It has been fifty-seven years since the execution of the Second Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy, and he has left a legacy in his wake so great that some say he was more legendary than the First King, Gol D. Rogers. But like the last Pirate King, at his execution, he told the world that he had again hidden the One Piece for the world to find. Many saying it was the start of the next Age of Piracy, but then, war broke out among two families: the Monkey family and the Cobra family. After four decades of bloodshed, the war finally subsided. And nineteen years later, a member of the Cobra family set out on a quest to obtain the One Piece, his name is Cobra D. Red.

Chapter 9: The Fight in the Caves! Red's Strategy!

As the four men fell, they had last thoughts, specifically of what got them to that point. But those thoughts were cut short when they crashed into the stone floor of the cave. They got up groggily and shook their heads, trying to get rid of the dizziness. When they were done, Red looked at Skyler, "So are we still fighting?" Skyler, who was leaning more on his left leg due to the bullet in his thigh, glared at him and replied, "Oh hell yes we are fighting!"

Red grinned, "Alright, let's go!", then he charged.

Running up, Red gave a solid punch, but it was blocked by Skyler's right cannon. In annoyance, Skyler aimed his left arm and fired it straight into Red's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him into the cavern wall. Skyler looked at his right cannon, shocked to see a dent in it, making his cannon useless. He glared at Red as he slowly got to his feet. Red gave a glare of his own making Skyler uneasy again. "Jet!" shouted Red, as he was again launched towards Skyler with a punch, but was met by a mass of steel to his chest. Tumbling head over heels, Red came to a stop on the floor, bent over and on one knee. He felt the side that had been hit and could feel the blood slowly leak out of multiple gashes. He looked up to see Skyler sporting a spiked ball and chain on his right arm, with some of the spikes having a reddish hue on them. He got to his feet, holding his bleeding shoulder, not knowing how to handle the situation.

Then, a light bulb went off in his head, smiling because he knew his opponent wouldn't expect it, he began charging the pressure in his feet. Skyler noticed the smile, and thinking he had gone mad from the fight, laughed, forgetting the things he had noticed earlier. Thinking he had won the fight, he started to slowly walk towards him, but was surprised when Red shouted, "Jet!" Thinking he was going to do the same thing, he readied his ball and chain, swinging it around, but was surprised again when Red flew up. Thinking he was trying to escape, he readied his still working cannon. Red however wasn't aiming to escape and midflight twisted his body so that he landed feet first on what was left of the ceiling. Yelling "Jet!" again, he launched himself back down at Skyler. Spinning in the air, he built up momentum as on a downward spin, he landed an ax kick on Skyler's head. Buckling under the force, Skyler only had enough sense to bite on whatever was attacking him, and was able to catch a hold of Red's long hair. Thinking he was going to be eaten, Red struggled and was able to get out of the death grip, but not before his shoulder-blade length hair was cut to a few inches. Angered at having his opponent escape him, he looked up to see his hat drifting to the ground, getting tossed in the struggle, and in his anger fired at it, blowing it to smithereens.

Red got up, saw the burning remnants of his hat, and sighed, "You know, I only got that hat because it helped keep the hair out of my face. But since you decided to cut it, I don't really need it anymore."

Smiling, Red slowly walked towards him, but Skyler was scared to see that the smile never reached his eyes, with a cold light seeming to be the only thing that resided there. Grinning more, Red said, "You're probably wondering why you can't move right now." Skyler confused at this, tried to move his legs, but was terrified to find that he was unable to move. Not only that he had a strong sense to look back at his enemy who had stopped walking towards him, standing a few meters away from him. Red continued, "It's ability that all of the Cobras' are able to do, and it gives our family name some meaning. We call it, the Eyes of the Serpent. Anyone who fights us and keeps eye contact with us for more than five seconds, will feel the gaze of a Cobra, sending a wash of fear over our opponent."

Skyler looked over Red's shoulder, "Damn, looks like we missed some." Red confused, looked behind him to see a white, partially translucent crystal jutting out of the wall. Even more confused, Red asked, "What's so special about that crystal?" Skyler, happy that he could move again due to Red breaking eye contact, said, "Whatever, since you had your chance to explain stuff, then I'll have my chance. That crystal is called Panzite, and it is extremely valuable. It makes a fine gem for jewelry and sells for a lot of beli on the market. But that's not all. We've recently made a discovery with this Panzite. Something about its chemical makeup, makes it so that if it's ground up into a powder, then said powder would be three times as explosive as gunpowder." Red still unsure, looked back at the crystal, then back at Skyler, "Wait, you said 'recently'. How have no Marine scientists figured this out yet?"

At this, Skyler chuckled, "Like I said, it's a very popular jewelry gem, and scientists weren't interested. In fact, in our search for Panzite, we came across several Marine mines used to mine for Sea Prism Stone, and there were whole veins of the stuff! The stupid Marines! Chahahaha! Because of this discovery, the so-called greatest weapon of the Marines, the Buster Call, now pales in comparison to our Navy!"

