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Jack, seeing the improvement in his opponent’s ability, was surprised and knew he had to do something or else he might get overpowered.
So, Jack used the one chance to let Luffy’s Naginata stab into the right side of his chest, ignoring the pain and used his other hand to grab onto Luffy’s good arm, while his trunk wrapped around his body.
“What the…!” Luffy struggled to move, but he was trapped.
“You are dead now!” Jack said and with his free hand, he swiped his shotel blade intending to cut down Luffy. But as the blade got near Luffy’s exposed neck…
Things slowed down for Luffy. There were multiple ways to avoid getting hit, he could just pull his neck down, but where was the fun in that?
“Am I?” Luffy said as suddenly his broken arm inflated into a giant hand, stopping Jack’s attack and surprising him in the process. Luffy cashed in on the opportunity, delivering a blow right to Jack’s chest. “Internal Destruction Leo Roku-Oh-Gun!” This time his attack was also supported with his Advanced Armament, sakura-like petals came out of Luffy’s hand and wrapping around his inflated arm.
A devastating pressure came out of Luffy’s hand which had just punched into Jack’s figure, —doing as much internal damage as external— Luffy could hear several of Jack’s ribs breaking as his body was thrown away like a missile. Blood flew out of his mouth and his trunk got ripped off his face. As he flew toward Sinbad. Who was now finished with his technique.
“Stagnation!” Sinbad said as he appeared right behind Jack’s back putting his hands on his back as a frost symbol of white color appeared on his back.
Jack was in no situation to counterattack, so Sinbad pressed on with his technique. A full form of white frost symbols appeared on the Ancient Zoan user’s back.
When Jack came to his senses, he bit back his pain and moved but he was surprised as he could feel that his speed was cut by half. Still, he was able to make Sinbad retreat away from his back. “You…!” He looked at the marine, as even his thoughts started getting foggy, “What did you do to me?!” His half zoan form started going away as his devil fruit powers got completely nullified. He still had his strength, but he couldn’t use his fruit.
Meaning the injury from his chest wasn’t recovering either. Good thing his trunk wasn’t an actual part of his body, still the pain was quite a lot.
“Evening out the playing field,” Sinbad said as the armor around his body started shimmering and going away. Leaving Sinbad in his regular marine clothes, with the justice coat on his back.
Luffy came to his side, steam wisping from his body as he returned into his base form. His right arm looked worse now because of the last attack. It was deep purple and had multiple fractures on it but now that he could use life return, he was recovering. Luffy also popped a few protein bars for the needed calories. “So that’s your little party trick huh, shishishi… hey wanna join my crew?”
Sinbad chuckled, “You are either mad or stupid… but seeing you fight that beast head-on. I can confidently say you are a mad man.” He then cracked his knuckles, “But when I consider you being ‘his’ grandson, I expect nothing less. Let’s beat him the old-fashioned way.”
Luffy grinned, loosening up his left hand, “Fistfight, eh…? Well, Gramps did teach me something about using my hands. Well, just let me have the finishing blow. I will have to take his arm for what he did. You know an arm for an arm. But I’m gonna rip him a new one.”
“It’s an eye for an eye, but I do get what you mean,” Sinbad laughed darkly, as both Luffy and he started walking towards the Beast pirate, “That’s if he survives a hole through his stomach for what he did to my comrade… You don’t know how much I had to hold myself back from pummeling the guy. Also, thanks for softening him up.”
“Shishishi… you are going to be a fun one to be around, Sinny.”
“It’s Vice Admiral Sinbad to you, Straw Hat.”
“Whatever you say, Sinny.”
Jack grunted, because of Luffy’s last attack he didn’t have his shotel blade on him, but it didn’t matter. His face was also very deformed, luckily his trunk was only part of his zoan transformation so even though it hurt like hell, he didn’t lose any limbs or his nose. But now that his zoan was gone, his passive recovery was on hold, and that wasn’t all, his stamina was cut in half as well.
But Jack was a fish-man, a powerful one at that. He still had his hands, with both arms covered in Haki, he charged at the grandson of Garp the Fist and the son of Black Arm Zephyr. The fight was far from over.
———————
A/N: Luffy finally learned advanced armament haki, Emission, and Internal Destruction.
So how strong is he?
It’s hard to say, but currently, he would still struggle against Jack alone. Out of ten fights, Luffy Vs Jack (in one one one) he might win two or three, draw around four times and lose the rest. Clearly above the Doflamingo level.
Also, Luffy’s Gear Fourth Lionman is a combination of the strength aspect of Bounce-man, and the speed of Snake-man. It’s a balanced build so to speak.
Looks similar to Snake-man, but with more hair, which gives him the appearance of having a black mane.
212
Sanji’s body met the ground in a loud thud, but the cook didn’t stay down. He picked himself up, and wiped the blood from his mouth before looking toward his opponent.
