Heart of a Pirate
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Kingdom Hearts. They belong to Eiichiro Oda and Square Enix respectively.
Chapter 4: New World, New Faces (Part 1)
A few minutes prior…
Donald Duck and Goofy strolled through the cobblestone streets of Traverse Town's 1st District, clad in new clothes they had just picked up to replace the ones they had left Disney Castle with. Instead of his usual long-sleeved mage robes with the tall, wide-brimmed hat, Donald now wore a more casual, short-sleeved version of his original outfit with gold bracelets and a blue cap which had a number of zippers all over it. As for Goofy, instead of the clanky armor and leather pants he originally wore, he was now decked out in a green sweater, a black and grey zip-up vest, baggy yellow cargo pants and a small yellow hat with goggles to top it off. They had gotten these clothes to help them blend in more when the time came to travel to other worlds, since their original garb stood out quite a bit. Now they just needed to find this "Key" that King Mickey had mentioned in the note he had left and they could begin their mission.
"Hm?" Goofy suddenly stopped as something up above caught his attention.
Noticing that his companion was no longer beside him, Donald turned around with an annoyed expression on his face. "What are you doing?" he asked irritably. "We've got to…" He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Goofy raise his hand to point to the sky. Looking up, Donald immediately saw what he was pointing at.
"Look, a star's goin' out!" Goofy exclaimed as a single star began glowing brightly, then immediately flashed out of existence, an indication that another world had just disappeared.
"Come on, let's hurry!" urged Donald, knowing there likely wasn't much time before any more worlds flashed out of existence. Goofy nodded, and the two set off once again, with Pluto right beside them.
After a bit of time spent walking and searching, Donald began getting impatient. "Where's that key?" he muttered with a grumpy expression on his face.
"Hey, ya know, maybe we oughta go find Leon!" Goofy suggested cheerfully.
Leon was the name of someone King Mickey had mentioned in the note he had left behind for Donald and Goofy. Neither Donald nor Goofy knew who he was or what he looked like, but King Mickey said he would be able to point them in the right direction, so he was their best chance. Seeing no other options aside from combing the entire town all on their own, Donald agreed.
As the two Disney Castle soldiers passed by an alleyway, Pluto suddenly starting sniffing the ground, apparently catching a scent, and wandered into said alleyway, catching Goofy's attention. Donald, however, paid it no mind as he continued walking along.
"Uh, Donald?" Goofy piped up. "Ya know, I betcha that, uh…"
"Aw, what do you know, you big palooka?" Donald replied in an annoyed manner, cutting Goofy off in mid-sentence with a wave of his hand.
"Huh, what do I know?" was Goofy's ever-intelligent response. "Oh well. Come on, Pluto!" he called out before moving to follow Donald, the said dog still in the alleyway. Little did either of them realize just how close they had missed the primary target of their mission...
0o0o0o0o0o0o—Alleyway, Present time
"Where am I?" wondered Sora out loud as he took in the sights around him. "Oh boy… this definitely isn't home…"
He then bent down to face the dog who had licked him awake. "Do you know where we are?" he asked, seemingly forgetting that he was talking to a dog. But hey, he had to try.
The dog suddenly pricked up an ear, apparently hearing something Sora hadn't, and quickly dashed off out of the alleyway. "Hey, wait!" cried Sora as he reached out to the dog, not wanting to be separated from the first and only friendly face he had encountered so far in this new place. Granted, he hadn't met anyone else yet, but at the moment, it was all he could go on. However, the dog simply ran off, leaving Sora alone.
"Aw, man… guess I'm on my own," he said glumly as he began trudging off to explore this new place.
0o0o0o0o0o0o— Traverse Town, Second District, Residential area
Luffy strolled leisurely through a rather quiet part of the strange town, currently on the lookout for Sora as well as his crew. He wasn't sure what had happened to them after being whisked away from Destiny Islands, but he figured that this was as good a place as any to start looking for them. Unfortunately, he hadn't yet met anyone who could tell him where he was, but being his usual optimistic self, Luffy was undeterred.
"I wonder where everybody is?" wondered Luffy aloud. "Oooiii!! Zoro! Nami! Usopp! Sanji! Chopper! Robin! Sora! Riku! Kairi!"
