Chapter 20
We made our way through the forest with Pridak in the lead. I knew we wouldn't encounter anything for the first couple miles, so I'd told everyone ahead of time that we were in for an uneventful hike. It was pretty boring, so Luffy livened things up. He took his walking stick and tapped it against Fencer's tail.
Tap-tap-tap tap taptap tap-tap "DJ Luffy."
Fencer grinned and tapped back. Tap-tap-tap tap taptap tap-tap "DJ Fencer."
As the two began beatboxing, I joined in the groove, removing my left radius and steadily rapping it against my left ulna.
Zoro smiled and gently clanged his katanas together.
Our little band played on for a moment or two before Pridak shut us up. "Alright, that's enough. Stay on task. If we run into any unexpected surprises, I'm blaming you, skeleton."
"Nothing's gonna happen," I assured him.
Suddenly, there was a boom in the distance, so loud it shook leaves from the trees.
"Except that."
"I blame you, skeleton," Pridak deadpanned.
"What exactly was that?" Zoro asked.
I rubbed the back of my head. "At some point today, Shandorians were supposed to start attacking. I guess that time is now."
"Will they be in our path?" Pridak inquired.
"Probably," I answered simply. I wasn't too concerned about them. I'd pick Shandorians over what we'd end up encountering any day.
As we walked, we saw a large white sphere floating nearby.
"Oh boy," I said.
"What? Why 'oh boy?'" Fencer wondered.
"Because these—" Suddenly I noticed Luffy stretching out a hand to grab the sphere. "Wait!"
But my warning came too late, and as soon as Luffy's hand touched the sphere, it exploded, spraying honey, of all things, all over us.
"My fur!" Fencer yelled, annoyed.
"My joints!" I cried in distress.
"Is this some dumb prank?" Pridak asked, the honey gumming up his armor.
"HohoHO!"
We all looked around to see where the laughter had come from. Eventually, we spotted a second white sphere sitting directly atop an even larger third. But a closer look revealed it wasn't a sphere at all; it had four human limbs and a head, its face smiling jovially down at them.
"Greetings," the round man said cheerfully. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Satori, pri—"
He stopped himself mid-introduction and leaned backwards, purposefully falling off the sphere to avoid a slash from Pridak, who had leapt at him, hoping to take him by surprise.
"He dodged that perfectly," Zoro observed. "It's like he knew it was coming."
"That's because he did," I told him. "It's a power called Mantra."
"Uh, guys? More spheres are floating our way," Luffy pointed them out.
Satori hopped onto one of the spheres. "Now you see. You've entered my territory, the Ordeal of Spheres. Each of these spherical clouds holds a different surprise. You never know what you'll get!"
Zoro cast a glance at our captain. "Luffy, no more touching the spheres."
"I wasn't gonna!" Luffy shouted defensively. "I didn't wanna get covered in more honey."
"Impact," the priest announced.
Our attention was diverted when we heard the sound of Pridak being blown away by Satori. A little amused, I took note that Pridak seemed to be no match for the power of future knowledge.
Deciding to try his luck next, Zoro advanced on the round priest. "Oni Giri!" Satori leapt back, knocking a sphere to the side as he did.
"I guess I should thank you. My swords taste like honey now," Zoro snarked through the sword he held with his teeth.
Satori only chuckled in response. The sphere he'd knocked away rebounded off a tree and slammed into Zoro, exploding in a burst of–BLRRFFTT–shit. Like, actual shit.
"...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Luffy, Fencer, and I all cracked up at the sight.
"HohoHO! You really drew the short straw on that one," Satori laughed along with us. He thrust his arm forward at Zoro, unleashing a mini shockwave and blasting him back.
That snapped us out of it, and we entered the fight—watching where we stepped, of course. I ran at Satori while Luffy threw a stretchy punch. Satori dodged, but by that point I'd gotten close enough to deal him a punch of my own. This time, he evaded the attack by jumping straight up in the air, so Fencer leapt off my shoulder after him, hoping to get in a slash with her tail.
Satori smiled and hit her with his Impact Dial.
I was able to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Aw, come on!" she complained. "That three-step attack was perfect, and hedodged every last step!"
"That's the power of Mantra," Satori boasted, sending more spheres our way.
I leapt back to dodge them while Luffy and Pridak went on the attack next.
Unfortunately, despite being such a wide target, Satori avoided their attacks with ease. The priest's pride turned to shock as he sensed something and leapt back, dodging a water jet from above, courtesy of Amatsu.
The elder dragon let out another gush of cold rainwater from its mouth. However, due to a combination of Satori's mantra and the trees obscuring his view, this attack missed as well.
I charged in again. "Guys, we need to attack in sync!"
I threw a roundhouse kick, only for the priest to catch my shin. Fencer jumped at him for a slash, with Zoro attacking from the opposite side. Like before, Satori dodged by jumping high in the air, causing their blades to miss him and clash into each other. This time, however, Zoro hooked his sword between the blades of Fencer's tail and used it to throw her up for another try. Satori impacted her away like before, only to notice that Luffy and Pridak were coming at him.
"You can't dodge in mid-air!" Pridak shouted as they ran, ready for his revenge.
Luffy launched his Gum-Gum Gatling.
Satori would've dodged, but his Mantra told him that Luffy wasn't really aiming at him. Rather, he was aiming everywhere around him, trapping him in a tunnel of fists. Then Pridak threw a slash.
The priest grinned. "Nice try, but not good enough!" He twisted slightly to avoid the slash and thrust his palm at the Barraki. "Impact!"
The blow hit Pridak in the face, knocking him back. As he fell, he spun one of his feet around and thrust his long, sharp heel at the priest.
Satori simply leaned back to avoid getting stabbed in the face, only to feel a strong impact on the back of his head.
Luffy grinned as he retracted from his headbutt. They'd done it! They'd thrown so many attacks at Satori that one of them had finally gotten through.
He reared back his fist. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"
Still dazed from the previous attack, Satori took this one head-on and went down for the count.
With the fight over, Zoro looked up at Amatsu and shouted, "Hey! Think you could hose us down real quick?"