Slender Swift was amusingly looking down on him from the air. The ex-CP agent was also very good at using Geppo it seemed.
Supporting himself with his knee, Sanji stood up as he rushed through the air, using Geppo and Soru at the same time, meeting Swift right in the middle as both kicked towards one another. Creating a sonic boom of fire and sparks.
While Sanji’s kick was supported in his flames of Diable Jambe, Swift’s kick was pure speed that had blue arcs of electricity in it.
“Diable Jambe!”
“Speed Kick!”
Both kicks met in the air at the same time, creating a large explosion of speed and flames. But they didn’t stop, as both of them quickly kicked toward one another, and with every kick they countered from one another a small explosion happened in the air.
Their speed was becoming so fast that their figures started disappearing and appearing randomly through the air. While Swift was getting faster and faster as the fight went on, with great speed using the help of Geppo and Soru at the same time, Sanji was barely keeping up.
Other than Luffy, only Sanji knew how to use Geppo and Soru in combination as usually using Soru in air was incredibly tough to do. And yet Swift’s speed was too much for him.
“You are really good at using Geppo and Soru, but you are getting slower…! Sahahaha!” Swift laughed, ducking under one kick from Sanji and delivering a Shigan right toward the cook’s heart.
But at the last second Sanji was able to avoid getting hit, still, the wind generated from Swift’s finger pistol ripped off a part of his suit. While Sanji did have his exo-skeleton, Swift’s attacks were still able to penetrate his skin, and that’s why he was actively trying to avoid getting hit.
Sanji leaned back, and swiped up his leg forward, “Red Tempest!” the flames of Diable Jambe mixed in with his Tempest Kick as Swift was forced to jump back, avoiding the attack. But that was Sanji’s intention in the first place.
“Yaki Oni Giri!” A thick pillar of flames rushed towards both of them, catching both Swift and Sanji in it.
Swift quickly used his speed to get out, with minimal damage, while Sanji stayed. His clothes were made to stand most flames, and flames didn’t actually harm him, in fact, it empowered him. That was the only reason why Sanji was even able to keep up with Swift. But even then Sanji was close to reaching his limitations.
“Sahahaha… I haven’t had this much fun in years!” Swift exclaimed in joy, as he blocked Zoro’s three blades with the sole of his feet. Backing away when Zoro’s figure exploded in flames. “Fighting you both, is tricky and fun… sahahaha!”
Zoro followed through, giving out multiple attacks with his three swords but Swift either avoided them or blocked them. And every time Swift would want to harm Zoro, Sanji would be there to block him.
This has been going on for quite some time now, and yet both sides were in a stalemate so to speak. But that’s not all! Swift seemed to be holding back as well, and that frustrated both Zoro and Sanji. It appears that he was toying with them, both of them, and they hated it.
Slashes, kicks, and stabs were avoided swiftly by the speed-based devil fruit user. “You guys are getting slow~”
“Toro Nagashi!”
Suddenly Zoro went in at close range, leaning toward the opponent, using two of his swords to block the opponent’s attacks, while twisting his body around and eventually cutting through the opponent’s stomach with the third sword.
“Gah! You cut me!” Zoro smiled but it soon wavered when Swift’s own face dawned an amused smile. “Just kidding! Ten Howling Kicks!”
And the sword user might have damaged Swift, but the speed user took the chance to kick Zoro in the gut, his body lifting up a bit from the force before he delivered multiple kicks to his body, which Zoro was unable to block. Sending the three sword user out of the sky towards the ground.
Sanji quickly had to get behind Zoro and stop him before he could crash into the ground and get even more injured.
“Sahaha! That last one actually hurt!” He laughed as the wound on his chest mended together at a visible rate.
Sanji noted that while Swift was fast and knew a few of the Rokushiki techniques, being an ex-CP agent, he really had a bad defense.
Sure Swift had Armament Haki, but he didn’t have Observation Haki. If he did, then like Luffy and Sabo, he would have coated the area with Armament before the strike could hit him. But even without Observation Haki, Swift’s reaction speed was fast. Luckily his defense was weak. They were able to get a few hits on him before, but each time he would recover.
But Sanji and Zoro didn’t back off. Most devil fruit users had a limit to their stamina, so that’s why they were playing the long game and betting on Swift’s lack of defense.
Not one time did the cook see him use Tekkai or any other means of defense, and he also seemed to not be that durable, but the problem was his recovery speed.
Sanji had a small passive recovery factor unlike other humans, but it wasn’t anything noteworthy, not like his other siblings, whose ‘passive recovery’ factor could fix bones and deep wounds in minutes. So he had to be careful.
