Here we are, with another chapter! As the chapter title says, there's quite a bit of unwanted conflict in this chapter, but there are so many loose ends to tie up and plots to continue! Let's see what's in store, shall we?
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Chapter 74:
Unnecessary Aggression
Luffy's fist broke through the building wall, a section of its interior crumpling in on itself as his arm retracted. The pirate captain didn't care about the property damage, nor did he have the time or ability to as the ground where he'd been standing was crushed under the Haki-coated cranium of Don Chinjao.
"I don't have time for this, Stupid Beard Guy," Luffy growled, trying for the nth time to explain that their fight really needed to happen later.
"This fight will be the last of your time, grandson of Garp!" Don Chinjao roared, his beard somehow defying gravity so the ends raised to give an appearance like white flame. "Pay for the sins of your family!"
"What Gramps does isn't my problem!" Luffy charged forward, spinning into an unannounced Gum-Gum Whip, but Don Chinjao had not reached such an age by being weak. He extended his hand, his fingers curling in around the younger man's leg as the attack struck his palm. "Ah crap…"
"Die!" The larger and older man yanked, swinging Luffy up off the ground before spinning. It appeared that the 12th leader of the Happo Navi didn't care about the collateral either given the way he began smashing Luffy into every structure in the area. Walls were smashed through, houses caved in, businesses and their merchandise scattered, and the only statue in the area (one of Doflamingo with his smarmy grin) snapped in half. Had the pirate captain the wherewithal to recognize that last one, he wouldn't have felt so bad about the bronze cracking under the force of his high-speed rubbery spine. As it was, though, he was too dizzy at that point to know or recognize what he was hitting.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Luffy grunted, the young father thankful for his rubber constitution. Sure, he was pretty sure others on his crew like Zoro or Sanji could take this sort of beating without a Devil Fruit, but his rubber body at least saved him the pain of the bruises and the chance of broken bones. Most of the blunt damage wouldn't affect him, but plenty of those stones and otherwise had sharper points. "Damn it, old man!"
"Why won't you repent and die already?" Don Chinjao demanded, slamming Luffy into the ground one more time before reeling him in, wrapping his stretchy leg like a garden hose. He raised his other hand, the air starting to waver around his fist. "Eight Important Point Fist!"
Luffy crossed his arms over his chest and covered them in Haki, the old man's own Haki-coated fist driving his back into the cobblestone with a flash of black lightning, the ground giving way beneath. The impact kicked up a massive plume of dust, obscuring both fighters' visions. Don Chinjao stood, fist still planted in the ground as if hoping that keeping it there would ensure the pirate's permanent burial.
"Finally," he grunted, the dust in the air rippling and folding in on itself with his every panting breath. "That wasn't so hard."
"You're big, Stupid Beard Guy," Luffy said from below, Don Chinjao's eyes widening. A gust of wind blew, taking the dust cloud with it to reveal a smirk on the behatted pirate's face. "Bigger than Gramps, even, but he hits way harder than you do."
Before Don Chinjao could get over his shock at Luffy's survival, the pirate shifted, bringing his feet up to press his sandals against the large man's fingers. He grunted, the force in his push further cracking the earth as Don Chinjao was pushed back.
"No!" he yelled. "I won't let you get away from me!" He swung downward with his other fist, but Luffy was already gone, leaving only the cratered ground to absorb the punch.
"Looks like I did, though!" Luffy taunted, the pirate hanging by one hand from one of the ruined buildings, a foot pressed against the wall. "Honestly, you're not that strong, Stupid Beard Guy. I don't even need my Second Gear to beat you."
"Don't mock me, grandson of Garp! I'll kill you for sure! I'll renew my vow of hatred to your ninth generation! Drill-less Dragon's Drill-less Bit!"