Amatsu roared in response, which Fencer translated, "That's Lord Amatsu to you, you punk!" The ferret then asked more politely, "Could you please just give us a rinse?"
The elder dragon growled something about only Chopper giving him any respect and made it rain, cleaning off the remnants of Satori's honey bomb—among other substances.
"Well, now that that's over with, let's be on our way," Pridak directed us.
And just like that, the walk became boring again. Fortunately, soon enough we spotted our destination.
"Alright, there it is," I said, observing the beanstalk in the distance. "Things are about to get heated."
"I hope so," the entire rest of the group replied. As it turned out, when it came to fighting boredom, the epic battle had been just as ineffective as the beatboxing.
As we approached the ruins surrounding the beanstalk, I warned everyone, "Be sure to watch your step. I vaguely remember there being booby traps around here."
"Really? Like what?" Luffy asked.
I deadpanned, "I just said 'vaguely', didn't I?"
Our dialogue was cut off when we heard explosions in the distance. Looking to the edge of the forest we'd left behind, we saw several Shandorian warriors locked in battle with several goat men who I knew were Divine Soldiers.
"Should we be worried about that?" Fencer asked.
I shrugged. "Nah, they're just a bunch of mooks. We're here for the big guys."
We quickened our pace as the two factions' battle began to edge closer to us.
Ironically, I was the first one to set off a trap. As soon as we entered the labyrinthian portion of the ruins, I must've taken a wrong step, because a string of barbed wire shot out from the wall. Thankfully, we all were able to dodge it.
"I should have paid better attention during this part," I sighed.
Fencer tapped my head with her tail. "Lighten up, dude. We're all fine."
"I have an idea," Pridak said. He slashed rapidly, generating his Monsoon attack again and again. The razor wind and water tore at the landscape around us. "There. That should've set off or damaged at least some of the traps."
"How come your wind blades were a different color?" Luffy wondered aloud.
"It's because there's less moisture in the air at this altitude," Pridak explained. He took a step but suddenly stopped, sniffing the air. "Skeleton, why am I smelling a dog nearby?"
His question jogged my memory. "We must be getting near a priest. He's got a giant dog, and he fights with—"
I was cut off when a jagged mass of…something burst through the wall to our left. Luffy, Fencer, and I leapt out of the way, while Zoro and Pridak stood their ground. Our two sword-wielding friends each threw a slash, countering the attack.
"—that," I finished.
"The fuck was that?" Fencer asked.
"He's got this sword made of clouds that can turn into whatever he wants," I explained.
"How do you know about my weapon?" Out from the destroyed wall came a muscular bald man in sunglasses riding a giant dog.
Amatsu roared at the priest from above, which Fencer translated as, "Bring me Eneru!"
The bald man scoffed, "Lord Eneru will arrive when he chooses to and not a moment sooner. So mind your tongue, dragon."
"This one is mine," Zoro and Pridak said in unison. They turned to face each other. "Find your own opponent…and stop saying what I'm saying!"
Fencer grinned, though her smile faded as the fur at the nape of her neck pricked up slightly. "Why am I feeling heat nearby?" She looked around before gasping, "Shit! Everyone, move!"
We all scattered just as a broad stream of blue fire hit the spot where we'd all been standing.
I looked for the source of the attack and found Wyper standing further along the wall opposite the bald priest. Right, he and Luffy had a fight in the jungle in the show. Without that happening, he must've found his way over to us a bit quicker.
Suddenly, several flashes of light exploded on our upper left.
"Move again!" I shouted. Once we'd gotten out of the way once more, I took a look at our newest attacker, who stood on the wall across from Wyper. "Great, the guy with the flash guns."
"HohoHO!"
"Uh, Declan?" Luffy asked. "Why did that sound like two of that ball guy?"
"That ball guy was our brother, you bastards," a high-pitched, smug voice said.
Turning further to our left, we saw two more round guys who could have passed for Satori, if they didn't have goat ears and horns.
Fencer groaned, "Any other guys wanna pop up out of nowhere?" She got no answer aside from a few crickets chirping. "Good. Now, who's fighting who here?"
We all examined our opponents before I settled on mine, "I think I'll fight Wyper." Without giving him a chance to react to my choice, I leapt at the berserker. He aimed his bazooka at me, but I pushed it away with my right palm, throwing a thrust punch to his face.
Wyper dodged my punch by simply tilting his head to the side. He was forced to give ground, however, when Fencer slashed at him from my shoulder. Leaping back, he fired another blast from his burn bazooka.
I evaded the blast by hopping to the side. Unfortunately, Wyper just kept on firing, preventing me from getting close. I tried firing a rocket punch, but he just pulled out his shield to protect himself.
While Wyper had his focus on me, Fencer hopped off my shoulder and circled around us.
Looking around at the damage Wyper's bazooka was causing, I said, "Jeez, man, you're gonna melt this whole place at this rate."
"And you along with it!" he growled back before firing again.
This time, when I dodged, I used my skeleton speed to dash in and get close. I threw a punch with one hand while keeping his bazooka pointed away from me with the other.
He caught my punch, putting us in a deadlock.
"You know, that Reject Dial of yours is pretty cool," I said. "Maybe I'll take it when I beat you."
That made the Shandorian growl, "My people have had enough stolen from them."
Keeping his grip on my fist, he spun, taking me with him. Remembering how light I was from our first encounter, he tossed me around like a rag doll and slammed me against the wall repeatedly.
"Dude, detach!" came Fencer's voice from the sidelines.
Realizing what she meant, I let my wrist come loose, leaving Wyper holding just my right fist.
My fire ferret leapt at Wyper from behind, spinning like a buzzsaw, only for the berserker to block her tail blades with his skates. He stepped on her tail and raised his bazooka to smash her, but had to stop instinctively to block a punch from me.
I recalled my fist and followed it up by grabbing his hair and pulling his head into my knee. Wyper caught my knee and batted me away with his bazooka. Before he could fire at me, I shot my fingertips at his legs, forcing him to move and free Fencer.
"Alright, time for round two!" she declared. And with that, we both charged once again.
"HohoHO!" One of Satori's brothers thrust his palm at Luffy.