And Swift, on the other hand, also had some kind of passive recovery factor, but Sanji suspected that it had something to do with his devil fruit. Maybe speeding up the healing process of his own body. Even though Swift didn’t outright say his devil fruit’s name, Sanji knew what it was. Sokudo-Sokudo no Mi (Velocity-Velocity Fruit) a devil fruit based on the attribute of pure speed. Making him essentially a speed human.
Sanji had gone through the devil fruit encyclopedia after Luffy encouraged him to look for a fruit that might be suited with his ability. It wasn’t just Sanji, almost everyone in the crew, except a few others had one or two fruits on their wishlist so to speak. And Sanji had selected a few that might make him strong, and this fruit was one of them.
Sanji was the weakest among his siblings, and yet he was out to get revenge on his so-called family. And for that he needed strength, and a devil fruit might help with that.
Swift didn’t seem good at using his fruit, not that creative, nothing like the wild ideas Luffy blurred out. Sanji had to appreciate his captain sometimes, where did he even get those types of ideas? Becoming intangible through speed and vibration, creating speed clones to fool enemies, some of the ideas seemed out of fiction. But then again, Luffy made his rubber fruit into something awesome with his creativity.
A huge explosion rang out from the plaza, creating a large pillar of blue energy to come out from the center, and that made both parties stop their battle and look toward it. The ground shook beneath them, and the air current was rushing in towards them as well.
“Woah! What was that?!” Swift asked, a bit thrilled, “Someone made the whole island shake!”
Zoro and Sanji both grinned and knew it was their captain.
Swift looked at them, and grinned, “I should go there for a good fight rather than babysit you two weaklings.”
They didn’t wait anymore and charged again. Sanji with his Diable Jambe covering his legs, while Zoro with his three swords covered in flames.
213
As the fight went on, Swift seemed to be getting faster and faster. It seemed he was holding out less and less and so, to counter his speed, Sanji and Zoro were working together.
Sanji’s body was able to take the heat from the surrounding area and turn it into his own energy to boost his abilities. It was a temporary boost, but it was needed to keep up with the enemy.
And luckily, both Sanji and Zoro had enough sparring matches to know how to use that to their advantage, so when Zoro was shooting out flames, Sanji was trying to absorb it into his body so that he could gain speed.
Zoro might not be as fast as Sanji or Swift, but his reaction time was very fast and with his honed battle instincts he was able to keep up… barely. But, Zoro didn’t like it one bit, he didn’t want to fall behind again. Not when he had the dream of becoming the strongest swordsman. Unknowingly, his resolve for strength was setting his sword on fire through sheer will, and that wasn’t all because of Nozarashi. His flames were getting stronger and stronger, with a green tint to it.
Swift again avoided a few close calls, but seeing it becoming more difficult, the ex-CP agent called out.
“Let’s turn it up a notch!” Swift said, as his hair started to spike up with sparks of electricity running up his body, his blue hair standing up and eyes shining with lightning.
Both Sanji and Zoro tensed up, seeing the overwhelming power. One didn’t need to have Observation Haki to know that.
“Try not to die, ‘kay?” Swift grinned as his figure vanished.
He moved fast, delivering a punch to Sanji’s gut before both of them could react! The punch was covered in Haki, making Sanji’s exoskeleton crack as the wind was knocked out of him, his body bending inwards because of the punch. But Swift wasn’t finished as he grabbed onto the back of his head, kneeing him in the face, hearing the satisfying crunch of Sanji’s nose breaking.
He was going to follow through with another attack but Zoro’s sword got dangerously near his neck, so Swift was made to back off. Swift wondered if Zoro had gotten faster but quickly shook his head.
Internally, he was a bit pissed off that he couldn’t finish off the cook. So as Zoro’s figure neared, trying to strike him with wild swipes, he sent a close-ranged Tempest Kick. “Take this!”
Zoro crossed Sandai Kitetsu and Nozarashi to block the attack, but his figure was still sent flying toward the sky due to the powerful wind blade that carried arcs of electricity in it. And Zoro had no time to catch a breath either as Slender Swift appeared right to his side, delivering a punch coated with his Haki right to his liver.
“Ugh!” Spit and saliva came out from his mouth as Zoro’s body bent from the force of the punch. Unlike Sanji, he didn’t have any exoskeleton, so the swordsman could feel his insides being ripped because of the punch.
“Let’s finish it off, weak one!”
And Swift slammed his other fist right to Zoro’s skull, also coated with Haki. Zoro had no time to react as his body crashed into the ground, creating a small crater.
Swift followed up with one leg outstretched trying to stomp on and crush Zoro’s head, but Sanji made it in time to attack him from the side, saving the green-haired swordsman.
“Red Tempest!”
A large flaming Tempest Kick charged with hot flames made its way to Swift. But the speed user kicked the flaming Tempest Kick in half with his own kick, appearing right near the blonde cook.
