometimes I forget you are guys," she kneeled, scratching Pikachu´s chin and Hawlucha´s head. Jango, the Nyaban brothers, and the pirates were all defeated. The only one left was currently fighting her captain.
Luffy wasn't having an easy fight. Not that he wanted one. He wanted hard fights; challenging were the fights that made you stronger, which proved his will and strength. Those were the fights that would shape his journey to become the Pirate King.
The butler was fast. Really fast. Luffy had trained hard to make sure that his rubbery limbs could stretch and attack at top speed with extreme force. And Kuro managed to evade them. Worse, those claws he used as weapons were really sharp and hurt a lot. His rubber body meant that blunted objects, bullets, fists, kicks, headbutts, etc. didn't really hurt him. Only those he cared about could hurt him that way. Like his Grandpa Fist of Love. That one really hurt. Unfortunately, sharp objects, like swords, could hurt him a lot.
"Why do you insist on protecting a bunch of weak villagers that you don't even know? What are they to you that makes you want to protect them?"
"Heh. I just don't want someone to die. That's it," he grinned at the other pirate. Kuro gave him an incredulous look.
"Then die brat," he rushed right at Luffy, intending on killing him. Luffy reached to the ground and lifted a giant boulder.
"So you're stronger than you look." "Pirates have to be super strong!" Luffy moved the boulder and broke Kuro´s claws. The former pirate captain looked at his hands in shock. How could a complete rookie break one of his weapons?
"Five more to go. Shishishishi!" Luffy grinned. Taking advantage of his enemy´s confusion, he hit him with the boulder.
"A pirate who wants a quiet life is no pirate! A pirate's life is one of adventure. If you didn't want the risks of being a pirate, then you should have never become one!"
"The hell do you think you know?" Kuro muttered, "You are just a kid, a brat that doesn't even have a ship. Do you know how tiring it is to have the marines chasing after your tail? Other pirates? Bounty hunters? It´s a nightmare! It's hell! That's why I faked my death! That's why I will kill all of these stupid morons after I'm done with you and your friends!"
"What?" he thought.
Kuro smiled sinisterly. "You really think that I would let a witness live? Witnesses who know the truth? Of course not. These useless morons know the truth; if the marines capture them or their tongues run afoul, my secret will be known, and then all my planning will be for nothing."
"But they are your nakamas! Your friends!"
"Pirates have no friends! Pirates are disgusting, traitorous creatures that only kill and backstab each other! Power is the only thing that pirates care about! Friendship? Bonds? Don´t make me laugh. Nobody cares about that. Only money and power."
Luffy gritted his teeth. Every word that Kuro said just made him hate him more.
"You´re a shitty pirate. The weakest and worst type"
"What did you say?" "You hear me. You're weak. You´re not a real pirate, like me and my friends."
Kuro snarled at Luffy, angry at his words. He activated his nuki ashi, ready to rip him to pieces with his left hand.
"Don´t get so cocky just because you managed to destroy my right glove!" He disappeared and lunged behind Luffy. The young pirate didn't hesitate; he moved his arm backwards and hit him in the face.
"Fucking brat. If you want to die so much as a pirate, then I will give you one. I will show you how a real pirate fights." Kuro´s body went slack. A menacing aura enveloped him. Zoro gripped his sword's handles; all his instincts told him that something was going to happen. Ashley and her team felt it too. Kuro was about to do something. Something dangerous.
"Shakushi!" After saying those words, Kuro disappeared. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then it started.
"Shit!" Zoro felt blades cutting his ribcage. He didn't even have time to counterattack before they left. Five claw marks were visible.
"Haw!" Hawlucha screamed in pain. He, too, had been scratched.
"Hawlucha return!" Ashley didn´t wait a second. She returned her Pokemon and grabbed Pikachu tightly. Her eyes tried to find Kuro unsuccessfully.
"Ahhh!" One of the defeated pirates began to scream in pain, slash marks forming around his torso. Soon, the others too began to wake up, screaming in pain and begging for their lives.
"What the hell is going on?" Zoro didn't understand what was happening. Why was Kuro attacking so randomly? Some of his attacks didn't make any sense. He didn't just attack his own previous crewmates; scratches and slashes also appeared on the walls and the ground.