"Like I care about any of that!" Luffy launched himself from his perch the moment before it was crushed under Don Chinjao's Haki-coated head. Luffy landed, already spinning to face the mountain of a man. "I don't care what Gramps does! I don't care what my dad does! And when he's older, Ace's life will be his to live without me getting in the way! All this talk about generations of this and generations of that, take it up with Gramps! It's not my problem!"
"I'm making it your problem!" Fists began raining down as the man approached the younger pirate, each hit making a crater closer and closer to the intended target. "108 Important Point Fists!"
"Now you're just pissing me off, Stupid Beard Guy!" Luffy stepped forward, planting his feet. "Gum-Gum Gatling!"
Fists beat against fists, both fighters trying to overpower each other with their barrages. The air around them rippled from the force of each strike, neither fighter wanting to give even an inch.
It was Don Chinjao whose defense cracked first, one of Luffy's punches managing to slip through his larger fists to land on the man's cheek. He wobbled, the force of the blow making him shift backward slightly. That was all the opening Luffy needed.
"Rrraaaaahhhhhhh!" he yelled, redoubling his effort as more and more attacks met their intended mark, each one making Don Chinjao give another inch. Soon, it was a foot, then a yard, then more as the ground given up became exponential. Unlike the bearded elder, Luffy was not limited to a single arm's length in range, even with the man's greater size. The younger pirate simply did not need to get into his range, Luffy's own extending with each punch.
"No!" the 12th leader of the Happo Navy denied. "No! I refuse! I won't lose to the Monkey family again!"
"You're not losing to my family!" Luffy yelled, a swung right hook smashing into Don Chinjao's cheek hard enough to make him spin. "Gramps and my dad aren't here. Nami, Ace, and Sabo aren't here. You're losing to me! Gum-Gum Bazooka!"
Luffy's hands smacked into Don Chinjao's gut, sending the man skidding over what remained of the road. He wobbled, panting, and barely maintained his footing. He had a black eye now, its color darkening as the bruise formed, and blood leaked from between his lips. Slowly, he raised a hand to wipe away some of the blood before coughing.
"Why are you so mad at Gramps, anyway?" Luffy asked. "I mean, you've been screaming about revenge and stuff, but what'd he do to you?"
"He took everythin' from me," the man answered, his words a little slurred, probably from a concussion. "My head, my fortune, my strength… I lost it all to Garp on that damned day! And If I'd known he had a son at all, Dragon wouldn't've lived long enough to have you!"
"So you fought Gramps; that doesn't answer my question." Luffy shifted, his body tense to react if the man made any move toward him. "Besides, you look like you still have your head."
"Not all of it!" Don Chinjao raised his hands, forming something of a triangle over his bald cranium. "When I was a pirate, they called me The Drill because my head was pointed! With it and my Haki, I could break anything! Anything! Even the Ice Continent where I hid my vast fortune! And then Garp came along! His fist cratered my proud head, locking away my treasure from me!"
Luffy stared at him. He blinked. Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
"SHISHISHISHAHAHAHA!" the pirate laughed, nearly tipping over. He steadied himself on a piece of debris, unaware and unconcerned with the angry vein that pulsed on Don Chinjao's forehead. "You—! You're—! You're mad 'cause Gramps punched you! Shishishishishishi!"
"He took everything from me!" Don Chinjao roared.
"He punches everyone!" Luffy replied through his laughter. "He punched me and Sabo and Ace all the time when we were little! He would've punched my Ace if Nami and I hadn't stopped him! You're stupid!"
"Do not insult me, boy! Because of Garp, my fortune is locked away from me within a glacier, constantly taunting me!"
"That's your own fault, Stupid Beard Guy! Who puts money in ice?" Luffy paused, his head tilting. "I wonder if that's what Nami means when she says, 'cold hard cash'?"
"You…!" The heat of Don Chinjao's anger was nearly palpable, seeming to cause fluctuations in the air around him as it rippled upward. He was so angry that he seemed to forget how to speak. Rushing forward, the man started smashing his head into the earth, forcing Luffy to jump back with each new attack.