The Straw Hats' captain hastily moved out of the way, fearing a Satori-like impact. His fear was proven valid when several small blades of wind shot from the guy's palm.
"Who are you guys, anyway?" Luffy asked as he dodged. "Are you clones of the ball guy?"
"We told you, we're his brothers. I'm Kotori," one of them said.
"And I'm Hotori," the other one said.
"I don't care who you two are," Pridak growled. "If you don't want to end up like your brother, I suggest you run for your lives. I promise I won't chase you."
The twin brothers laughed haughtily.
"We're not afraid of you," Hotori boasted.
"It took five of you to defeat our brother. Now we have the two of you all to ourselves," Kotori continued.
Pridak scoffed, "Is that why you think you'll win? Because there are a couple less of us? You're looking at the strongest member of this crew. Your chances are slim to none."
Kotori laughed and taunted him, "Oh, really? Then come here and finish us off."
"Please. You think I'll fall for a trick like that?" Pridak asked. He drew his arm back and slashed. "Monsoon!"
His razor wind attack soared at the rotund duo. The pair simply dodged it and took the fight to the Straw Hats. One of them thrust their hand at Pridak.
Having seen the attack leveled at Luffy, Pridak twisted his upper torso to the side at a sharp angle to dodge. This turned out to be ineffective as a cloud of gas burst from the fatso's palm, assaulting his nose. "Ah! What was that, a stink bomb?!
"Close. I stored my farts in a Flavor Dial," Kotori explained. While Pridak was still recoiling from the stench, he thrust his other palm forward, "Impact!"
The Impact Dial in his other glove went off, sending the Barraki skidding across the ground.
Meanwhile, Luffy was throwing punch after punch. While this kept Hotori at a distance, he still wasn't able to land any hits.
Hotori grinned—well, grinned even more—and stuck out his right palm, unleashing a blast of fire.
Luffy was caught off guard by the move and only narrowly managed to dodge the flames.
"You've got wind and fire?!" he asked, exasperated.
"Double the dials means double the fun," the round man said gleefully. "Kotori!"
The twins briefly abandoned their respective fights and did a square dance for a few seconds before separating to confront the two Straw Hats again. The one attacking Pridak thrust his palm forward.
Figuring they'd pulled a switcheroo, Pridak got ready to dodge a flame attack. He was caught off guard when a fart came out. The two hadn't switched after all!
"Cut that out!" the Barraki demanded. "That's not even a real attack!"
"It is when we do this!" Kotori smirked. "Hotori!"
The other twin aimed his palm in their direction, unleashing fire at them. This ignited the gas and caused an explosion.
"Pridak!" Luffy shouted in alarm.
Zoro and the priest evaded another volley of bullets from the Shandorian. He didn't seem to be running out of ammo any time soon.
"I believe I've heard of you," the priest said. "You're the warrior known as Braham, correct?"
Braham nodded. "I am. And you're Ohm, the priest who commands the Ordeal of Iron."
"If you know that much, then you should also know that the survival rate of my ordeal is zero percent," Ohm said before swiping his sword at both his opponents. "Eisen Whip!" The sword's blade morphed into a long thick whip which Zoro and Braham had to dodge.
Braham fired a few more shots from his flash guns. Ohm's sunglasses shielded him from the worst of the flare, and he deflected the bullets with a flourish of his sword.
Zoro, meanwhile, was blinded by the light and scrambled for cover. He made it out of range of the flash guns, but this didn't protect him from a certain creature he'd forgotten about.
"Holy, attack!" Ohm commanded.
The Straw Hats' swordsman instinctively ducked under a punch coming from behind. He leapt away and turned around to see it was the priest's giant dog, standing on his hind legs and taking a fighting stance.
"You've gotta be kidding," Zoro muttered to himself. He threw a slash, only for Holy to dodge with more grace than his size would suggest.
The dog gave ground. Zoro pursued, only to trigger a booby trap as he stepped forward. The barbed wire that shot out grazed his cheek.
"Crap. There's so many enemies around, I forgot about the damn traps," he said to himself.
Ohm took a big swipe at each of his opponents with his whip while Braham fired at the priest and pirates with his pistols.
Zoro closed his eyes to ignore the flash of light, crouched down to avoid the bullets, and held his swords in front of him to block Ohm's blade. All his actions succeeded but left him open to a punch from Holy that sent him flying back into a wall.
Thankfully, his two main adversaries had taken a moment to focus on each other. But Holy wasn't done with him and threw another punch, knocking Zoro all the way through the wall. The swordsman grit his teeth and sheathed one of his swords. When the fighting dog pounced at him again, he met the mutt's punch with one of his own. Their two fists collided, with Zoro coming out on top.
Holy drew back, shaking his paw in pain.
Zoro followed it up with another punch to the dog's face, knocking him out cold.
"Holy!" Ohm growled quietly and thrust his sword into the air. "Eisen Rain!" A stream of iron cloud shot out from his sword's hilt. Once it reached a certain height, it spread out in graceful arcs and hailed back down on the various combatants.
Zoro blocked the rain of blades with his swords only to find that there was more to it than that. The iron clouds also triggered all the remaining booby traps. A coil of barbed wire grazed his ribs. As the green-haired man grit his teeth, he realized the ground was rumbling. Looking around, he saw larger barbed wires shooting up into the sky in an arch. They interlaced with each other, trapping everyone in the area in what looked like a gigantic birdcage. He couldn't focus on that for long, though, as Ohm and Braham continued to attack both him and each other.
Shit! I can't fight back if these guys keep their distance like this, Zoro thought to himself. He struggled to maintain his composure as he remembered a technique that could help him out here. I've been training, and if Pridak can do it, then so can I.
He took a deep breath and sheathed one of his swords. "One Sword Style." He threw a slash. "36 Caliber Phoenix!" The blade of razor wind caught Braham off guard and hit him dead-on, knocking him out.
"Well, that's one down," Hotori laughed. His grin soon fell when he saw that Pridak wasn't down for the count. He was covered in ash and light burns from the blast but was otherwise fine.