“You look pissed! Why don’t you cool down?” Swift grinned grabbing onto Sanji’s leg when he tried to attack. Blue arc of electricity passed through Swift’s body as he shocked the cook, snuffing out Diable Jambe in the process.
“Ahahhahh!!!”
“Shocker! Right?!”
Swift tossed Sanji’s limp body up into the air as he co*cked back his fist, with his index finger pointed, the tip covered with Armament Haki, trying to deliver the finishing blow. But he had to blitz out of there as a mad angry man charged at him.
“Ushi Bari!” [Bull Needles] Zoro attacked.
“Woah! Woah! Calm your tit*, ladies!” Swift said ducking under a sword slash from Zoro and delivering a Shigan to Zoro’s exposed stomach, which the three-blade wilder blocked with the side of his sword. Zoro didn’t look good, but he had to push himself.
Countering Swift’s blow, he charged onward with the attacks, leaving Sanji to recover for a bit.
“Yo! I thought it was just my imagination but you did get faster!” Swift said as he delivered a punch to Zoro’s face, but in the process, one of Zoro’s swords was able to stab into his stomach. “That won’t do anything…”
Sanji tried to capitalize on Swift being distracted, —even though his body wasn’t responding well because of the electricity running down his system— but his kick was also easily blocked by Swift.
“See, I told you!” he grinned as he kicked off Zoro, the sword coming out of his stomach, before bashing his fist onto Sanji’s face. “But I don’t like getting hurt either!”
With one arm grabbing Sanji and the other grabbing Zoro, electricity ran through both of their bodies as he threw them both to the ground, creating two craters.
“Gah!”
“Ahk!”
Both Sanji and Zoro had the wind knocked out of them, and yet they had little chance to recover as Swift was on them yet again.
But this time, Swift didn’t go for Sanji. “I will take care of the weak one first!”
Zoro felt a twitch of anger for being called the weaker one out of the two. But he had more concerning things to do, like avoiding getting hit by the kick that threatened to decapitate him!
Unlike before Sanji didn’t rejoin the fight immediately, it seemed that the electric attack did quite a bit of damage to him. But on the bright side, Swift didn’t seem too eager to kill Zoro either.
Blades met fist, steel met flesh, and yet Swift remained unharmed due to his Armament Haki. “Sahahah!”
Both Swift and Zoro crashed with each other. Creating small explosions of sparks and electricity.
Shortwaves that destroyed everything that was aroun.d But with each strike Zoro was getting pushed back.
214
Swift spun in the air, his feet covered with Haki and blue electricity as he performed an axe kick, which Zoro had to block with three of his swords. “Tell me, pirate? Do you have someone you love… a beautiful girl maybe?” the speed-based devil fruit user asked as both of them were in a power struggle.
Zoro felt his face twitch through his gritted teeth as he pushed back.
“Oh, so you do?! Huh,” He said, with a perverted grin, “Is she beautiful? Don’t tell. I will find out when I bed her after this battle is over! Sahahaha… I will make sure to give her a good time as well. There are few things I like to do slow, if you know what I mean~”
Zoro felt raw anger boil inside of him, the anger he didn’t know he had. And it wasn’t just him, Akaiittou Nozarashi, Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri… All three of his swords felt deep hatred for the enemy. Unknowingly, the fight just got personal.
In his anger, Zoro’s strikes sped up, becoming wild, his flames growing stronger, and he seemed to momentarily overpower Swift, who seemed to be loving this new found desperation.
“I really like it when I can get under the skin of my opponent~!” Swift chuckled, “But you made one mistake.”
And then Swift suddenly delivered an uppercut to Zoro’s jaw, making him drop his third sword —Yubashiri— from his mouth. And then with his two hands, he grabbed Zoro’s wrists, sending jolts of gathered electricity into him.
“Ahhhhh!” Zoro screamed as the volts of electricity ran through him, it would have burned any other man. But Zoro was used to the heat, so even electricity couldn’t give him severe burns, but the shock had other effects in locking Zoro’s muscles.
Swift pulled back his right hand slowly, with a casual grin on his face. “You let your guard down,” he said, “Now Die! Shigan!”
Zoro saw the attack coming, but his muscles refused to move. Still recovering from the shock.
‘Move…! Move…! Damn it!’ He told himself as he saw the hand of Swift begin to near his chest right where his heart was. ‘You are not weak! You won’t lose here…! Not to this bastard! Move, damn it!’
Unconsciously, a wave of will burst out of his body and through sheer willpower, he stepped to the side at the last moment, causing Swift’s finger to stab into Zoro’s lungs instead of his heart.
“Sahahaha! You avoided the critical blow at the last second! But… you are now injured. That blow should have taken out one of your lungs.” Swift cheered as he laughed, in the glory of his opponent’s misery.