Getting no response, Luffy quickly moved to another part of the neighborhood and called out to them again. Once again, he got no response.
After a few more failed attempts to find his friends in different parts of that area, Luffy decided to try a different approach. "Gomu Gomu no Rocket!" Stretching his arm upward, Luffy pulled himself up onto a random rooftop and landed on his feet. Taking a deep breath, he began shouting at the top of his lungs.
"ZORO!! NAMI!! USOPP!! SAN-"
CRASH!!
A flowerpot came flying out of nowhere and smashed into the back of Luffy's head, cutting off his loud shouting.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP!! SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!!" yelled a gruff, disgruntled and very angry male voice coming from a random window, followed quickly by the sound of said window slamming shut.
"Awww…" Luffy groaned with disappointment as he brushed the dirt and flowerpot fragments off his head.
"Huh, guess they're not here," he said to himself, before grinning. "Oh well, might as well look somewhere else!" With that, he hopped off the roof, landed on the cobblestone pathway and set off for a busier area of this strange new town.
0o0o0o0o0o0o— Traverse Town, First District
Upon exiting the alleyway, Sora found himself in the middle of some kind of town square, with houses, shops, street lamps, and an outdoor patio for a restaurant. It was fairly quiet, with only a small number of people walking around, going in and out of various buildings. Though he felt slightly apprehensive, being all by himself in a strange place and all, Sora continued walking, taking in the sights and hoping that he could find out where he was and what was going on.
After a few minutes of exploring, Sora suddenly heard a scream from up ahead, startling him. "THEY'RE AFTER ME!! SOMEONE HELP!!" came the desperate cry of someone from around the corner twenty feet ahead of him.
At that moment, a panicked-looking man came running from around said corner, immediately followed by a swarm of black creatures that were apparently attempting to chase him down.
The man suddenly tripped and fell forward on his face, quickly turning over onto his rear and attempting to crab-walk away from the creatures as fast as he could. But the creatures were quickly upon him, and Sora could only watch in horror as they pounced on him one after the other, sending him falling to the ground and quickly enveloping him. The next thing Sora knew, another one of those glowing hearts flew into the air and disappeared into a dark portal, and the creatures scattered, revealing that the man had vanished. The creatures then fixed their glowing yellow gaze on Sora.
Those are the same creatures from back on the islands! Sora thought to himself. But then, does that mean…?
Suddenly, at that moment, dozens more of those same small creatures quickly morphed into existence out of the ground, almost filling the street ahead of Sora. The creatures gazed hungrily at the spiky-haired boy, before moving as one towards him.
Oh boy, this isn't good, thought Sora as he quickly began backpedaling away from the approaching onslaught of black creatures advancing on him. Looking left and right, he began looking for something – anything – to use as a weapon against these things or ward them off somehow, but nothing caught his eye. Argh! If only I had the Keyblade!
Suddenly, as if on cue, the said key-shaped weapon flashed brightly into existence in Sora's hand, startling him slightly. What he had thought previously were just idle words; he certainly wasn't expecting the Keyblade to appear in his hand just because he wanted it to. Was that how it worked?
So I just have to call on it with my mind and it'll appear, thought Sora, before smiling. "Alright then, it's go time!" the spiky-haired boy declared aloud as he stopped backpedaling, got into his usual sword-fighting stance and charged towards the crowd of creatures. If he could take down five of them with one swing of the Keyblade, then he could easily deal with these guys!
He met the creatures head-on and the battle began. Sora began hacking and slashing in every direction he saw a target, doing whatever possible to take out as many of these things as he could. But for some reason, no matter how much he fought, the crowd of creatures didn't shrink in the slightest; if anything, it seemed to grow as time went on. Sora could already feel himself growing tired.
"There's too many of them!" Sora cried after a few minutes of fighting, realizing he couldn't defeat this many creatures all on his own, even with the Keyblade. Turning on his heel, Sora quickly ran away in the opposite direction, the creatures in hot pursuit.