"You're going to pay for that," the white Barraki growled. He dashed forward so fast that he resembled a white blur. "Mako Dash!" He appeared in front of Kotori instantly and threw a slash. The fatso dodged it, only for Pridak to launch a blade of razor wind, revealing his true target to be Hotori. The other fatso countered the attack with a strike from his Ax Dial.
"Pridak, move!" Luffy yelled.
Hearing his captain's voice from above, Pridak got an idea of what he was going to do and sped away.
"Gum-Gum Rain!" Luffy announced, literally raining stretchy punches down on the twins.
Hotori grinned and unleashed fire from his Flame Dial, searing Luffy's arms.
"AAAAHH! Hot, hot, hot!" The Straw Hats' captain withdrew his arms and blew on them to cool them down.
Pridak went back in, spinning his wrists 360 degrees. The rotation was so rapid that his swords looked more like white buzzsaws with red edges. "Helicoprion!"
The twins were unphased and dodged his attacks with ease. "HohoHO! You idiot! You can barely swing like that because you risk cutting yourself too!" Hotori laughed.
"This is child's play!" Kotori added. He let out some farts from his Flavor Dial, hoping to stun Pridak with the stench again.
"Gum-Gum Balloon!" Luffy sucked in a ton of air, inflating himself before spewing it all out, blowing away the gas. He then raised his leg high in the air and brought it down, "Gum-Gum Battle-Ax!" The ax kick missed, though, so he got in close and rejoined the fight.
Pridak stopped spinning his swords and switched to rapid-fire thrusts. "Thousand Teeth!" This method of attack proved more successful, and the twins had a harder time dodging.
Kotori thrust his palm forward, "Impact!" His palm made contact with the tip of one of Pridak's blades, shattering it.
"Gum-Gum Whip!" Luffy yelled, throwing a stretchy roundhouse kick. His ally and enemies all jumped to avoid it, and Pridak continued the offensive as soon as he'd landed by launching dozens of razor wind blades.
Hotori was able to counter the attacks with his Ax Dial, but Kotori had no such luck. Unable to dodge in mid-air, he took several slashes, knocking him out.
"Kotori!" the remaining twin called out.
"Heh, one down and one to go," Luffy and Pridak said in unison.
"You. You'll pay for what you've done!" Hotori activated both of his Dials, creating blades of flaming razor wind.
"Get behind me, Captain!" Pridak spun his sword rapidly, dispersing the flames and deflecting the wind blades.
Hotori got in close for an attack with his Ax Dial, but when he thrust his palm forward, Pridak's torso bent sideways at a ninety-degree angle, causing the attack to miss him and hit Luffy instead. Before the Hotori could pull back, Pridak lunged, biting him in the shoulder with his mandibles to keep him in place. "Now hit him!" he ordered Luffy.
Luffy powered through the blade wound on his torso and threw his arms back. "Gum-Gum Bazooka!" His double arm thrust hit Hotori in the chest, knocking him through a nearby wall and taking him out of the fight.
Sighing now that their fight was over, Pridak saw Luffy glaring at him. "Aw, are you mad I had you take a hit for me?" he mocked him.
The captain opened his mouth to reply, only for something up above them to catch his eye.
Pridak followed his gaze up to a green blur that was hopping along the tops of the walls of the maze. His sharp eyes allowed him to make out who it was.
"Ehlek?" he said. "What's he doing with the skeleton and the teddy bear?"
"Uh, Pridak?" Luffy asked, pointing at the sky and directing the Barraki's gaze to Amatsu. The elder dragon was performing a spiral charge at the barbed wire dome at high speed, covered in a layer of wind. "Is that bad?"
"Yes, captain, I believe it is."
Wyper fired burn blast after burn blast as we scrambled to dodge the flames. However, the berserker made a mistake by shaking it up and briefly switching to regular cannonballs. From her perch on my shoulder, Fencer sliced the ball with her tail. Wyper's brief surprise at the sight gave me another chance to get close. I sped right up to him, throwing a thrust punch at his stomach, followed by a leopard fist to his neck.
The Shandorian parried my leopard fist and simply tanked my gut punch before kicking me in the pelvis to regain some distance. He aimed his Burn Bazooka at me for another shot.
"Enough of this shit!" Fencer leapt off my shoulder. She growled as the red markings on her body ignited. Without looking back, she said to me, "You finish him off for me." Seeing Wyper ready his bazooka, she let loose with all she had. "BLAST BURN!"
Her large, red-and-orange beam of fire met Wyper's pale blue one. The two fire attacks pushed against each other for a moment before Fencer's beam won out.
Wyper's eyes widened as he leapt out of the way. His bazooka was caught in the blast, melting almost instantly from the heat. He and I stared at Fencer, awed that so much power had come from such a small creature.
My fire ferret was panting heavily now, and her red markings had turned gray. "You're lucky…the air's…thin up here. Otherwise…that would've—" She couldn't finish, collapsing onto her side.
"Fencer!" I rushed over and picked her up. Thankfully, she was just passed out. Not knowing what else to do with her, I folded her up into her "hat mode" and put her on my head for safekeeping. Facing Wyper, I charged in and we resumed our battle.
I unleashed a rapid barrage of punches. Wyper wasn't able to handle it and took hit after hit. He finally stopped me by pulling out a Flash Dial and activating it. The light didn't hurt my eyes—I didn't have them, after all—but I still couldn't see. This gave him the chance to kick me in the face.
I didn't take the hit lying down and threw some kicks of my own. Unfortunately, while Wyper had lost his bazooka, he still had his shield, so it was tough to land any meaningful hits. I grabbed the top of his shield and forced it down, allowing me to land a punch right in his face. His response was to spin around and hit me in the side with his shield.
Grabbing his arm before he could pull back, I karate chopped him in the neck. This stunned him long enough for me to force him to the ground, where I delivered three rapid strikes to his chest.
Wyper powered through it and grabbed me by the neck. He slammed me into the ground face first and got on top of me, effectively reversing our positions.
After a little more head-bashing, I pressed my finger to his torso and fired my fingertip. Tough as he was, even Wyper couldn't shrug off what was basically a gunshot wound. I used the opportunity to punch him off me.
We both got to our feet quickly.