"He moves so fast that he just attacks anything in the area. He must not even be thinking." "Shit, how do we stop something we cannot see?" "I don't know Zoro."
While his friends tried to protect themselves, Luffy could only see how Kuro struck anything in his path. The young pirate couldn´t believe that Kuro would use something so dangerous—something that would harm his former nakamas. What kind of man used an attack that could harm his own friends?! The more he saw of Kuro, the more he disliked the man. Kuro was not a pirate. He was just a criminal.
"STOP IT, KUROOOOO! FACE ME LIKE A REAL PIRATE COWARD!" Luffy screamed as loud as he could, hoping to catch his opponent´s attention. Dust moved near him, and then he felt pain in his torso. He bent backward and reached for Kuro. His instincts proved to be true. He managed to grab his coat and throw him to the ground.
The pirates couldn't believe what they were seeing. Their former captain had used the Shakushi even with them in the middle. Worse, he had willingly attacked them while unconscious.
"Why? Why did you attack us, Captain Kuro!?"
"He never planned on letting you guys live," Ashley told them. "Eh?" "While all of you were unconscious, he confessed that he planned to kill you guys to make sure that nobody would ever know that Kurahadol the butler was actually Kuro the Pirate. Even if we had never made it to this island and his plan worked exactly the way he planned, he would have still killed you all to make sure nobody could betray him."
Captain Kuro planned on killing them? He wanted to kill them just to make sure the marines never found him?
"Fuck you, Kuro!" "Fucking bastard!" "Beat him, Mugiwara!" "Beat his ass!" More and more of them cheered for Luffy; whatever loyalty they used to have for Kuro dissipated.
It wasn´t hard for them to believe Ashley´s words. All of them saw how Kuro had made Jango hypnotize a marine and their carpenter into believing that the carpenter was Kuro, and the marine managed to capture him. And to make sure that nobody asked questions, the marine was also given the order to execute "Captain Kuro" as soon as they made it to the base. They knew what type of pirate Kuro was. He was the type who would kill his own loved ones and use their corpses for whatever he needed.
Kuro didn´t care about his former crewmates words. He didn't care that they knew the truth. He will still kill them as soon as he finishes with the Mugiwara boy. After he dies, he will take care of his friends, Usopp, the kids, that useless Jango, and his useless pirates, and then finally finish off Merry and Kaya. Then he'll just stage it as a pirate attack. And he will live a quiet and comfortable life.
Before Kuro could attack again, Luffy jumped on top of him. He used his arms and legs to constrict his body, making it impossible for him to move, and even less to use the Shakushi.
"Let go, brat!" "Your great plan ends here!" Luffy stretched his neck backwards until his head reached the beach.
"Gomu Gomu No!" "My plan won't end here!" "Kane!"
Luffy let go of the tension in his neck; his neck snapped back to its original position at great speed, and his forehead collided against Kuro´s. The former pirate could do nothing against the attack. It was so strong that it made him fall unconscious, with blood pouring from his forehead and mouth, his glasses completely destroyed, and a blank look on his eyes.
Kuro the Thinker had been defeated.
"He, he did it." "He beat Captain Kuro." "Who is he?"
"Monkey D. Luffy, I am the man who will become Pirate King. I will never lose against a fake pirate! The real pirates only stop being pirates when they die! Don´t forget that!"
Luffy grabbed Kuro and threw him at his former crew.
"Take this piece of shit out of here! And never return!"
"RUUUUUNNNN!" "AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The pirates grabbed their unconscious members and ran back to their ship. As soon as they left, Luffy fell to the ground.
"Wow, you really took a beating, captain." Ashley sat next to her friend, Pikachu, in her lap. Zoro made sure to keep a watchful eye on the retiring Kuronekos, making sure they wouldn't try a sneak attack.
"I´m hungry; I want meat."
"We all could use a good meal. We still have to find Nami and Usopp; make sure they know that we won." "And then we eat meat." "Yeah, then we eat meat."
Ashley smiled. Despite the dangers that being a pirate brought, she was glad to have found such good friends.