Unseen by Sora, someone was watching him from the shadows of an alleyway not too far away, with an odd weapon in his hand that looked like a combination between a sword and a gun. "So, the Keybearer has arrived…" said the person softly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o—Somewhere in Second District
Luffy now strolled through a more open and busy part of this strange new place, passing through crowds of random strangers just going about their business. Looking around in every direction, he saw many various things: brightly lit shops with glowing neon signs, a fountain, a bell tower, a large hotel, and so on. "This is so COOL!" said Luffy gleefully. Having not seen any towns or cities lit up quite like this before, the Straw Hat Captain was quite enthralled by the sights.
He was so busy taking it all in that he didn't notice the petite, black-haired teenage girl walking directly towards him before accidentally bumping into her. "Ack!" he yelped in surprise.
"Ow! Watch where you're going!" said the girl in an indignant tone. "You've got a lot of nerve, you know! I'm the great ninja Yuffie!"
Upon hearing her name (and how much it rhymed with his own), Luffy quickly flew into a rage. "NO WAY!!" he shouted irately, his eyes going completely white and his teeth appearing to grow pointed. "I'M LUFFY!! AND I'M NOT A NINJA! I'M GONNA BE THE PIRATE KING!!"
"I SAID YUFFIE, NOT LUFFY, YOU MORON!! GET IT RIGHT!!" the now-named Yuffie shouted back, shoving her face directly in front of Luffy's.
Upon hearing that, Luffy's expression immediately went back to normal. "Oh. Okay then!" he cheerfully replied with a grin before stepping around Yuffie and setting off again, leaving the said kunoichi fuming.
"Just who does that guy think he is?!" she growled under her breath before storming off in the opposite direction.
0o0o0o0o0o0o—Back in First District
Sora ran as fast as he could, trying to outrun the huge group of black creatures pursuing him, but they did not slow down in the slightest. No matter how far or fast he ran, or how many twists and turns through the roads and alleyways he took, he simply could not lose them. Why were they all chasing after him like this?!
Deciding to take a different approach, Sora spotted a store ahead on the right with the word 'Accessories' posted in glowing letters above the door and quickly ran towards it. He quickly rushed inside and slammed the door shut, leaning his back against it and panting heavily. That was too close!
"Hey there, how can I…" came a gruff voice from inside the shop, causing Sora to quickly look in the direction it was coming from.
Behind the counter in front and slightly to the left of him stood a tough-looking, fairly muscular man with short, messy blond hair, a pair of goggles around his head, and a long toothpick sticking out of his mouth, along with some beard stubble lining his jaw. He wore a white T-shirt, baggy blue pants with some strange white sock things around the shins, black shoes, and a haramaki similar to Zoro's, except it was brownish-yellow instead of green. The man appeared to regard Sora for a moment before his expression slackened. "Ah, never mind, it's just a kid," the man said dismissively before returning to the book in his hand.
"Hey! I'm not a kid!" said Sora indignantly. "And the name's Sora!"
"Alright, alright, simmer down," said the man with a wave of his hand. "Whatcha doin' in here, anyway? If you ain't gonna buy anythin', I suggest you –"
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Sora tensed up with fear as he felt the black creatures hitting the door from the other side, trying to force their way inside. He had no idea how long he could keep running before they finally caught him.
"Eh? What the hell's this all about?" said the man as he stepped out from the behind the counter to look out one of the windows. His eyebrows arched at what he saw.
"Tch. Damn Heartless are at it again. And on the streets, no less," he grumbled with mild irritation before stepping over to the door where Sora was.
"Move it, kid," he said as he brushed him aside and grabbed the door handle. Seeing this, Sora immediately started panicking and frantically waved for him to stop.
"Wait! Don't open it! They're gonna –"
But before Sora could finish, the store-owner flung the doors open while hitting a button to the side of the doorframe, and the next second, something sprung out of the floor on a spring-loaded extender right in front of him, which he immediately grabbed. To Sora, it looked like a large, old-fashioned camera, but he barely caught the words "Cid Cannon" written on it before the man opened fire.
"QUIT OBSTRUCTIN' MY FRICKIN' BUSINESS!!!" the man shouted as he fired round after round of exploding projectiles into the huge swarm of black creatures outside the shop, decimating their numbers. The explosions were small, but powerful, as Sora could feel the shock from where he stood. Some creatures attempted to jump out of the way and run, but they too were soon claimed by the cannon. Within seconds, all of the creatures were gone, and surprisingly, not much damage could be seen on the street they had occupied just moments ago. This man must have had pretty good aim to accomplish that!