Zoro coughed out some blood, but unlike what Swift expected, he had a bloodthirsty grin on his face., “No, you are just trapped! Tekkai!” Swift was wide-eyed as before he could pull out his finger, it got stuck in the stab wound. To make sure he didn’t leave, Zoro grabbed onto his arm, “Burst Asunder, Akaiittou Nozarashi!”
Suddenly flames burst out from all over Zoro’s body, and even though Swift struggled he wasn’t able to get out of the range of the flames, nor was he able to defend against them. Ironically it seemed Swift wasn’t swift enough to coat his entire body with Armament Haki.
“Aghhh!”
Zoro used that chance to swipe his blade towards Swift’s hand, while Sanji appeared behind him delivering a flaming kick to the back of the speed user’s head.
Even though Swift was in a massive heap of pain from getting his whole body deep fried, he tried to get his arm away from Zoro. Moving his arm at rapid speed he was able to get out, but due to focusing on only Zoro, Sanji got the drop on him.
Swift felt his skull crack from Sanji’s kick as his flaming figure was sent away. Crashing into multiple buildings and going through them in the process.
Zoro coughed blood and kneeled down, holding his chest, while Sanji had moved for another follow-up attack towards Swift. The cook was worried about his crewmate, yes, but he wanted to end his battle as fast as possible.
But it wasn’t that easy as the moment Sanji got near Swift, he was sent flying with a kick to his gut, which sent Sanji’s figure toward the sky. The cook was left wondering what had happened before another kick crashed down on his spine, sending him back to the ground.
Sanji could feel that most of the exoskeleton and bones in his body were broken, the pain was unimaginable. And yet the cook struggled anyway. ‘I won’t die here…! Not before I take my revenge!’
“I will kill all of you!” Swift yelled in rage, dashing towards the nearest opponent which was Sanji.
Sanji was just barely able to see anymore as he watched Swift’s mad figure running towards him at full speed. It seemed Swift was quite mad, the front part of his face and chest having multiple third-degree burns that were now healing, he also had a good chunk of his hair missing at the back of his skull with his head caved in. Swift’s leg swept up as it took on a black metallic look, intending to crush him.
Sanji wanted to move, and for some reason things slowed down as his eyes began to hold a red glint. But the cook had yet to notice. His mind raced on how to avoid the attack, but with Swift’s speed, it wouldn’t be possible. His only hope was taking the attack head-on and gamble on it.
‘I refuse to die here!’ the cook thought with grit teeth as he crossed his arms.
But that attack never came, instead, Sanji heard steel blocking attack. And the cook was shocked when he opened his eyes and saw Zoro was in front of him, blocking Swift’s kick with his three swords.
But that wasn’t what surprised him. No… it was.
“You!” Swift exclaimed in shock, with wide eyes looking at his swords. One of his swords was now black. Akaiittou Nozarashi was now a metallic black which gave a sense of doom and death. “I-I thought you didn’t have Armament Haki?”
Zoro’s eyes were hazy, and yet it was focused and held a look of determination. A green light shone behind them, and Swift felt his world turn.
It was as if a giant skull was coming out from Zoro’s shadow, which in his eyes stretched far beyond the horizon. There was nothing but him, Zoro and the skull. A skull that was smiling maniacally towards him, opening its jaw and trying to eat him! Death!
Swift, for the first time, felt fear… A shiver ran down his spine as he quickly took a few steps back. But just as he blinked, the scene was gone. In its place was a suffocating pressure that he knew well, the pressure of overwhelming will.
215
Zoro’s eyes were hazy, and yet it was focused and held a look of determination. A green light shone behind them, and Swift felt his world turn.
It was as if a giant skull was coming out from Zoro’s shadow, which in his eyes stretched far beyond the horizon. There was nothing but him, Zoro and the skull. A skull that was smiling maniacally towards him, opening its jaw and trying to eat him! Death!
Swift, for the first time, felt fear… A shiver ran down his spine as he quickly took a few steps back. But just as he blinked, the scene was gone. In its place was a suffocating pressure that he knew well, the pressure of overwhelming will.
“I. Am. Not. Weak!” Zoro said, as his green blazing eyes covered around his body, and the flames from Nozarashi turned green, as an avatar of a smiling green demonic oni. The oni’s head looked monstrous to Swift, it had two small horns sticking out its skull and a thin horizontal scar on its left side which ran down from the forehead towards the chin going through his left eye. “I. Will. Be. The. Strongest. Swordsman!”
Sanji didn’t know what Swift was seeing, but he knew what Zoro was doing. And recognized it immediately, “Conqueror’s Haki! The Color of the Supreme King…” he muttered, a small smile on his face. The pressure of a King.
Even though Sanji’s body was close to giving up, he couldn’t give up. Not now, not never.