"Geeze, Old Guy. Listen, I don't have time for this. I'll beat you up after I've beaten Mingo." He ducked under a wild punch, noticing that his backpedaling had resulted in them moving into a less-destroyed part of town. Doflamingo subordinates and marines nearly lined the streets, most of them hiding in the shadows of alleyways between buildings. One, possibly a leader of their group, raised a rifle and took a shot at the Straw Hat pirate.
Luffy spun, not wanting to deal with the projectile. Rather, it sped past, planting itself into Don Chinjao's arm. He grunted, glancing at the new bullet hole.
"Right," he muttered. "We aren't alone. I forgot. Let me deal with these weaklings. Then we can continue our fight."
"I don't have time—" Luffy tried to reiterate (not that he knew the word reiterate or what it meant). Don Chinjao ignored him, jumping forward so he landed upside-down on his head. He extended his legs.
"Head Martial Arts Spin!" The 12th leader of the Happo navy started spinning, as the attack name suggested he would, the man curving toward the largest group of underlings. They screamed, trying to run from that massive top of angry large-human.
Luffy rolled his eyes and turned the opposite direction, focusing mainly on the mooks with guns. His fists shot forward, picking out specific individuals with ranged weaponry over the others. "Gum-Gum Sniper!"
"They're just two guys!" one of the marines yelled, charging forward with a number of other swordsmen. "Arrest them!"
"Gum-Gum Whip!" Luffy spun, Chinjao orbiting in the opposite direction with a hop to jump the stretchy leg. The brave —or foolish— marines and pirates that had thought to come out of the alleys were easily mowed over by leg or by head, even some closer to the edge being taken out of the fight by debris from the collapsing buildings. Within moments, Luffy and Don Chinjao were the only conscious humans in the area, the former slowing to a stop.
"Wow," Luffy commented, surveying the area as Don Chinjao got to his feet. "We make a pretty good team, Stupid Beard Guy! You should join my pirate crew!"
"I would never!" the larger man denied, covering his entire head with Armament Haki. "Let us finish this here and now! Drill-less Dragon's Drill-less Bit!"
Luffy sighed as the man approached, the younger throwing his leg in the air as it, too, was coated in Haki.
"Gum-Gum…!" He timed everything instinctually, trusting his gut. "Battle Ax!"
Heel met head in a burst of black lightning. Both pirates all but froze, Don Chinjao pressing his hands against the ground to combat the inertia Luffy's leg had between his own force and gravity.
Then, all at once, something gave. Don Chinjao's head expanded, its original drill-like point flying out from where Garp had squished it all those years ago even as Luffy's kick altered his momentum, sending the man into the ground where his newly-pointed head drilled him further down. Luffy panted, staring at where the crazy old man was now planted to his neck upside-down in the road.
"Are we done here?" he asked. Don Chinjao didn't respond immediately, his hands moving to push him up far enough that the road holding him gave way. He fell flat, face-down, only to roll over after a moment.
"It's… It's back…?" he questioned, his hands feeling his pointed head. "My drill is back?"
"Yeah," Luffy replied. "I mean, Gramps punched it into your head, so why wouldn't a kick make it pop out? It's just math. It's, like, opposites and stuff."
It was not math. It was not any type of math, opposites or otherwise, but Don Chinjao refused to let such idiotic reasoning ruin this moment for him. Tears welled in his eyes.
"You've given me everything back, Straw Hat," he muttered through the tears. "I won't hold my grudge anymore. If you need anything, you have the Happo Navy at your disposal."
"Ok, thanks," Luffy shrugged. He didn't have any need for a navy. "Anyway, I need to go—"
"Hey, look!" a voice called. "We found him!"
"We somehow reached the other set of docks first, Pirate Hunter-ya!"
"Luffy! Do you remember me?"
"Zoro!" Luffy called, waving. "Traffy! And Jinbei? What are you doing here?"