"Geez, what the hell are those blasted things doin' here in 1st District?" the man muttered angrily as he surveyed the scene. He then looked down at Sora. "Best be careful, kid. Ya never know when…" He trailed off when he saw that Sora wasn't paying attention, instead gawking at the scene.
"S-so many at once… h-how…?" stuttered the spiky-haired boy with a look of complete awe on his face. The man gave a small half-smile at his reaction.
"Not bad, eh?" he said nonchalantly as he pushed the weapon back into the floor, shutting the trapdoor over it. "Just a little somethin' I whipped up myself for situations like this. This whole place has got countermeasures all over it, 'case somethin' like this happens again. Can't be too careful, you know." He then stepped back behind the counter and leaned back against the wall. "So, I haven't seen you around here before… Sora, was it? Ya lost or somethin'?"
"No!" Sora quickly exclaimed, before remembering his current situation. "Well, actually, yeah, I guess you could say that. Where are we?"
"Eh?" The store-owner cocked an eyebrow at Sora. "Yer in Traverse Town, kid. Where else?"
"Traverse Town… so that's what this place is called," said Sora to himself, wondering what was going on. This place definitely couldn't have been anywhere on Destiny Islands, since back at home on the main island, there was only one large town where everyone lived, since that was about as much as the island's size allowed. But if he was here in this new town, and since he knew he wasn't dreaming, did that mean…?
He then looked back up at the shopkeeper. " I guess this means we're not at Destiny Islands then, huh?"
"Destiny Islands?"
"Yeah, it's my home island. Does this mean I'm in another world, gramps?"
"Don't call me gramps! The name's Cid!" the now-named Cid replied indignantly with an irritated expression, before immediately calming back down. "Anyways… not sure what yer talkin' about, sonny, but this sure ain't your island."
"Hmm… guess I'd better start looking for Riku, Kairi, and Luffy," Sora mused to himself, though Cid barely heard much of it.
"Well, good luck with whatever it is you're doin'," said Cid as Sora turned to leave. "And kid," he called out, causing the spiky-haired boy to pause in his tracks. "If you ever run into to trouble, just come to me. I'll give you a hand."
Sora regarded him for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Sure thing. Thanks, gramps!" he replied, saying the last part as he went out the door.
"I told you not to call me that! It's Cid!" Cid yelled after him as the doors closed behind him. He then began muttering irritably as he went back to reading his book. "Damn kids these days… no respect for their elders…"
0o0o0o0o0o0o—Second District
As Luffy continued walking through the town, he suddenly felt his stomach growling. "Ugh… so hungry…" Luffy moaned, his eyes half-lidded and his tongue hanging out. "OI! SANJI! FOOD!" He got no response, aside from some weird looks from the people around him. "Oh right, he's not here." His stomach growled again. "Uuuuggghh… Neeeeed fooood…"
Suddenly he stopped, taking a few sniffs of the air. This scent… so heavenly… so mouth-watering… it could only be…!
"FOOD!!" he yelled with joy as he took off running as fast as he could, following the scent trail.
After following the scent for a short time, Luffy managed to spot a restaurant ahead of him, apparently the source of the scent. "FOOD!!" he shouted again gleefully as he doubled his speed towards it.
Meanwhile, inside the restaurant…
Two men who had been hanging around the bar for much of the night finally got up and made for the exit, slightly tipsy from all the alcohol they had consumed. As they made to exit the building, the doors suddenly burst open from the outside as a teen in a straw hat and red vest came charging inside, flattening the two of them against the walls in the process, one on each side of the doorway. Shortly afterward, their bodies peeled off the wall and slumped to the floor. Luffy didn't seem to notice, however, as he immediately shot over to the bar and claimed a seat.
"Oi, ossan! Food! Food! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Luffy exclaimed quickly and loudly to the bartender, grabbing a fork and a knife and rapping them on the table with anticipation.