I took a page from Luffy's book and threw a rapid-fire set of punches. Not recovered enough for a counterattack, Wyper simply pulled out his shield for defense.
I didn't let up, though. As dents began to form in the shield, I gave it one final push and sped up my blows even further.
"HaaaaaAAAAAAAAA!" I roared as I finally damaged Wyper's shield beyond any real usefulness, forcing him to discard it. This gave me the chance to hit him in the gut with a thrust punch.
His next move caught me off guard: he pulled me in for a hug.
"What the—?" I felt him press something against the back of my head. "Oh, shit." A powerful impact hit me hard, and I felt a crack form on the back of my skull. "Fuck! You have an Impact Dial?!" I yelled as we separated.
Wyper didn't bother answering and thrust the Dial at me again, which I narrowly dodged. We both threw roundhouse kicks, hitting each other in the chest.
We each took a moment to recover as a thought occurred to me. "Why are we fighting again? My crew and I want to defeat Eneru just like you do!"
"Why should I trust the words of a Blue Sea dweller?" he growled before lunging at me.
I sighed, "I'm starting to remember what a jackass you are."
We grappled a bit until we heard a crash. We looked up to see Amatsu smashing through the barbed wire cage above our heads. Unfortunately, he couldn't slow down or pull up in time, resulting in his crashing through the ground as well. The hole he left caused cracks to spread throughout the ruins, and in seconds great swaths of ground were falling out from beneath our feet. I held onto my "Fencer hat" to make sure it didn't fall off my head.
We all ended up falling into what seemed to be a hidden basement level of the ruins. Seeing it jogged my memory. This was the place where several characters had a four-on-one against Eneru, which naturally ended poorly for all of them. So, if we were here, then that probably meant…
"Eneru is nearby," I thought aloud.
"How would you know?" Wyper asked, looking eager to continue our fight.
Rather than explain my future knowledge, which I figure he wouldn't believe anyway, I pointed at Amatsu. "We brought that dragon with us to help us fight Eneru. If he reacted like that, then I'm pretty sure he must've spotted him. You want him? Go look for him."
The Shandorian clearly didn't care and lunged at me. "I'm not done with you!"
He didn't reach me, as Mantax hit him in the side with a flying kick. I looked to see the rest of his team approaching. Before any of us could address each other, Ehlek dashed between us, heading in Amatsu's direction.
"I wonder what that was about," Robin thought aloud.
"No time to explain!" Ehlek shouted as he got further away. "Here's a flashback instead!"
The portion of the crew that was aboard the Merry sailed on in relative peace—though peace did make things rather dull for the Straw Hats. The most interesting part of the journey was when Gan Fall taught the crew about dials. But all that changed when an intruder came onboard.
"Oh, shit," SB muttered, recognizing him instantly.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Ehlek asked the shirtless man.
Eneru ignored the Barraki and focused on Skeleton Buddy. "Hm? A skeleton? I assumed you were just mute."
"W-what's he talking about, Declan?" Usopp asked nervously, briefly forgetting which version of his friend he was talking to.
"Wait a minute." SB held a hand to his chin as he thought for a second before something clicked in his mind. "Right, you can hear people talk with electricity, and I don't generate electricity—"
"Enough idle chatter, skeleton!" Ehlek interrupted. "Can we beat this man or not?"
SB shook his head. "Hate to say it, Ehlek, but I don't think we can. We just don't have a way to hurt him."
"Yahahaha!" Eneru laughed. "Amusing. As if a god could ever be hurt."
The skeleton looked uneasily from Eneru to the crew. "Just don't try anything," he advised them, "and maybe he'll leave us be."
"Wait, really?" Usopp wondered aloud. "But if he isn't here to wipe us out, then why did he come?"
Eneru grinned. "To say farewell."
He proceeded to tell them how he'd enslaved Gan Fall's divine soldiers, much to the former god's anger. He followed it up with a vague, but clearly ominous, indication that he had something sinister planned.
He turned as if to leave, only to stop and look back at SB.
"Well, I suppose while I'm here, I may as well take you out," he said. "Your silence is an affront to my omniscience."
He aimed his palm at SB, prompting the skeleton to mutter "Oh shit" again. Ehlek grabbed SB and Chopper and vaulted over the side of the ship. They ran through the jungle at high speed, not daring to look back to see if Eneru was on their tail.
"We need to find the rest of the crew!" Ehlek said, charging up his spines.
A flash of light appeared in the sky, so he wisely accelerated, narrowly escaping a huge blast of lightning. The green Barraki ran up a tree and jumped above the canopy, spotting Amatsu in the distance as he fell back beneath the carpet of branches.
As soon as he was back on the ground, he noticed another flash of light in the air.
He held Chopper up in response. "You wouldn't kill something this adorable, would you?!" When the flash got brighter, he lowered Chopper. "Yeah, I would too. Time for Plan B. Thunder Blast!" He fired a large bolt at Eneru's own bolt and the two attacks canceled each other out.
As he turned and kept running, Chopper yelled, "Why was using me as a shield Plan A?!"
Ehlek ignored him and ran in Amatsu's direction.
"Well, I guess that answers that," Sanji said.
"Yeah, now, if you'll excuse me." I walked over and undid the bandages on the unconscious Wyper's arm, taking up the Reject Dial hidden beneath them.
"Stealing from a downed opponent," Kalmah remarked. "Very sportsmanlike."
Ehlek leapt up to get a better view and spotted his captain alongside Pridak. He dashed over to them and set down the crewmates he'd been carrying before looking skyward.
"At least show your face again before you strike us down!" he demanded.
In a flash of lightning, the self-proclaimed god appeared before the group. "Fine, I've appeared. Now I hope you're ready for the end."
"Captain?" Ehlek said to Luffy. "That's Eneru. Sic 'em."
Luffy reared back his fist, with its stretchiness surprising Eneru. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"
The ruler of Sky Island made no effort to dodge, thinking the punch would do nothing. He was proven dead wrong when the Straw Hat's fist hit him hard, making him gasp for air.
Amatsu roared, which Chopper translated, "So it's true. The boy is immune to electricity."
"Immune to electricity?" Eneru repeated. "That's impossible."