So with his own will he pulled on any fire that was in the surrounding area, into his body. Trying to mend back his wounds, with the support of his knee he stood up.
A small grin was on his face. He didn’t like to admit it, but Zoro had surpassed him in strength and skill. But damn, if he would let Marimo get one up on him!
As Sanji walked to Zoro’s side, flames also started covering his feet. Sanji passively took in Zoro’s flames as he started getting stronger himself. He wouldn’t let Zoro surpass him that easily.
He pushed in more flames into himself, as he tried to enhance his recovery, but unknowingly some of the flames started gathering on his back. The injuries on his face and stomach started to fix themselves. Sanji fixed what remained of his already-tattered suit.
“Y-You.. what are you?” Swift asked both of them, as he unconsciously took a few steps back. His playful demeanor from his face was gone, replaced by fear and worry.
“We are the Straw Hat Pirates,” Sanji said, cracking his neck, as he stood by Zoro’s side. “The crew that will be the Strongest in the Sea!”
“You forgot the Pirate King part,” Zoro grinned a frail one, as he leaned forward, his Armament Haki getting pulled in by Nozarashi to the rest of his blades. With that he dashed towards Swift, leaving a trail of green flames in his wake. “Purgatory…”
“Don’t have all the fun without me!” Sanji said as he jumped to the sky, using the flames on his feet to propel him forward alongside Soru and Geppo.
Swift saw his two opponents and his jaw tightened, sparks of electricity started coming out of his body as he went into full speed. He needed to give it his all if he wanted to survive now. But the problem is even he couldn’t fully control his fruit’s abilities.
He saw Zoro’s green flaming figure nearing him before it suddenly disappeared. It seemed even with all that speed, he was still slow.
“…Oni Giri!”
Zoro appeared right behind him in blinding speed as three large sword wounds carved into his chest, in a star-like pattern, but no blood was spilled as the green flames on the wounds cauterized them immediately. “Aghhh!”
Swift’s body shot off into the sky due to Zoro’s attack. His chest was still covered with green flames that were eating away at his flesh. Before the ex-CP agent could fix himself, Sanji suddenly appeared right on him, his feet covered in flames.
It might have been Swift’s imagination as he saw two wings made out of flames on Sanji’s back, but he had little time to think as Sanji’s feet dug into his already injured chest.
“Brochette!” [Buroshietto = Skewer] Sanji called out.
And with the combination of green and blue flames, Swift’s body inflated as if the flames went inside of his skin, before he burst open, Sanji going through him.
Swift’s body was now separated in the middle, before it exploded into flames.
The battle was won.
And almost instantly both Sanji and Zoro lost their last bits of strength. Sanji’s figure crashed onto a nearby building, and Zoro dropped to the floor after sheathing his blades.
No one saw a certain blond-haired guy with a plague mask casually sitting on top of a rock. Before his figure blended into invisibility, it seemed his help wasn’t needed here as well.
A small smile dawned on his face as he moved toward Zoro, picking him up over his shoulder before going towards Sanji.
First Luffy, now Zoro and Sanji. A crew that didn’t even sail for one year, and yet three members of the crew were already this powerful. But then again, what else could he expect from the people Luffy chose to bring along on his journey?
Sabo shook his head, as he checked through the rubble before picking up Sanji. It seems that curly brow didn’t notice that he had awakened his Observation Haki.
In a way, he felt proud of the both of them. They were kind of his first students after all.
Almost all the slavers and kidnappers amongst the pirates had been taken care of. With Sparky, Usopp, and him working together it didn’t take that much time.
More so when some other marines, along with Vivi and Nami came for help. Even though some of the pirates were still fighting the Marines, it became obvious who won the war. Still, it made Sabo sad that they were this late, many civilians had died, some lost limbs, while others lost their dignity.
But at least with his brother, Sabo was able to do something. Sabo didn’t say it out loud, but at first he had some doubts on whether his brother could beat Jack or not. He didn’t want to reveal himself, Dragon prohibited him. But he could always apologize later rather than ask permission.
But it seems like it wasn’t needed.
Speaking of brothers, he wondered how Ace would feel after seeing him again. His thought quickly vanished away when the ground beneath him shook.
Sabo knew it was Luffy’s doing, he could clearly see it from his Observation Haki. His brother had grown strong, and he was proud of that.
Heck, if he didn’t pull himself together his brother might soon overtake him in skills as well. And as a big brother, it was his duty to be stronger.
With Zoro and Sanji on his back, he moved towards where he could feel Sparky’s Haki was. The last time he checked, the six-armed monkey was tinkering with some marine transponder snail and also giving first aid to those who were harmed.
Most of the doctors on the island who stayed for first aid were with Sparky for their safety. Chopper and the others were left on evacuation ships, but with Kuina there, Sabo doubted anything bad would happen.