"Alright, alright, we'll get you some! Just hold your horses!" the bartender said irritably, rather annoyed with this kid's loud behaviour, especially during a night like this. With all that had been going on with the worlds disappearing from the sky and more and more new people arriving in town as a result, quiet business nights like this were becoming increasingly rare. Why did this kid have to come and ruin it?!
Finally, after a short while of putting up with Luffy's loud behaviour, the bartender and servers finally brought out some plates of assorted food from the menu to the bar, which the Straw Hat captain immediately devoured in less than half a minute, surprising everyone present. How could anyone eat so fast?!
"More! More! Lots more!" Luffy joyfully called out upon finishing the food, once again knocking his utensils on the bar.
The bartender, servers, and even the manager, who had come out due to all the noise Luffy was making, all let out a collective sigh. This was going to be a long night…
0o0o0o0o0o0o—First District, in front of Accessory shop
Sora stepped out of the Accessory shop and took a look around, wondering where he should go next. He needed to look for Riku, Kairi and Luffy, but he had no idea if those black creatures would come after him again. And if they did, he wasn't sure if he could make it back to the shop before they caught up with him. It was the only place he knew of so far where he could take refuge from them. But he couldn't ignore the fact that Riku, Kairi, and Luffy could be close by. What could he do?
"They'll come at you out of nowhere," came a serious voice to Sora's left, startling him. "And they'll just keep coming after you as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade."
Sora quickly turned in the direction of the voice and saw a muscular young man who looked at least ten years older than him standing there. He stood at least a head above Sora, had windswept, messy, medium-length brown hair, steel-grey eyes with a serious look in them, and a long diagonal scar running from his forehead across the bridge of his nose to just below his left eye. He wore a dark grey, short-sleeved jacket with fur lining the neck over a white shirt, black gloves along with three belts strapped to his left forearm, long black pants with what seemed like more belts than necessary, and black combat boots. He also wore a neck chain with what looked like a lion head on a cross hanging from it. To top it off, he also had a large, strange-looking sword with what looked like a gun for a hilt hanging from his belt, with a silver lion head hanging from it on a chain.
"Wha-? Wh-Who are you?!" stammered Sora. How did this person know about the Keyblade?!
"But why?" continued the person, seemingly ignoring Sora's question as he placed a hand on his forehead as if to signify that he was deep in thought. "Why would it choose a kid like you?"
Sora bristled upon hearing the word "kid" used to describe him again. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" he half-shouted indignantly. It was starting to get on his nerves!
"Never mind," said the stranger as he lowered his hand, before slowly advancing toward Sora. "Now," he said as he moved, reaching a hand forward. " Let's see that Keyblade."
"What?" Upon hearing this, Sora immediately reaffirmed his grip on his weapon. "Forget it! There's no way I'll let you take this!" he replied defiantly.
At Sora's display of defensiveness, the stranger let out a small sigh. "Alright then, have it your way." He then pulled out his gun-sword and moved into an offensive stance.
He then immediately sprung forward and swung his weapon down towards Sora. Sora yelped in surprise as he reflexively dove to the side, just barely avoiding the strike as it hit the ground he was standing on. Getting to his feet, Sora looked up to see the person striding towards him before swinging his sword in a horizontal slash towards him. Sora quickly brought up the Keyblade to block, but the power behind the attack sent Sora reeling back and falling to the ground.
Scrambling back to his feet, Sora gulped as he watched his opponent. This guy really wasn't messing around. Would he be able to win against him?
0o0o0o0o0o0o—Second District, Restaurant
Not long after Luffy had arrived in the restaurant, the customers there had begun to notice portions of their food disappearing from their plates; sometimes even right off their forks. But looking around, they couldn't see anyone running off or ducking under their tables to steal it. What was going on?
After a short period of confusion, the customers, as well as the employees, began to notice the hands grabbing the food and shooting away, right back to the body they belonged to…
Luffy's.
Despite the fact that he had plenty of food fresh from the kitchen in front of him, the rubber man was periodically stretching out his arms to grab people's food right off their plates, somehow managing to keep stuffing his face with both his and the customers' food even while he was stealing it. And as if the fact that he was stretching his arms wasn't a big enough shock, he was somehow able to grab the food with pinpoint accuracy despite facing the bar the entire time!