"So his weakness is insulators?" Pridak surmised. "Then this should do nicely."
He slashed the air, creating several gusts of razor wind.
This time, Eneru teleported out of the way, appearing behind Pridak.
"Mako Dash!" The white Barraki sped away before Eneru could zap him, launching another round of razor wind blades in his direction.
Rather than dodging the attack, Eneru nonchalantly deflected it by spinning his staff. He then leaned forward, deftly avoiding a punch from Luffy.
"Aw, come on!" the captain complained. "Don't tell me he can predict our moves too!"
"Alright, I won't," shrugged SB. He leaned down to Chopper. "Let's get the hell out of here."
The skeleton and the doctor quietly left the scene with Ehlek in tow, leaving Luffy and Pridak to face Eneru.
"It doesn't really matter where they run to. In due time, this whole island will—" Eneru cut himself off when he felt drops of water hitting his skin. Confused, he looked up to see rain falling, even though they were above the clouds. He quickly discovered the source: Amatsu was spraying a stream of water from his mouth and letting it rain down on everyone below.
"This is perfect!" exclaimed Pridak with a slashing motion. "Monsoon!" His water-infused razor wind flew at the god, invigorated by Amatsu's rainfall.
Eneru attempted to teleport out of the way, only for his body to spark wildly as it remained in place, allowing the attack to connect. Unfortunately for everyone except himself, he had a backup plan. He pressed a palm to the wet ground, sending a burst of electricity shuddering through the water toward the Straw Hats.
Pridak got a terrible shock, but Luffy was unfazed. Realizing that his trick was backfiring, Amatsu flew rapidly in a circle, creating a tornado around the combatants and blow-drying the area.
Recovering from the lighting attack, Pridak continued launching wind blades while Luffy threw rubber punches. But with no water to short-circuit him, Eneru was able to use his teleportation again in conjunction with his powers of prediction.
Amatsu spun even faster, turning one tornado into three.
No longer able to remain within the eye of the storm, the fighters were sucked into the whirlwinds and flung around and around.
"Captain! Grab my hand!" Pridak called out. Luffy stretched out an arm, which Pridak grabbed. He then swung his captain around as an improvised weapon.
"Gum-Gum Shark Flail!" Luffy yelled, naming the new attack on the spot.
Eneru teleported out of the way of the first swing, but when he tried to do it a second time, a gust from the tornado blew him back into the path of the rubber man. He blocked the third strike with his staff and zapped behind Pridak. The white Barraki couldn't run away in mid-air, leaving him wide open to a massive electric shock. Eneru grinned, having finally managed to counterattack, but he was caught off guard when Pridak thrust his heel back at him. He couldn't completely dodge in time, allowing the kick to cut his side slightly.
"Gum-Gum Stamp!"
The self-proclaimed god blocked Luffy's kick with his staff, only for Pridak to slash it clean in half with his sword.
"Next time, don't make a weapon out of gold!" Pridak spat as he took another swipe.
Eneru growled as he dodged it. The battle was taking a toll on his patience. He stuck out a hand and shocked Pridak again, making sure to use even higher voltage than before.
Luffy scowled as his crewmate was fried and tossed Pridak over to another twister. "Hey, Amatsu! I need some water over here!"
The elder dragon complied and breathed a stream of water into the tornado Luffy and Eneru were fighting in, turning it into a waterspout and soaking the two fighters within.
The Straw Hats' captain spun in place, prepping an attack Eneru wouldn't be able to dodge, "Gum-Gum Fireworks!" Luffy's fists and feet shot out in all directions.
With his teleportation crippled and his movement limited, Eneru took blows by the dozen. Getting desperate, Eneru thrust his palm at one of Luffy's fists, using the impact to knock himself out of the waterspout and into the one unoccupied tornado, giving himself sanctuary and drying himself off with the winds. Deciding enough was enough, he teleported out of the area altogether.
Realizing that their foe had left, Amatsu let the tornados die, causing Luffy and Pridak to fall to the ground. By some coincidence, the tornado dropped Luffy right in front of us. We all emerged from the spots where we'd been sheltering from the wind.
"Man, that was cool," I said.
"If only we'd had some popcorn," Ehlek agreed.
"I'm impressed you managed to force him to retreat," Robin said. "Considering the strength of his powers, that's probably the first time that's ever happened."
Luffy didn't humor their comments and kept a serious face. "Declan, do you know where he went?"
I shook my head. "I mean, maybe, but I don't know how to get there."
"I know where he is," another voice said. We all turned to see Pridak approaching. He was panting and scorched all over, but he still stood tall.
Ehlek chuckled, "Eneru did all that to you? I almost feel inadequate."
The other two Barraki were amused by the comment before Pridak shut them up with a glare. "This won't keep me down, but the wind from those twisters dulled his attacks. Without them he would have been much stronger."
Everyone went quiet for a moment.
"Anyway, I can sense where our foe is," Pridak finished.
"Really? How?" Chopper asked.
Pridak explained, "I have electroreception." All of us save for the other Barraki gave him blank looks, so he elaborated further, "I can sense electricity generated by living creatures."
"Oh, I've heard of that. So that's what it's called?" I thought aloud.
"Yes, it is. Normally it doesn't work on dry land, but since Eneru is made of lightning, I can still detect him," Pridak finished. "Now, follow me, captain."
Before they could go anywhere, a massive flash of white light appeared above us. I recognized it from SB's memories, except this one was bigger than I'd ever seen before.
"Shit, I think he's trying to snipe us!" Sanji pointed out in alarm.
Amatsu sprang into action and flew in a circle, creating a new tornado with all of us shielded in its eye. It wasn't enough, though. Even with all the wind, the lightning bolt would still be big enough to wipe us all out.
Ehlek fired a lightning bolt of his own, canceling out Eneru's bolt like he did before.
"Don't try the same trick twice, smart guy!" he taunted him. But he received no response. This time, it really did seem like Eneru was gone.
"Captain, Amatsu, follow me. Eneru awaits," Pridak said as he began walking.
Amatsu dispelled the tornado and followed him with Luffy.
As the trio left, Kalmah spoke up, "What should the rest of us do now, skeleton?"