"It's a long story," the fishman replied as the trio stopped before him, ignoring the crying old man feeling his pointed head. "All you need to know is that I'm here to help you take down Doflamingo."
"Great! Where're Nami and the others?"
"They went toward the Colosseum," Law answered. "We need to get moving. Now."
"Yeah, yeah," Luffy nodded. "Let's go, then!"
The now-quartet took off, Law leading the way back toward the Castle Plateau.
A multitude of voices screamed in Coby's Observation, the sudden, all-at-once influx nearly dropping him to his knees. Though he didn't fall, he did slow to a stop, a hand shooting to his head.
"Coby?" Nami questioned, her tug making Billy slow down. "What is it?"
"Something just happened," the Zoan reported. "I don't know what, but it hurt. It was… I don't know. Like a hundred or so voices all screaming at once and then silence. I have to check it out."
"Would you like assistance?" Brook asked.
"No, thank you." Coby shook his head. "You all go on ahead. I'll catch up." He turned slightly, looking in the direction from which he'd heard the noise. "I think I have to do this alone."
"Be careful," Robin warned. "If you have to pick between yourself and justice, please pick yourself."
"Come on, Robin," the roset huffed with a shallow grin. "Is that really a choice I can make?"
Before any of his crewmates could get in another word, Coby morphed into his Slasher Mode and took off, blurring in and out of view as he balanced speed and his own vision. He had a rough idea of where the screams had come from, but he didn't know what to expect when he found the location.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, it wasn't that hard to find a large block of translucent purple candy, Coby hunching down on the roof of a nearby building as he took in the scene.
On one side, with a massive block of purple holding countless small dots inside, stood an annoyingly-familiar face, a cocky grin stretched over a deeply-cleft chin. Helmeppo still had one arm raised, almost leaning on his creation.
Across from the youngest Vice-Admiral stood three figures with a small cloud of yellow that had apparently avoided the marine's ambush, though one of them was harder to see than the other two. The first was a tall, muscular man with only one leg, a broadsword held at the ready. The second was a small woman with periwinkle hair in a lab coat, matching Nami's description of Velori Velo. The last was much smaller than the other two, Coby suspecting the mostly-green spot was one of the so-called dwarves Kaku had mentioned at one point. A closer look at the cloud revealed that it was, in actuality, a number of dwarves on wasps or beetles, a small woman in the lead with a purple color scheme and some sort of bee or hornet Zoan power.
"Why did you ambush us?" the man demanded. "You are a marine. We have no quarrel with you! Our problem is with Doflamingo!"
"Yes," Helmeppo replied, his voice dripping with some annoyed emotion Coby couldn't name. "You have several things skewed in your thinking. One: as a Warlord and the king of this nation, Doflamingo is under the employ of the World Government, making him an asset for us to protect and your cause against him treason. Two: I see you currently harboring a highly-wanted pirate and subordinate of an Emperor, making you a pirate conspirator to 'Beast King' Kaido."
"If traitor and conspirator are titles we need to defeat the mad king, then they are titles we will bear," the bee-hornet-woman voiced.
"And finally, three," Helmeppo finished, ignoring her. "This is the type of situation my ultimate prey can't help but run to like a fly to honey."
The blond's eyes moved from the group on the ground to the rooftop, making contact with Coby's own. The grin widened into a cold smirk.
"'Tri-Horn' Coby. We meet again."
Coby huffed, a growl rumbling in the back of his throat. He hopped off the roof, shifting into his Hybrid Mode so the cobblestone cracked and crunched on his landing. His hands slowly slid Hoshokusha and Emono free from their sheaths. "What the hell are you doing here, Helmeppo?"
"When the call for back-up went out to the surrounding branches and word was that the Straw Hats were causing mayhem in Dressrosa, I just couldn't stay away," the marine replied, raising a hand palm-up. He closed it slowly. "After all, you and your captain have slipped through my fingers twice now. It's only fitting I be part of the force that finally brings you down."