Soon, though, the shock wore off. Once Luffy finished up the food in front of him, he leaned back and sighed contentedly, patting his slightly distended stomach. "Ah, that was so good!" he said dreamily as he opened his eyes… only to find himself surrounded by what looked like the entire restaurant's customers, as well as the manager, all giving him a collective glare that could wither a boulder.
"Kid… you better have a hell of a lot of money on you if you wanna stay outta trouble," growled the restaurant manager.
"Eh?" Luffy tilted his head to the side in confusion, then began patting himself down, searching for any money he might have had on him, with all eyes on him as he did so. After a few seconds, he stopped and looked up with a grin.
"Nope! Sorry!"
5 seconds later…
"WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
"GET HIIIIMMMMM!!!"
Luffy came bursting out of the restaurant entrance, screaming at the top of his lungs with a look of comical terror on his face and running as fast as he could, quickly followed by an irate mob of customers and employees alike, many of which brandished clubs, pitchforks and torches as they gave chase, though no one had any idea where those came from. Deciding it would be safer, Luffy quickly stretched his arms up and yanked himself up onto the rooftops, continuing his escape up there.
After some more rooftop leaping and hiding, Luffy finally managed to lose the mob. Looking down from his spot on top of an apartment building, he spotted a sign that said '1st District'. "Huh? Of what?" said the rubberman, scratching his head with confusion.
At that moment, Luffy heard some fighting sounds coming from somewhere close by. Getting curious, he quickly leaped off across the rooftops to investigate.
0o0o0o0o0o0o—Back in First District
Sora quickly parried an attack from the Gunblade wielder and aimed a vertical slash at him. The man dodged and jumped back a fair distance, almost causing Sora to lose his balance from the momentum of his swing, but he managed to remain standing. Quickly looking up, he saw the stranger lift two fingers in front of his face and close his eyes as if in concentration, before glowing orange energy quickly condensed around his hand into a fireball and shot at Sora like a bullet. Sora yelped in fright as he instinctively jumped away, barely avoiding the fireball as it hit the cobblestones of the street, flaring out of existence and leaving a scorch mark.
Sora didn't have time to recover, though, as the man was quickly upon him again, hitting him with a punch to the stomach. Sora wheezed as the wind got knocked out of him and stumbled back slightly. Looking up again, he saw the man readying a vertical slash downward, and quickly dove to the side as he brought the blade down, the sound of a gunshot ringing out from the sword as the man swung it.
Sora slowly got to his feet with a bit of difficulty, trying to regain his breath from being winded, and slowly raised the Keyblade into position with one hand, cradling his abdomen with the other. Who was this guy? How did he know about the Keyblade? And why did he want it so badly?!
Sora didn't have time to think about it as the man in front of him suddenly charged forward and began repeatedly slashing at Sora. Sora was barely able to fend off his strikes as he brought up the Keyblade and blocked and dodged to the best of his ability. With how aggressively his opponent was attacking, Sora was forced back to move backwards to avoid getting hit, leaving no room for him to recover and counterattack.
Sora grew more and more fearful as the attack continued on. How could he win against this guy? What if he couldn't? What was going to happen to him if he lost?!
The force of the next strike almost knocked Sora to the ground, causing him to reflexively throw out his arms to maintain his balance. But in doing so, he left himself wide open for attack!
Sora could only watch in fear as the man quickly raised his weapon above his head, clearly intending to end it with one final strike. With nothing left that he could do, Sora squeezed his eyes shut and tensed up in preparation for the blow.
But the blow never came.
Sora stood there for a moment after regaining his balance, his eyes still shut tight and tense all over. But upon realizing he was still alive and conscious, he gingerly opened his eyes... and found himself staring down the point of his opponent's sword poised directly in front of his face. On reflex, Sora gulped again.
"Relax, kid, I won't kill you," said the stranger as he lowered his weapon and placed it back at his side, causing Sora to let out a sigh of relief. The next moment, though, the stranger disappeared in a blur, startling him.
"But unfortunately, I'm going to have to ask you to take a little nap," the man's voice said from behind him. The last thing Sora felt was a hard chop to the back of his neck, and then everything went black.
