This is the 45th chapter. I don't own the series of One Piece.
Deadly Combat in the Upper Ruins!
God Eneru's land, the Upper Yard, the deadly survival continued and the latest round cost the losers the ultimate price. Meanwhile, Robin, Sareena, and Leon stumbled upon Shandora, the fabled lost City of Gold. Chopper found his way to the Upper Ruins, where he encountered the priest, Ohm, and sadly fell to his Ordeal of Iron. Back in the Upper Ruins in Giant Jack, Ohm stayed off an attack by Wyper, the leader of the Shandorian Rebels, but before their battle could rage any further, they were interrupted by two more of the game survivors.
Skypiea, Upper Ruins
After the four fighters ready their weapons to get ready for a deadly fight, the giant snake lets out a growl loud enough for them to hear. However, neither of them were interested since half of them are here to fight against the priest which Zoro wants the gold and Gan Fall wanted answers of Eneru's whereabouts, Wyper wants to kill them and to kill Eneru to complete his revenge, and Ohm would rather fight in his Ordeal of Iron and take down three of them, including the giant snake, while complete Eneru's work.
"Now if you're ready, it's time to bring this to an end." Ohm said, adjusting his shades. "The Mighty Eneru has prophesied that you won't survive."
"Oh yeah?" Zoro said with his narrowed gaze, glancing at the priest.
"If only your hearts hadn't been tainted by greed, you might have lived longer." Ohm stated. "I'll grant you a few moments to repent before I render judgement."
Wyper just glanced at Ohm, but mostly the snake who just growls and wait for one of the prey to make their move.
"Huh! So, I guess that makes you one of those priests that serves Eneru, huh?" Zoro scoffs, readying his katana. "Look, I couldn't care less about him or his prophecies. The only thing preordained from me and this crazy place is gold."
"I will forgive you of that sin, too." Ohm said, leaving Zoro confused. "Your only salvation lies in a quick death, one that I can mercifully provide with my Ordeal of Iron. I'll save all of you."
Neither Zoro nor Wyper cared about his so-called salvation, because they know Ohm isn't going to save any of them, rather he'll kill them. Gan Fall thought the same because of the arrogance of a priest.
"Hmph, high and mighty words from a braggard, such as yourself." Gan Fall scoffs as Ohm jumps on top of Holy.
"Let's go, Holy. Be as ferocious as you want, boy." Ohm responds to his dog, who barks with a reply.
"That one is our target, Pierre. Since he is the most powerful, we must neutralize Eneru's priest first." Gan Fall told the bird, who lets out a squawk in reply.
Zoro brings out his second katana and points at the giant snake.
"I really getting sick of you, snake." Zoro said in annoyance, readying his fighting stance. "I mean how the hell did you get way up anyway?"
Inside of the giant snakes stomach
Meanwhile, Luffy is shown upside down and on top by the rubble after hitting the snake right at the body without realizing it. He grunts in pain, with the rubble now in much worse than it already is.
"Dammit! One minute this place is up, the other it's down!" Luffy groans. "This is one messed up cave!"
Skypiea, Upper Ruins
Back at the Upper Ruins of Shandora, the four individuals are about to get ready for a fight while the giant snake is waiting. Wyper makes his first move as he spoke.
"Well, I guess the three of you..." Wyper said, causing Zoro to glance at him as he aims his bazooka at him. "...will just have to die together!?"
And with that, Wyper fires his Burning Bazooka at Zoro, who widen his eyes as the fight raged on. Ohm's dog leaps off the ruin and lands on the ground, running after Gan Fall, who rides on Pierre and charges after the priest with his lance ready. Zoro was able to dodge the burning bazooka in time and came behind him with a smirk on his face which it got the Shandorian leaders' attention.
"You need to work on your aim there, pal!" Zoro mocks with a scoff.
"Insolent Blue Sea Dweller! You think you can just come to this land and take what's rightfully ours?!" Wyper snapped while Pierre avoids from the giant snake, causing the snake to lunge down at the ruin while Holy kept pursuing after them. "You have no idea how long and hard we've struggled!"
"If you Sky people want to blow each other to pieces, that's your business." Zoro remarked. "It's like I said, I couldn't care less!"
Zoro then charges after him, which Wyper still has something in his sleeve.
"That figures." Wyper said, activating his waver ski and blocks the attack with a kick. Zoro then charges again and about to attack when Wyper leaps over him and behind him, aiming his bazooka at the swordsman. "I should've finished you from the start!"
He then fires his Burning Bazooka, causing Zoro to dodge and made him missed his target as he slides back a few while the Shandorian lands on the ground.