"Then you'd fight to defend a tyrannical Warlord? A pirate who kidnapped people and caused their families and friends to forget they ever existed?" Coby demanded. With all focus in the area directed at the pair, Velo took the chance to tiptoe away. No one noticed. "All to just get back at us? I knew your sense of justice was warped, but I didn't know it was so hypocritical, too."
"That Warlord is under the command of the World Government and thus enjoys a portion of our leniency, Tri-Horn. You, however, are set for a lifetime in Impel Down. Assuming I don't kill you here and now, of course."
"You know, I've been there," Coby snarked with a roll of his eyes. "Absolutely shit service. They wouldn't even bring me a Cola. Negative-four out of five. Too much ice."
"Lizard!" the non-insectoid dwarf called. "Are you here to fight this human?"
"More like he's here to fight me," Coby responded. "I'm sorry you got caught up in it."
"He's used his Devil Fruit to capture over half of the Tontatta warriors in our force," the one-legged human said. "Please, help us free them."
"I'll do what I can. Helmeppo, let's take this over here." Coby shuffled sideways, keeping both of his eyes on his foe. The marine didn't move except to keep Coby in his own gaze.
"How naive," he snarled. "You think a marine has any impetus to listen to a pirate when he proposes something as stupid as a one-on-one? Candy Land!"
Purple candy raced out from Helmeppo's feet, moving in all directions. Coby was able to jump, avoiding the worst of it, and the bee-woman and her force were already in the air, but the one-legged man and the other dwarf had no such reaction time. Both gasped, the human wobbling as his balance was threatened while the dwarf's cry was lost in the mound of candy that engulfed him.
"Captain Leo!" the female dwarf yelled.
"His power is candy," Coby warned them as he landed. His weight cracked the Candy Land directly beneath him, granting his shoes a little more traction. "I don't know what it tastes like, but he's a Logia. You don't stand a chance if you don't know Armament Haki or have flour."
"Giving away another's weaknesses is in poor taste, Tri-Horn," Helmeppo warned, dashing —or more accurately, skating— over the candy at a speed incapable for most people. Coby didn't hesitate, his swords coming up to block the candy kukri knives that Helmeppo formed, metal and food clashing with a CLANG.
"We'll get you out, Captain Leo!" the woman insisted, her swarm of bees, beetles, and riders scrambling around their captured commander. Coby didn't have time to focus, the Straw Hat pirate deciding to press his advantage and go on the offensive.
"Pterodactyl Swarm!"
"That won't work on me," Helmeppo bragged, Coby's flying slashes passing through his Logia form with only a few splashes of viscous candy. He launched forward to close the distance between them once more. Hoshokusha moved, catching one of the kukri before it could decapitate the pirate even as Helmeppo's other tried to stab his chosen arch-nemesis.
With no time to block, Coby instead changed to his Slasher Mode, jumping upward in a half-flip that had the candy weapon miss him by millimeters. He shifted to his Drill Mode quickly, kicking off the Air with Moonwalk straight downward.
"Drill Mode Five-Point Style: Mesozoic Meteor!"
Helmeppo spat a curse and flung himself to the side, the space where he'd been standing turning into a hole as Coby did an impressive impersonation of a mole. Faster than Helmeppo had thought possible, Coby zipped around just under the surface of his Candy Land, his trail marked by lines of cracked and shattered candy above. One line went under the one-legged man and another under the trapped dwarf, breaking both fighters free of their candy confines.
"Tch," the Logia hissed. "What an annoying—"
"Thunder Soldier‽"
Movement in the area stopped as every eye turned to the voice. Standing on the edge of the Candy Land was Rebecca, King Riku, Kin'emon, and Kajuro flanking her.
"Kyros?" the former king questioned. "Is… Is that you?"
"Rebecca," the named man smiled. "King Riku. I've returned to the flesh."