That made me think for a moment. "Hmm. Ah, right! There's a golden bell at the top of the beanstalk. We could go and ring that," I suggested. Something occurred to me as I faced Robin. "You like studying history, right? How about making history?"
Our archaeologist was silent for a few moments, looking from me to the beanstalk and back. "I have no objection."
She tried to sound calm, but the gleam in her eye told me she was at least a little bit excited.
"Ugh, what'd I miss?" Fencer asked as she woke up and slinked off my head.
"Have a nice nap, Miss Ferret?" Robin taunted her.
Despite her drowsiness, Fencer immediately shot back, "Go to hell, Birdbrain."
It didn't take long for Pridak, Luffy, and Amatsu to find out where Eneru was hiding. The walk there was another story.
As they moved, Pridak perked up. "Hmm."
"What is it, Pridak?" Luffy asked.
"There's something unusual about Eneru's signature. It's moving slowly upward, as if it's floating," Pridak answered. "We should hurry." He scooped Luffy up and carried him on his arm. "Try not to get cut by my shoulder blade."
With that, he used his Mako Dash to make quicker progress as Amatsu soared above them.
As he hung onto Pridak's arm, Luffy was in awe. "How are you going so fast?"
"I just move my feet ten to twenty times per second," Pridak explained.
"Whoa. Can you teach me to do that?"the captain asked.
"Maybe if you beg," Pridak said.
Eventually, they reached the mouth of a narrow cavern where their dragon ally couldn't follow.
"We'll try and get Eneru outside!" Luffy called up to Amatsu as they entered.
As the two Straw Hats explored the cavern, the space opened up and they soon found what looked like a giant ark. The ark was starting to lift off from its resting place, explaining what Pridak had sensed earlier.
Pridak leapt onto the ark and set Luffy down next to him, where the captain immediately yelled, "HEEEEEEYYY! ENERUUUU!"
In response to his shouting, the ruler of Skypiea materialized in front of the duo. He'd welded his staff back together with his lightning powers and while his face looked calm, he was clearly holding back anger.
"Never in my life did I imagine I would have to retreat from anyone, let alone some Blue Sea pirates," he growled.
Pridak was unfazed. "You'll surrender if you know what's good for you."
Luffy chimed in, pointing at Eneru, "Yeah, or else we'll defenestrate you!"
Both his "friend" and his foe were caught off guard by his choice of words. "Excuse me?" Eneru asked.
The Straw Hats' captain responded with another threat, "We're gonna beat you like a parabola."
"Kalmah told me you used the word 'salubrious' not too long ago, and now you're doing it again?" Pridak observed. "Is there something wrong with you?"
"No, I'm just reading from this list Declan wrote for me." Luffy pulled out a piece of paper titled "List of Words That Make You Sound Smart."
Despite Pridak's inability to make facial expressions, Luffy got the feeling he was giving him a dull stare.
"I would never have believed that if I hadn't seen it for myself," the white Barraki droned. He turned to Eneru, "Well, let's finish what we started." He unleashed a blade of razor wind.
Eneru dodged the attack easily and teleported behind Pridak. "I'll deal with you first. El Thor," he raised a hand, charging up his electrical attack.
Pridak grabbed Luffy and spun to face Eneru. He stretched Luffy's torso wide and used him as a human shield.
Luffy took the opportunity to grab Eneru's arm and reared his head back, "Gum-Gum Bell!"
Direct contact with an insulator prevented Eneru from turning into electricity and dodging the attack, allowing Luffy's forehead to smash into his nose uncontested.
Eneru didn't want to find out what move Luffy would use next, but he couldn't get his arm free from his opponent's grip. Feeling himself become desperate once more, he did something else he'd never imagined himself doing: he sank his teeth into Luffy's hand, making him let go. The self-proclaimed god growled. This was already starting to turn into a repeat of their earlier battle.
His worry went away when he realized that, by this point, they'd exited the caverns and were still getting higher. It gave him an idea. He used his powers to create a flash of light, blinding his opponents. Swinging his rewelded staff with all his might, he knocked them right off the ark. Eneru quickly moved over to the edge so he could watch the two pirates fall to their deaths.
Luffy and Pridak fell at least a dozen meters before Amatsu swooped in and caught them.
Eneru frowned, but he knew what to do. He immediately went to his post and discharged electricity to activate Deathpiea. Black cloud matter sprayed out of the ship as the dragon circled menacingly. The second he had enough, he used his powers to make the storm cloud crackle with electricity. This lightning, combined with his own, created a devastating attack.
Amatsu's wind defenses weren't enough, and the dragon and his passengers received a terrible shock. Luffy, naturally, was just fine, but Pridak couldn't take it and slumped over, unresponsive. The force of the attack caused Amatsu to spiral out of control.
"Jeez, this stalk is even bigger up close," Fencer complained, glancing back down as we climbed.
"This coming from someone who isn't even climbing for themselves," Robin snarked.
I chuckled, "She's got you there."
Fencer growled at me comically, "Come on, dude! You're supposed to have my back!"
"Ugh, with all the chatter, I'm starting to regret joining this crew," Kalmah muttered from his spot way above us.
"Uh, guys?" Sanji asked us.
"What is it, chef?" Ehlek grumbled.
"INCOMING!"
We all looked around just in time to spot Amatsu falling toward the base of the beanstalk. His crash landing shook the stalk like a leaf in a storm, making it hard for us to keep our grip. As his hands struggled for purchase on the smooth green stem, Chopper felt himself slipping.
"Guys!" he called out.
Robin tried using her powers to make a ladder of arms to grab our doctor with, only for more bolts of lightning to stream from Eneru's ship, zapping her arm ladder. Shit. His battle with Luffy must've made him decide to take the rest of us out and get it over with.
Suddenly, Kalmah let go of the stalk and let himself fall, knocking the rest of us from our spots, which were soon scorched by the lightning bolts. Luckily, we all caught ourselves on a strong leaf positioned below.
As for Chopper, we were all relieved to see Amatsu shooting up from the ground.
"I got you, Chopper!" Luffy called out as he literally stretched out an arm. He caught our doctor safely and set him down on the dragon's back. As they flew past the rest of us, he asked, "Wanna help me beat up a god?"