Sabo’s musing was cut off when he heard Zoro’s painful coughs. He really needed some medical attention. Sabo almost forgot that the swordsman had a punctured lung and a damaged liver. Sanji wasn’t any better either, the cook might have mixed most of his wounds, but he required some much-needed recovery.
———————(So basically Zoro and Sanji’s abilities complement each other. Mainly Sanji’s flame Vinsmoke biology, him gaining more strength from absorbing heat and flames.
Zoro unlocked C. Haki and A. Haki.
While Sanji gained O. Haki and something else. Though it won’t play a part in the story for quite a while.)
216
“There… I think someone is stuck inside the building…” one of the marines said. “I heard a call when I was passing…”
“I will check,” Usopp said. Unlike other members of the crew, he wasn’t fighting the pirates. They were already reduced to a small number mainly after Sabo went invisible and started going through them like a storm, so he opted to save the people in need. Mainly those that were stuck inside fallen buildings and couldn’t get out, he shrank down to an ant-like size and jumped through the cracks of the building. Easily going through them.
Good thing about his fruit was that, in all sizes, he retained relative strength. But if he went too small, like his ant size, then his strength was reduced by half. It was a good thing that his strength was at a good enough level anyway due to all the training.
For a while, nothing happened. The G-3 base, or Nanimonai Island, was now full of damaged buildings and cracked streets filled with corpses and blood. It was a war zone and looked like one too.
The port part of the island was cleared out of pirates, and the Straw Hats and Marines worked together to stretch it towards the center, clearing out any areas of pirates.
Now that the pirates weren’t a problem, the Marines could focus on rescuing those that were unfortunately left out, saving any lives that were harmed due to the sudden battle. Many people were stuck inside buildings, some tried to hide in there while others were too late to get out. The battle in the plaza was creating devastating earthquakes that took down many of the half-destroyed buildings, so a rescue team was needed. Luckily, Usopp and Coby were there to help with that.
But the problem was that the Marines’ efforts were stretched thin. With so many of them going away when the three evacuation ships left, it left a vacuum in the workforce. Only the most honest Marines that valued their morals more than their lives stayed and now, seeing the Straw Hat Pirates working with them, made them realize that the Newspapers weren’t lying.
Later the words of the honest marines would spread around, the fame of the Straw Hats would increase.
The ground beneath shook and suddenly something the size of an ant came out from the cracks, and it started to expand. It was Usopp, who was carrying two bodies, an elderly woman and a little boy, both of them bleeding and unconscious.
“They are breathing!” Usopp said, panting, “They need medical attention! Call in the doctors!”
The Marines hurriedly took the bodies towards the doctor, before Usopp moved on to other buildings doing the same. Not all buildings had people inside of them, so many times Usopp had to return empty-handed.
Just when Usopp came out from another building, he saw Coby carrying three injured people on his back, running towards the doctor.
Behind him a female marine was following him, also having two people on her back. Hibari might be her name, Usopp didn’t clearly remember.
“Coby, Oi, Coby! I need your help.” Usopp said as Coby put down the people near the medical staff.
“Huh, what is it, Usopp?”
“You have enhanced senses right?”
Coby nodded.
“Then can you use your enhanced hearing to hear my heartbeat?”
Coby frowned in confusion but nodded.
“Think you can do the same for other people even in all this mess?”
“Huh, why?”
“Just do it.”
Coby nodded as he closed his eyes and concentrated, it was hard focusing on only people’s heartbeat. But after some time he was able to separate that from the other noises. “I think I can do it.”
Usopp flashed a smile, “Then use that to locate people underneath the buildings. Place your head on the ground or something… you can do that right?”
Coby was wide-eyed.
“I think I can.”
“Good! Do that. Then I can just get in there with my…” Usopp glanced at the Marines nearby, remembering back to Luffy’s words. “Shrink Shrink fruit powers and get them.”
“Yeah… Why didn’t I think of that before?” He mumbled, that would have helped him as well. Even without Usopp’s power, “Let’s do it!”
“Umm… can I help, pirate-sans?” The female Marine known as Hibari said.
Usopp looked at her and then at Coby, he suspected something was going on between the two. But Coby seemed clueless, so the sniper didn’t pay that much into mind. “Sure. We need all the people we can get.” He said. “You are from this base, yes?”
“Yeah, I know all the layouts of the big buildings… I can help you guys get there.”
“Good girl!” Coby said, “Come on, we have no time to waste, then.”
“Y-yes!”
.
Sinbad kneed Jack right in the face, the Beast pirate’s head caved in. A blow coated with Armament was enough to break Jack’s nose. The giant pirate tried grabbing onto Sinbad, but he used Geppo to get out of the way.