"The hell is this?" Helmeppo demanded. "A family reunion in the middle of a battle?"
"Yes, it is," the former king replied. "Rebecca, that's your father, the warrior Kyros and the former head of the Dressrosian Army."
"…Dad?" Rebecca took a step forward only to freeze. Coby broke free of the ground, transforming into his Armor Mode as Hoshokusha and Emono intercepted Helmeppo's attempted attack on the woman.
"You have no shame, do you?" the pirate growled.
"Sir Coby!" Kin'emon gasped. "Izou is retrieving his men now! We only need to protect the king and princess until they arrive, but we are being pursued!"
"This day just gets better and better," the roset growled.
"Captain Leo, I'm so glad to see you're—!"
The bee-woman's cheer was cut off by a scream, one echoed by a number of her own forces as each in the air, dwarf, beetle, and bee alike, was cut in twain. The whip-like blade was only stopped by Kyros' own, shoving him back nearly a foot in the direction of his daughter, his father-in-law, the Zoan pirate, and the samurai.
"I was hoping to get them all in one swoop," Diamante growled, carelessly stepping on several of the bisected insects and dwarves. Leo's grip on his needle tightened to the point his weapon shook as the Doflamingo Officer crushed poor Bian's remains. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't be fun that way. Hey, marine. In the name of my Captain, the Warlord Doquixote Doflamingo, help me kill these pirates and traitors."
Helmeppo raised one of his kukri to his lips, licking the candy blade. "With pleasure."
With the defeat of most of the Doflamingo pirates in the area including Buffalo, Señor Pink, and Lao G, the defection of Baby 5, a heavily-reduced number of able-bodied marines, and the fight of Diamante, the Colosseum's battle had mostly wound to a close. Only a handful of Captains and Vice-Admirals truly stood any chance of making significant headway against the combined forces of pirates, gladiators, and revolutionaries.
Sabo stood in the approximate center of what had once been an arena, the area little more than hunks of broken stone on the cracked and drained floor of the moat, the weakly-flopping fighting fish that were too big or too slow to follow the water down rendering no threat to anyone. Arrayed to his left were Koala, Hack, and William D. Chapston of the Revolutionary Army. To his right were Chopper, Franky, Usopp, little Ace, and Sanji of the Straw Hats and Bartolomeo and the still-heavily-injured Gambia of the Barto Club Pirates. Behind them were the rest of the survivors, bodies (breathing and in one piece or various states of otherwise) strewn amongst them.
Facing them were Vice-Admirals Dalmatian and Bastille, Lieutenant Commander Drake, and a number of other Captains—all that remained of the Marines forces that had been inside and surrounding the Colosseum in the hopes of arresting defeated and weakened pirates as they left. Dalmatian growled, his hands shaking as blood from various injuries ran down his arms and fingers to drip into a shallow puddle at his feet. Neither Bastille nor Drake looked much better. That was not to say the pirates and allies were in perfect condition; there were simply far more of them.
"We can keep going if you want," Sabo smirked through a black eye, the blond leveling his pipe at the opposing force.
"And then what?" Dalmatian spat, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "You don't slaughter us to a man and we all skip out of here best friends?"
"Uh, yeah!" little Ace answered from Chopper's back, the doctor in his Walk Point. "Daddy doesn't like killing! It's bad and makes people sad! That's why Daddy punches the evil outta people!"
"Straw Hat prefers… not to kill?" Bastille blinked.
"Yeah, that's kind of a thing," Sanji replied, taking a deep pull from his cigarette before tapping the ash away over the unconscious body of Señor Pink. "Most of the guys we fight either don't deserve to die or deserve worse than death."
"That does not explain Ennies Lobby."
"It's always back to Ennies Lobby with you guys!" Usopp yelled. "That was one time two years ago and we were on a timer! It's your fault for CP9 taking Robin and Franky! Geeze!"