"Damn!" Zoro grunts, looking at Wyper and it made him realize that he's in for a tough fight. 'This guy is actually tougher than I thought.'
The giant snake raises its head up and gave it a loud roar. Zoro charges for the third time, but Wyper aims his bazooka at the swordsman since he's had enough and wanted to finish this fight quickly. Zoro stops, quickly runs to the right which made Wyper shocked as the swordsman leaps onto the pillar, then leaps after him and about to attack, but the Shandorian blocks with his waver ski.
"Now die!" Wyper said, aims his bazooka and about to fire when he noticed a giant snake lunging after them, which it caught their attention as they quickly jump away and the snake hits the ground.
The giant snake then bites the ruin and causing the poison to burn at that which Zoro made noticed it from before.
"Alright, note to self: Got to watch out from these poisonous fangs." Zoro grunts to himself, but felt the presence and growling from behind as the dust clears out, revealing Holy and Ohm. He then quickly glances at them. "Speaking of fangs..."
And just before Zoro could react, Holy swings his paw to deliver a jab while standing on his hind legs which made the swordsman dodge with a backflip.
"Whoa! I've never seen a dog move like that." Zoro grunts in shock, as Ohm looks down at him.
"Not many people have, friend. You'll find that Holy knows a great number of commands beyond just 'Sit' and 'Stay'." Ohm explains. "I'm a 'Skybreeder', renowned for my special animal training. I've trained him how to walk upright on two legs, and to box just like a champion prized fight! Show him, Holy!"
And Holy did just that, showing a demonstration by getting into his fighting stance.
"Nice doggy." Zoro said.
However, Gan Fall's bird flies down after Ohm, who glances at him and blocked the attack with his blade. Gan Fall then glances over his shoulder with a scowl while Ohm glanced back.
"Gan Fall...You're lucky that you got help from a Blue Sea Dweller and beating Shura! Don't you know when to quit?!" Ohm shouts. "What do you really hope to do? I doubt you even had enough strength left to wield that spear!"
"I don't know what Eneru is plotting, but I will stop him with my dying breath if need be!" Gan Fall snarls, which earned Zoro's attention.
"There's no way a washed-up God like could ever understand Eneru's noble thoughts! Gan Fall, you're a foolish old man, a man that doesn't have long to live!" Ohm mocks.
Skypiea, Upper Yard
Meanwhile down below to the Upper Yard, Nami, Aisa, Ventus, and Caius are continuing to follow the Milky River while trying to avoid the crossfire between the Shandorians and the Divine Warriors. Ventus can still hear the war cries coming from the far distance in the area, but they can also hear the Divine Warriors continued to look for the Shandorians and the Straw Hats which most of them are in the ruins of Shandora. Nami, Ventus, and Caius can hear the bleating cry coming from the far distance.
"What the!? Hey! You hear that?" Nami asks. "It sounded like goats!"
"The Divine Squad! If they catch us, they'll kill us!" Aisa shouts.
"The Divine Squad? Who are they?" Nami asks.
"They're the group of warriors working with Eneru." Caius answered with his narrowed gaze. "We saw them after trying to get away from the giant snake."
"Not to mention our crew have encountered these guys during their trip to the ruin." Ventus adds.
Nami then widens her eyes, shocked that her crewmates have encountered with the Divine Warriors and the Shandorians without even realizing. Also, finding a way out of Skypiea with Eneru still around and reducing numbers of fighters are right now out of the question.
"Please, get us outta here!" Aisa pleads.
"We'd love to, but in case you haven't noticed, I have no idea where we're going!?" Nami shouts, but she and the others noticed a Giant Jack in front of them. "What's that?"
"It's called Giant Jack, Eneru's Shrine is supposed to lie just above it." Aisa answered.
"Eneru's Shrine?" Nami repeats, bit Aisa is using her 'Mantra', sensing five individuals fighting at the Upper Ruins, and able to find Wyper fighting. "Wyper..."
"What?!" Nami said, turning to her.
"Wyper's up there!" Aisa said.
"And he's not alone." Ventus adds, sniffing the air. "Zoro, Chopper, and Gan Fall are up there, same with our snake friend and a priest."
Aisa turns to the young Dragoon, shocked of his keen sense of smell.
"What about Luffy? Do you know where he is?" Nami questions, afraid to ask.
"Yeah, and I don't think you're going to like it and we'll leave it at that." Ventus answered, which Nami and Caius had a feeling of Luffy's antics, but heard the sound of Divine Warriors pursuing after them.