--
Leon shook his head as he stared at the prone form of the young boy in front of him. This boy – this kid – was the one the Keyblade chose? How could it have chosen him of all people? He was barely even trying, and yet was able to overpower the boy this easily. He couldn't see any way that this kid could accomplish his duty as the Keyblade master. True, he had a little bit of fight in him, but how could anyone expect him to be able to save all worlds from the darkness?
He'd have to figure it out later. Right now, he had to get this kid to the hotel so that he and the others could explain everything. Leon then bent down to scoop the boy up.
"BASTAAAARRRRD!! YOU BEAT UP SORA!!"
Leon looked up in alarm and saw a skinny-looking teenager in a straw hat, red vest, blue jean shorts and sandals standing on the roof of one of the apartment complexes, a look of righteous fury on his face that was directed at Leon.
"Hold on, whoever you are," began Leon, holding up a hand in a halting gesture. "I don't know who you are or how you know this kid, but –"
"GOMU GOMU NO PISTOL!!"
Leon barely managed to get his Gunblade up in time as the teen reared his fist back and fired out a stretching punch that shot out and hit the blade with a loud CLANG! The power behind the punch sent Leon sliding back ten feet on his feet, barely managing to remain standing. His eyes widened slightly at that maneuver. How did he stretch his arm like that??
Before he could think or do anything else, the attacker leapt high into the air off the roof and reared back both his fists in midair for another attack.
"GOMU GOMU NO GATLING GUN!!"
Leon just barely managed to dive out of the way as a whole barrage of stretching punches came raining down, pummeling the ground he had stood on and its surrounding area, followed quickly by the straw hat kid who threw them. Getting to his feet, Leon brought up his Gunblade and narrowed his eyes at the stranger, who looked right back at him with an angry glare. Whoever this guy was, he clearly had a connection of some kind to the Keyblade wielder he had just knocked out. He was also quite strong, and had some strange ability to stretch his arms. While he didn't think he would lose against him, Leon still hoped he could talk some sense into him before anyone else got hurt.
After a short moment of staring/glaring, the newcomer charged forward, prompting Leon to do the same, and the fight began.
Author's Note: First off, I'm very, VERY sorry for the lateness of this update. A lot of things have been going on these past few months, such as applying and preparing for college in the fall, working overtime with my job, and a whole lot of other things that have cut into my time and sapped my motivation and creativity. Real life sucks, doesn't it? :D But still, four and a half months is hardly a reasonable amount of time to wait for another chapter, so I will strive to be faster with my updates in the future.
But worry not! I have no intention of abandoning this story. In fact, these past few months have also been rather fruitful in the way of planning out the rest of the story as a whole (with much help from my good friends FictionReader98 and Zoneshifter D; thanks a million, guys!), and believe me, it will be quite exciting. So don't go away just yet, the REAL fun of this story has yet to begin!
For those of you wondering about the part with Cid springing the Cid Cannon out of the floor, think of it like those spring-loaded extending cartoon boxing gloves (if that makes any sense to you). I wasn't sure if I had described it effectively in the narrative, so I thought I'd just clarify it here.
That's about all I've got to say for now. Again, please review, as it makes my and every other author's day on this site. Again, any constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms.
Techniques used in this chapter:
Gomu Gomu no Pistol: No translation needed. Luffy throws a straight punch that stretches his arm out and hits an opponent from a distance away.
Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun: No translation needed. Luffy sends out a rapid-fire barrage of stretching punches, moving his arms so fast that it appears as though he has multiple arms. Each individual punch is not as powerful as the Pistol attack, but allows many more hits to land.
Gomu Gomu no Rocket: No translation needed. Luffy stretches out his arms (or one arm, depending on the situation), and retracts them to launch himself at high speed into the air, or towards a distant target. This move can also be used to ram an enemy with his body. Canon technique.
Many thanks to FictionReader98 and Zoneshifter D for their help with this chapter!
Luffy has now met Leon, but the encounter is not a friendly one. How will their fight turn out? Who is this girl in a pink dress? And how will they explain to Sora and Luffy the Keyblade and other worlds? Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Heart of a Pirate!