"What's this innie-place?" Ace questioned. "Is it like a bellybutton island? How'd that work?"
"We'll tell you about it later," Chopper insisted. "Anyway, does anyone need immediate medical attention?"
"Uh, Gambia does, M-M-M-Mr. Ch-Chop-per, sir," Bartolomeo replied. "His wounds from the tournament o-o-opened again d-during the fight."
"Alright." Chopper hurried over, using one of his antlers to lift Ace off his back and set him down. "Now pay attention, Ace. This is how you disinfect a deep slash without poisoning the patient."
"I'm watching, Choppy-sensei!"
"So cool!" Bartolomeo whispered. "You're so lucky, Gambia!"
"Did you just forget about us?" Drake questioned.
"It's not that they forgot," Franky replied, his rounded shoulders opening to show the prepped missiles waiting within. "It's that they super don't have to care."
"Should, uh…" one of the Captains muttered. "Should we just cut our losses?"
"We still have two Vice-Admirals," another whispered back. "We can take them."
"I mean, we haven't taken them yet," a third commented. There was a crash from the streets beyond the colosseum. "And there's still the giant to deal with."
"Honestly, you should be thanking us," Sabo shrugged.
"And why, pray tell, should we?" Bastille demanded.
"Because Doflamingo is stabbing you in the back and we're here to deal with the problem for you."
"Uh, speaking of Mingo," Usopp said, a waver in his voice. "What's with the lines in the sky? I'm assuming that's something to do with him?"
"Truthfully, we're as clueless about that as you are," Dalmatian admitted. He flexed his fists, flinching as he settled back into a fighting stance. "That said, we'd be in the doghouse if we just gave up."
"They never take the easy way, do they?" Koala questioned. Just because there was no water left did not mean she was less dangerous with her Fishman Karate.
"Nothing's changed in 20 years," William chuckled, drawing his sword. "Don't blame us if you see the light."
"Let's go!" Sabo ordered, charging ahead. He jumped, spinning forward before bringing his pipe down toward the stronger marines. "Quaking Dragon Shatter!"
The colosseum shook from the force of the impact as the marines jumped away, pirates and likewise flanking them from either side. There was little any of them could do against such numbers, worn down as both sides were at that point. Drake was the only one to escape, the lowest-ranking of the group using the fortunate timing of an unfortunate coworker to slip away from Hack's attention and into the bowels of the building.
"See?" Sabo questioned, tapping the end of his pipe on the ground before Dalmatian, the Zoan out of his transformed state now that his every effort was going into trying to just stay conscious. That he was at all said a lot about his endurance seeing as he'd been caught in a pincer between Sabo and Sanji. "All this could have been avoided if you'd just surrendered. Oh well."
The scarred blond brought his pipe down on the marine's skull. It wasn't enough to kill the man, but it was none-too-gentle and would certainly leave a lasting mark. Luckily for Dalmatian, he didn't feel a thing in the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.
"Alright," Bartolomeo grinned, cracking his knuckles over the downed form of Vice-Admiral Bastille. "What's next?"
Usopp dropped a Bamboo Spear seed, the sniper grabbing the top as it sprouted so the rapidly-growing plant carried him upward to the point where he could see beyond the broken walls of the building.
"There're still pirates and marines everywhere in the streets!" he reported, hoping his position poised on the bamboo made him look cool to Ace. He would be the coolest uncle, after all. "If we want to get anywhere, we'll have to go through them!"
"Long-Nose has a point," William nodded, ignoring the indignant "Hey!" that came from said Long-Nose above. "Plus, I'm sure all those toys and their families are confused as shit about everything."
"Watch your mouth around Ace, old man!"
"I'm not old, Long-Nose!" The former pirate captain glared at the perched sniper. "Say that again and I'll have to call in Verona to give you another asshole!"
"Don't know who that is, but I'm sure I'm a better shot!"