"They're almost to Giant Jack!"
"We can't let them reach the shrine!"
"We don't have time for this! Dragoon Thunderbolt" Ventus channeled his lance with lightning, firing thunder at the Divine Warriors as they scream in pain and fell down to the ground. He then flies to his crew.
"Thanks, Ventus." Nami said. "You're a lifesaver."
"Don't thank me yet, we still need to get to our crew and help them." Ventus told her. "If we want to leave, we'll just have to fight Eneru and hoping Luffy get his sorry ass over here."
Nami didn't like the idea on fighting against Eneru, but she knows that the young Dragoon is right since the current God is not letting them leave the island. And it'll have to wait until Eneru is dealt with along with the rest of crew catching up to them with gold.
Skypiea, Upper Ruin
While back in the fight at the Upper Ruin, the giant snake lunges at Zoro again which causes it to land on the ground roughly and the dust appear. Zoro was able to dodge by leaping in the air and over the ruin, then lands on the ground while rolling around and turns with a heavy pant.
"That stupid snake! It keeps getting in my way!" Zoro growls, very annoyed of the giant snake making it very hard for him to fight. He then turns and noticed an unconscious Chopper being wounded by iron barbed wire. It made his eyes widen in dread. "Chopper! No! I'm coming! Hang on!"
And with that, Zoro quickly sprints toward Chopper while Ohm watches.
"I see, he was part of your Blue Sea crew." Ohm said, but Zoro ignores him while desperately heading to the wounded reindeer. "Hey, watch your step over there."
But it's too late because Zoro stepped on the ground which causes it to trigger by the barbed wire coming out of the ground, inflicting the swordsman and it made him grunt in pain as he collapses down to the ground. Zoro slowly turning his head and noticed the wound marks on his arm, realizing how Chopper got beaten.
"What the?! Barbed Wire!?" Zoro grunts in pain, but Wyper lands on top of the ruin and noticed the barbed wires.
"So, that's his Ordeal." Wyper muttered as Zoro grabs Chopper, tried to get him to regain his consciousness.
"Chopper, talk to me! Say something!" Zoro pleads. "Why? Why did you try and take this guy on?! Come on!"
"A shame, isn't it?" Ohm said, making Zoro glances over with a growl. "Those barbs, Iron Cloud. They're light as a cloud, but hard as iron, blown into shape by a Milky Dial. I've rigged several of them with hidden triggers, you and your little friend found out the hard way what happens when you step on one. This field is a weapon, I don't have to attack you. I can sit back and watch your own blundering do you in. I'm partially responsible for that animals defeat, but he's also to blame. He's stumbled into my Ordeal all by himself."
Zoro then realizes how Chopper got wounded and why he went on his own, placing the reindeer down as he stood up and turning to Ohm.
"I guess you want to get revenge now, huh?" Ohm finished.
"No." Zoro answered with a harden scowl. "Believe it or not, I normally don't like fighting for that reason."
"Oh? I'm actually impressed." Ohm said, adjusting his shades.
"Normally." Zoro cuts him. "But...You've changed my mind."
Skypiea, Upper Yard
Meanwhile outside of the Upper Yard, Pagaya and Conis were able to sail toward the seaside of the island after Nami ordered them to head that direction since she and the others are planning to meet up on the ship.
"Well, Conis, I think we have arrived." Pagaya informed her. "This is the seashore where are Blue Sea friends are planning to meet, right?"
"Yes, father, this is where Nami told me they'd be dropping anchor." Conis replied.
"Well then, what should we do now?" Pagaya questioned, placing his hand on his helmet. "I really wasn't expecting to look after their ship. Nonetheless, we must protect it at cost until they returned. I'll sound the horn to scare off any threats."
"Right, good idea father." Conis agrees with determined look. "Let them hear our resolve!"
And with that, Pagaya turns on the horn as it makes a sound of a war calvary song.
"Ah, perfect." Pagaya said, pleased with himself as he heads up to the upper deck and turned to Su. "Keep your eyes open, Su. I'm counting on you to keep watch."
Su replied with a salute as Pagaya walks away while the fox keeps an eye on the horizon. Conis is inside of the cabin, tending the wounds that Sanji and Usopp being inflicted by Eneru's Devil Fruit power. Though, she's mostly keeping an eye on them while remembering about Nami mentioned about the promise where some of the crew went into the forest to pick up gold and meet up on the northwest shore, which she and the others are planning to meet them. Ventus even mentioned about his crew, who are considered strong and not worrying about the dangers in the Upper Yard.