"Um, okay?" Chopper answered.
Before they flew away, they tossed Pridak's unconscious body at us, which Kalmah leapt up to catch. The rest of us resumed climbing.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Sanji asked in mild concern.
"He'll be fine," Kalmah deadpanned. "He'll be up before the day is out."
"Well, that takes care of Chopper and Pridak. Are we missing anyone else?" Fencer asked.
"Wasn't Mosshead with you guys?" Sanji pointed out.
"He split up from us to fight a priest," I answered. "I wonder if he's still doing that."
"Zoro? What are you doing at Angel Beach?" Usopp asked as he and Nami exited the ship and came ashore.
Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Angel Beach? What are you guys doing at the beanstalk?"
"Are you blind?! Take a look around!" Nami shouted.
The swordsman scanned his surroundings and finally realized he wasn't where he thought he was at all.
"Weird, I could've sworn I was heading for the beanstalk."
"Alright, time for round two," Luffy grinned as Amatsu brought them closer to Eneru's ark. "Or maybe three. Are you with me, Chopper?"
Having seen what Eneru's lightning powers could do, Chopper pulled out a Rumble Ball. "You can hurt Eneru because you're made of rubber. What am I supposed to do?"
"I can give you the assistance you'll need," Amatsu said, though only Chopper understood him.
Popping the ball into his mouth, Chopper nodded. "Alright, Luffy, let's do this."
The captain grinned as they loomed over the ark. The two Straw Hats leapt off their dragon companion and landed squarely on the deck.
Eneru could only grit his teeth at the sight of them. "You. Must I really deal with you again?"
"We're not stopping until we kick your ass," Luffy replied.
"Don't hold your breath," Eneru said sternly. "I sensed you were coming back, and I took the time to strategize ways to defeat you." He triggered his powers and launched lightning at both of them.
Neither were fazed by his usual move. Chopper switched to his Jumping Point and leapt out of the way, while Luffy didn't bother dodging and went on the offensive.
"Gum-Gum Pistol!"
Eneru saw the strike coming and smirked, eager to test his theory. He quickly held up a golden knife in the path of Luffy's fist, causing the young captain to impale himself.
"AAAH!" Luffy yelled as he retracted his fist.
"So I was right," Eneru happily observed. "You may be immune to lightning, but you can be cut like any other mortal."
His mantra told him that the boy's other crewmate was approaching from the side with the intention of palming him in the temple. Knowing two people couldn't have the same Devil Fruit power, he decided it was safe to let the attack land and pass through him. He was thoroughly surprised when the reindeer's strike didn't pass through him, making him stumble to the side when it landed.
"But how?"
The god examined Chopper's hands and saw that they were somehow coated in a layer of wind. The sight made him growl, knowing that cursed dragon was involved somehow.
"Gum-Gum Gatling!"
Eneru had no time to dwell on this new development as the rubber man began a new attack. As he zapped in between Luffy's punches, he was caught off guard once again. It was time to enact one of his other countermeasures.
Chopper used his Jumping Point's speed to maneuver around Luffy's fists and leapt at Eneru for another attack.
Stowing his knife, Eneru swung his staff.
The reindeer dodged the swing by shrinking down to his Brain Point. Just as quickly, he shifted to his Arm Point and thrust his arm forward.
While Eneru blocked the strike, it left him open to one of Luffy's many punches.
Grunting in pain, Eneru enacted another of his plans. "Gloam Paddling!" Using his electric powers, he heated his staff to the point of melting, wrapped it around Luffy's wrists, and hardened it, effectively handcuffing him. With the captain taken care of, he resumed trying to zap Chopper, who kept evading him with his Jumping Point.
Luffy struggled to break out of his cuffs to no avail. "Grr, stupid cuffs. How am I supposed…to…" He trailed off as he got an idea. He tied his fingers together and stretched them out. "Gum-Gum Finger Net!"
Eneru teleported out of the way, only for a strong gust of wind, courtesy of Amatsu, to blow him back into it. Just as Luffy had figured, being trapped in a rubber net prevented him from using his powers.
"We got you now!" Luffy grinned as he swung the god around. First, he slammed him against the deck, then he swung him at his crewmate.
Chopper switched back to his Arm Point and thrust his hooves rapidly. "Cloven Roseo Metal!"
Once he felt the reindeer had done enough damage, Luffy pulled Eneru back toward himself while gearing up for a kick. "Gum-Gum Stamp!"
The kick hit Eneru in the face and finally knocked him out. The two Straw Hats didn't have time to relax, though, as Amatsu roared a message at them.
"He's saying we need to jump ship!" Chopper translated. Nodding, Luffy grabbed the doctor and leapt over the side of the ark.
"I think he meant for us to jump onto him!" the little reindeer clarified frantically.
"Doesn't seem like it." Luffy pointed at the dragon.
Amatsu was spinning as he flew, coating himself in wind until he resembled a living tornado. The dragon charged the ark head-on, smashing it into pieces. Not only that, his attaack also struck the already unconscious god, sending him flying off into the sky, where he disappeared with a twinkle.
"We're gonna die!" Chopper shouted as he and Luffy plummeted to the ground.
"No, we're not! Gum-Gum Balloon!" Luffy inhaled to inflate himself and soften their impact, the two of them descending gently as debris rained down around them.
"Man, that took forever!" I groaned as we reached the top of the beanstalk.
"Dude, we are so high up," Fencer observed in astonishment.
Kalmah looked the bell up and down. "This is bigger than I expected. How do we ring it? Is there a lever we can pull somewhere?"
"Nope, we just push it with brute force," I said. "Everybody ready?"
"Very much so, yes," Robin nodded and crossed her arms. "Ochiente Fleur: Quattro Mano." Eight arms formed near the bell. The arms combined in pairs to form four even bigger arms to push with.
"On three!" I braced myself. Sanji and all the conscious Barraki did the same. "One, two, three!"
Robin pushed while the rest of us leapt up and struck the bell with all our might. The bell lurched to the side and rang, the sound so loud it shook all my bones. I wondered just how many people heard it down on the Blue Sea.