"Girls, you're both pretty," Sabo said with a roll of his eyes. "Look, let's see who we can still save here before we move on to the clean-up, yeah?"
"You all can do that without me," Sanji commented, the chef turning away from them as something tickled his Observation. He jumped, using Sky Walk to climb to the top of the Colosseum wall.
"What's up, Sanji?" Usopp asked.
"A woman needs me," Sanji replied, his visible eye registering movement. He vanished with Shave, reappearing in the streets below. His senses tingled, the familiar spirit of a beauty calling to his Haki, but she was getting further away. Why? Sanji didn't understand, but he didn't need to. He followed the trail.
It was only a couple moments before the smoking man caught a hint of yellow, a trail of unconscious bodies left in both his wake and hers. Sanji rounded the corner only to stop. He blinked.
"Amy? What's going on? Who are they?"
"Sanji~" Amy grinned, but there was something off about her smile. It lacked any real emotion, not quite meeting her eyes. "Oh, you don't need to be so defensive around these guys. Tamago and Pekoms aren't gonna hurt you if you don't do anything stupid. They're here to escort us to the wedding."
"W… Wedding?" the chef echoed. "What are you talking about?"
"You didn't tell him?" Pekoms muttered with a growl.
"It's fine," the woman waved off, but again Sanji sensed that something was off. Her movements were almost robotic, as if a part of her wanted to resist. "He's gonna love her. I know it."
"Amy," Sanji warned, an edge in his voice. "What is this?"
"Bon— We need to hurry this up before we're seen —soir," Tamago said. He flashed forward, only instincts that Sanji reacted to before he could understand them intercepting the Long-Leg's leg with his own before it was planted in his gut. Even so, the force behind the kick was enough to pick the blond off the ground, flinging him backward. He flipped, using Sky Walk to right himself in midair even as Pekoms moved, appearing behind him with claws raised.
Sanji twisted, one of his legs lashing out to crash against Pekom's crossed arms. A single surge of black lightning shot from where they were connected, the Lion Mink's beady eyes widening slightly as dark miasma formed around the human's leg.
"We don't need any of that —s'il vous plait," Tamago said, an ax kick coming down on Sanji before he could recover. His impact with the ground cratered the road, the Straw Hat pirate called Black Leg coughing blood from the landing even as he bounced. Tamago didn't let up, kicking him again to send him into the wall of a building.
"Ow…" Sanji groaned, trying to get to his feet. A small foot stepped on his arm, the chef's eyes following its long, smooth leg to the flared, yellow dress. Amy gave him an uncomfortable smile as Tamago and Pekoms walked over to flank her, the former sipping at the teacup usually perched upon his head. Amy knelt, getting down closer to the male human.
"Trust me, Sanji. This will be good for all of us."
"Amy—!"
She swung a piece of debris down, the increased-mass hunk of rock cracking against Sanji's skull. His visible eye rolled, the man going limp as blood started to soak his hair and run down the side of his face.
"Err… He's fine, right?" Pekoms commented as Amy climbed off her crewmate, gathering him up to pass him to the mink.
"It'll take a lot more than this to kill Sanji. He's as stupidly dense as our captain, Zoro, and Gin. He's fine."
"And we're not gonna get out until this string dome comes down."
"Leave that to Luffy. Once he finds Doflamingo, it'll only be a matter of time."
"Bon— you sure have a lot of faith in this captain of yours —soir," Tamago observed, silently questioning how well the mental meddling in Amy's head held.
"That's just the kind of guy he is," Amy replied. "When push comes to shove, he'll move heaven and hell to do what needs to be done. The Straw Hats will be excellent allies for Mama."
Tamago and Pekoms glanced at each other before all but shrugging.
"Our Moon Walker is this way," Pekoms reported. "Let's go."
End of Chapter 65
Oh no! Whatever will happen next? You'll learn next year, so have a very merry Christmas in the meantime!
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-SwordOfTheGods