Everything transpired has echoed on her mind, wishing she had the courage to help the Straw Hats, but after what happened back in Lovely Street, they had forgiven her since she's just following orders by McKinley. She then kneels down and leans next to the two.
"Hang on! I'll nurse both of you to health! You'll be better in no time!" Conis said with determination.
At the deck, Pagaya is watching at the Upper Yard, keeping an eye on the Upper Yard while keeping the horn sound the alarm.
'Please, everyone, be safe. I'm sorry this Sky Island is like this.' Pagaya mentally thought, hoping for the Straw Hats to get out of the Upper Yard alive.
While inside of the Upper Yard, the battle between the Shandorians and the Divine Warriors have been ongoing. The sound of war cries was heard, the dead priests are shown in the jungle area along with heavily wounded fighters, the Shandorians continued to fight while tried to get to Giant Jack in order to kill Eneru and the Divine Warriors are pursuing and preventing them from happening.
"Don't stop until we're taking Eneru's head!"
"The only heads that will roll are yours, Shandorian!?"
"Climb up to Giant Jack!"
"Don't let them get to God's Shrine!?"
The loud explosion was heard, and the Divine Warrior fell into battle while a Shandorian catches up to his fellow tribesman.
'Wyper! Please don't use the Reject anymore!' Raki mentally pleads.
"Now, Divine Squad! Kill them all!"
While the Divine Warriors are charging after the Shandorians, Raki continued to on follow the Milky Road trail that will lead to Giant Jack and hoping for her to stop Wyper from using the Reject Dial. Passing through her tribe and Yama, she kept on riding the waver skis.
'Don't challenge Eneru, Wyper!' Raki mentally pleads again, remembering what Kamakiri have warned her about Eneru's power and that Wyper won't win the fight against him. 'He can't be defeated, no matter what we do!'
While Raki continued to sprint on toward Giant Jack, Eneru continued on hearing the sounds of the battle with an amused smirk which made him laugh since the number of fighters are reducing.
"That's right, those of you still in the game, climb your way to the Upper Ruins and destroy each other." Eneru mocks. "There will only be 5 survivors...My words and prophecies are absolute."
Skypiea, Upper Ruins
Back in the Upper Ruins, the giant snake raises its head with a roar. Zoro is now fighting against Ohm and Holy, who delivers a punch as the swordsman leaps and dodge the attack while making the dodge punches the ground instead and the pillar to break apart. The giant snake lunges down for the attack, tries to bite one of them whole which they're preventing that because all four of them are fighting amongst themselves. Gan Fall is now fighting against Wyper, mostly try to get him stop, but the Shandorian leader isn't having it. The Sky Knight quickly turns and noticed Wyper fired his Burning Bazooka at him, which made him fly away from that but barely. Wyper snarls, turning to Gan Fall, who fly right towards him.
"Stop this insanity now, Wyper! I'm not here to-"
"You're not what, old man? You believe that you're not my enemy!?" Wyper cuts him off angrily, which Gan Fall was left in silent. "To the Shandorians, there's no difference between you and Eneru! Both of you must go!"
"Quit being stubborn! Listen to reason!" Gan Fall shouts, but Pierre quickly noticed a giant snake behind with panic as he quickly dodge from that bite.
Wyper looks up and noticed a giant snake lunges at him, causing a Shandorian to leap away from it as he aims his bazooka.
"Damn you!" Wyper grunts, fires his burning bazooka right at the head.
Both Gan Fall and Wyper looks down, hoping that the snake is dead, but soon as the dust clears out, the giant snake somehow managed to survive from the attack. Though, it's still feeling the effect of that bazooka, tried to shake the daze out of it and then looks at Wyper angrily as it lets out a roar.
"My Burn Bazooka didn't even faze that thing! What are those scales made of?" Wyper questions shockingly, but didn't show it as he dodges the bite.
Inside of the giant snakes stomach
Luffy was shouting from the inside of the stomach, falling down.
"NOOOOO! NO MOOOOORE! I'M SICK OF THIS STUPID CAVE!" Luffy yelled.
Skypiea, Upper Ruins
The fight between Zoro and Ohm continued as Holy lands on the ground while the swordsman charges after the dog, about to attack when the dog leaps in the air and lunges down. Zoro dodges again by leaping back and making Holy punch the ground instead, causing the rubble to fly out.
'Ha! Just keep it up! The more you move, the more openings you create, fleabag!' Zoro mentally thought, smirking and about to attack since Holy left himself wide open.