He went on laughing at their victorious find for another minute, Red letting him waste his breath on his annoying laugh. Finally done, Skyler smiled triumphantly at Red, "You see, you can't beat us, give up your dreams while you can, otherwise you'll get burned, Cannon Arm Fire!" Firing another projectile, Red glared as it exploded at his feet. Yelling "Jet!", he launched himself through the smoke and at Skyler, who had thought he had blown up Red. Turning his arm to water, Red wound back with his fist of water, punching him in the face, but all he got from his attack was a bent up nose, as Skyler smiled, saying, "My turn," and swinging his ball and chain arm into Red's side.

Miles, looked across at Red, who had been sent hurtling into the crystal, snapping it in half. Shocked, he yelled, "What the hell kind of attack was that!" Red looked over at Miles, saying, "You know when you fall on water at really high speeds and it feels like concrete, I was kind of banking on that the entire time." Miles dumbfounded, stared at Red. 'This is my captain?' thought Miles, 'We are going to die in the Grand Line.' But Miles was shocked again as he saw Red start to run towards Skyler.

Skyler thinking that a few broken ribs, would have at least slowed him down, started thinking back to when he had noticed his determination. Desperately, he fired his cannon and started swinging his mace, hoping to hit him. Time seemed to slow down for Red as he sidestepped the cannon ball, and flipped over the swinging ball and chain. He landed feet first on Skyler's face, leaning him over backwards, saying "Jet" and launching himself into the air. Skyler already bent over, was slammed to the ground, causing him to cough up blood, as the floor shattered around him. Flipping in the air so he faced Skyler again, Red yelled, "Jet!", and was sent hurtling back down at Skyler, burying his elbow deep in his stomach, causing Skyler to spit up more blood. Red launched away again, letting Skyler get to his feet so he could get a better shot.

Skyler stood as if in a daze. Looking around for his aggressor, he finally found him as the blur in his eyes subsided. He glared at him, chewing on something in his mouth, then spit out what appeared to be a bloody tooth. Turning away from Red, he walked over to a rock shelf, where he started shoveling piles and piles of rock down his gullet. Red, shocked at this, walked to the side to see that he had turned his hands back to normal to shovel in more rocks. When he turned back to Red, he smiled, saying "Rock Body", causing his body to start rippling as his skin changed to rock. Red stared in amazement as the last of his body turned to stone.

Skyler laughed, his voice sounding gravelly, "Chahahaha! Now you see the power of the Munch Munch Fruit! Eating that stone, I've made my body much more resistant, and now I hit harder! You will die today Cobra scum!"

The newly made Stone Skyler charged towards, the sounds of his footsteps resounding off the walls. He swung his left fist at Red, but he was easily dodged as Red rolled under the punch. He threw a punch with his right hand, but again was dodged. Angry, Skyler started firing off multiple punches at once, but Red sidestepped them all, causing Skyler to yell out furiously, "WHY CAN'T I HIT YOU!" Red stared at Skyler, who had stopped punching and was panting. He said, "You think you could hit me like that? You're made of stone; you move slower than you did before. You may hit harder, but that tradeoff for power cut your speed," seeing Skyler's confused look, he finished, "In a lame man's terms. You. Can't. Touch me," then yelling "Jet!" again, he launched himself into a spin that landed him a kick to Skyler's jaw. Red slid to a stop on his feet and looked back at the downed figure, seeing him slowly turn his body to normal.

Skyler got up, only having his fists made of stone, preparing for another attack. Red smiled, muttering to himself, "Perfect", and charged. Skyler expecting another Jet, wound his fist back, but was unprepared when his feet were knocked from under him, and Red took the full wait of him on his shoulders. "Woof! You are a heavy bastard!" to which Skyler replied "I ate a cannon!" Red nodded, "Well that explains it, "Jet!" Launching himself along with Skyler into the air, just clearing the demolished floor of the dining hall. "Jet!" A second one launched the two through the ceiling into the room where Skyler spent his ruling days lounging. "Jet!" This third and final one blasted the two through the roof of the building, all the while Skyler getting pummeled with the wreckage, coughing and spitting up blood as multiple cuts formed on his back, ripping his coat apart. Red didn't go unharmed, though, as the crashed through the shingled roof, the tiles tore off Red's trench coat, leaving only the left sleeve and giving a long slash down his right arm.

Flipping around in the air, Red got on top of Skyler, and gripping onto him, for the last time that day, yelled "Jet!" sending them hurtling back down. Crashing through the floors again, Skyler suffered more injuries, with the pinnacle being when his arm was broken when he slammed into the cavern floor. Red got up from the punishment he had dished out to the Monkey, staring down at him as he fell unconscious, losing all the buffs to him that his devil fruit gave him, his arms turning to normal as blood leaked from his mouth.

Back in Bede's home town.

The residents of the island looked up towards the castle where sounds of explosions resounded to the sea, nearly every resident of the three towns were watching the castle, but only the people of Bede's town knew why the explosions were going off. The people stared at the castle knowing that whatever the outcome was, it would change their lives, for better or for worse. But they were unprepared when they saw a pair of bodies shoot out of the roof, hurtling into the air. They were shocked, thinking it was the ones who went to fight their oppressors, but were even more shocked when people cried out that it was Skyler. Then slowly realization dawned on all three towns, as their shock turned to joy. They were free!