Ohm noticed Zoro's movements, using his whip-sword to slash the swordsman at the side, causing him to grunt in pain while blood was splattering as he fell into the ground. Ohm's sword retract to its original form while Zoro barely stood up and the blood is dripping as the priest stands up, placing his blade against his shoulder and the swordsman drops one of his blades, panting heavily.
"What...was that?" Zoro questions weakly, glancing over his shoulder.
"Hmph, typical Blue Sea Dweller, you didn't expect it." Ohm scoffs. "You see, this sword of mine is also made of Iron Cloud. In other words, the blade itself is actually Iron Cloud expelled from a Dial that's conveniently embedded in the sword hilt! And it will hunt its prey till the ends of the earth!"
Ohm then shows his little demonstration by swinging his sword-whip right into the ground, making Zoro flinch as he quickly blocks it with his sword.
"Well, do you understand it better now, swordsman of the Blue Sea?" Ohm inquires.
"Yeah, it's just like a whip, I get it. You White-White Sea people are more circus performers than warriors." Zoro remarked with a scoff when Ohm took a glance and notices the swordsman is few meters behind the Giant Jack, decided to fight in separately. "Holy! We're going to have to fight separately!"
Ohm jumps of the dog, lands on the ground as he adjusts his shades, leaving Zoro confused.
"From the sound of things, the Upper Ruins are about to get very busy." Ohm stated.
And it would seem he was right when the sound of bleating was heard, earned Zoro's attention when the Divine Warriors and the Shandorians merged out of the clouds, climbing the Giant Jack as they landed on the Upper Ruins. One of them noticed Gan Fall and the others.
"The Sky Knight! I didn't expect him to be here!"
"We're here to assist you, Almighty Ohm!"
The Divine Warriors readied their fighting stance, while the Shandorians arrived, and it got Wyper noticed that some of his tribes are here to help him.
"Look who's here." Wyper said.
"Well, you know what this means?"
"Yeah, it means we're the only ones left."
"Don't worry, Wyper, we'll help you get to Eneru and take his head off."
Inside of the giant snakes stomach
Luffy grunts, trying to get out of the rubble and it made him pant heavily after the trouble he went through, but he thought of an idea.
"Hey, wait! That should work, I'll just dig my way out." Luffy said to himself, garbs hold of that rock and starts rubbing the flesh.
Skypiea, Upper Ruins
The giant snake groans which it got their attention.
"That giant snake!"
However, it causes them to sweat drop, watching the giant snake laughing in teary eyes.
"It's laughing!"
Then, Nami and the others were up at the Giant Jack which made Zoro, Wyper, and Gan Fall noticed that they're here at the Upper Ruins.
"Nami! Ventus! Caius!" Zoro said.
"Aisa!" Wyper adds.
"No!" Gan Fall exclaims in dread as they stop and turning to them.
"Aisa! What are you doing here?!" Wyper shouts.
"What the...What are you guys doing here!?" Zoro adds, wondering the same thing.
"Hey, Zoro!" Nami said, glancing at the swordsman. "What's happening!?"
"Wyper!" Aisa called him.
"What is it that you're plotting here, Blue Sea Dwellers?!" Wyper demands, then aims his bazooka at them. "Aisa, get away from them!"
Zoro flinched, notices the Shandorian is about to fire as Ventus sprouts his wings and grabbing hold of Aisa, takes flight while Caius turns himself into a dark mist and Gan Fall swoops in to save Nami, making Wyper fires his bazooka and missed his targets.
"That was close." Nami said with relief.
"Wyper! You're a monster!" Aisa shouts.
"Why did you 4 come to such a perilous place?!" Gan Fall demands.
"We were being chased by a giant snake!" Ventus retorted. "And we've got other-LOOK OUT!"
But it's too late, the giant snake ate them and swallowed them whole.
"You idiots!" Zoro shouts with his jaws dropped and eyes widen with horror.
"Aisa!" Wyper muttered in shock when the giant snake licked its tongue in satisfaction.
However, both Holy and Ohm took their chance to attack which Wyper was being hit by a dog, sent flying and crashed against the ruin while Zoro is being inflicted by the sword-whip again. The Shandorians were shocked that Wyper let his guard down and getting hit by a giant dog as they collapsed.
"WYPER!?"
"You were so distracted that you neglected to protect yourselves." Ohm taunts as his sword is back in his original form. "Quit worrying about other people! Accept it, there's nothing you can do to save them!"
Inside of the giant snakes stomach
Nami and Aisa are screaming while descending down along with Gan Fall, Ventus, Caius, and Pierre, and about to meet someone who's responsible for causing the giant snake to get to the Upper Ruins in the first place.
That's it for the 45th chapter.