But while doing so he delivered a fast kick, “Tempest Kick!” creating a wind blade enhanced by his powers over ice towards the pirate. Even though Sinbad couldn’t fully go into one of his armors he could still use the elements from them to a certain extent.
Jack tanked that by crossing his arms and coating it in Armament Haki. But it had other effects, freezing both of his arms in ice.
Now that Jack couldn’t use his devil fruit ability, the passive durability from the Ancient Zoan was no more. Meaning he couldn’t just eat up all the attacks he did before.
Sinbad didn’t stand still, and moved. “Soru!”
He appeared right next to Jack’s side, the ice on his hands slowed him down. Giving the marine the chance to kick his feet off the ground as the fish-man lost balance, Sinbad took it as a chance to jump up and grab Jack by the hair, “Let go of my hair!”
But Sinbad didn’t listen, “Soru!” This time, with Soru, he used all of his strength to pull on Jack by the hair, using his hair as a rope lifted Jack off the ground and smashed him through a few buildings.
“Gaa! I will kill you!” Jack came out from the rubbles charging at Sinbad. He lost quite the bit of his hair due to Sinbad.
“Not the first time I have heard that.”
217
“Gaa! I will kill you!” Jack came out from the rubbles charging at Sinbad. He lost quite the bit of his hair due to Sinbad.
“Not the first time I have heard that,” Sinbad sidestepped the mad charge, and dodged Jack’s attack. Before Sinbad held up his two hands an invisible force threw Jack off of him, as the Beast pirate coughed up blood. Sinbad used that chance to get behind him and kick Jack in the back of his knee, making Jack fall to the ground on his knee.
Luffy grinned, what Sinbad used right there was Advanced Armament. But then again why was he surprised, even Sentomaru was shown to use that. But what Sinbad used was just ‘Emission,’ not ‘Internal Destruction.’ Which Luffy suspected Sinbad wasn’t capable of using. Well, that didn’t matter, Sinbad was already strong.
Also, some might mistake Sinbad’s attack with Rokuogan (Six King Gun) and honestly Armament Haki ‘Emission’ and the last Rokushiki wasn’t much different. While Rokuogan used the user’s energy and strength to make a blast, ‘Emission’ used Haki to do the same thing.
Rokuogan is a shockwave-based technique, which directly affects the internals of an opponent. Similar to Fish-man Karate or Hossuken. But the effect of literally pushing out your strength in form of an attack was very similar to advanced application of Armament.
‘Rokushiki really does prepare a marines’ body for Haki, don’t they?’ Luffy thought, ‘Heck, my Leo Gun will have major upgrades after I’m done fully utilizing my armament! Can’t wait to grind up my new skills. Shishishi…’ Luffy’s musing was cut short when he heard Sinbad call out.
“Ice prison!” Some white fur grew around Sinbads’ arms as he blasted Jack with a stream of ice, freezing him solid.
Jack’s whole body was frozen, encased in ice. The Beast pirate struggled with all his strength but was too late.
The marine pulled his hand back in a spear-like motion as it was covered in Haki. “Lighting Drill Spear!”
“Gah!!!” Jack coughed up blood once more as he felt Sinbad’s hand penetrate the left side of his stomach from the back before the electric discharge hit him, throwing his body through a couple of buildings.
“Tag!” Luffy called out as he passed Sinbad. “My turn now!”
Luffy didn’t even give Jack time to stand up as he appeared right behind him, kicking his head in with his feet covered in Advanced Armament Haki (Emission). What? He was a pirate, and as a rule of thumb fighting unfairly was fair.
Also, he didn’t care about the battle anymore, his Haki had leveled up quite a bit just like he wanted and so he was just beating the sh*t out of Jack for fun.
He ducked under one of Jack’s punches, delivering a clean blow right to the fishman’s side with internal destruction, he made sure that the Fish-man lost its liver.
“Gah!” But then again it was barely needed as Sinbad had already punched a hole through the man’s stomach. Jack walked back coughing blood but he had little time to rest as Luffy was on him, his arm coated with Haki, as he delivered a punch right to the man’s face, caving it in.
But Luffy wasn’t done, he grabbed onto his head and shoved his knee right into his face as he took a few steps back.
Luffy also took a few steps back, co*cking back his two fists. “Gomu Gomu no Gatling!” A rapid barrage of strong punches, all of them doing as much damage as externally and internally, hit Jack’s body, putting sizable dents on him.
Jack took several steps back, not yielding by sheer willpower he was still standing. “I will not fall here, and ruin Kaido-sama’s hono…!” he couldn’t even finish his sentence as Sinbad appeared right in front of him and kicked him in the nuts, shutting him up.
“Scum like you have no honor!”
“Hey, that was my turn! Step aside, Sinny!” Luffy complained as Jack’s figure crouched down, holding his groin.
“Heh, maybe finish the fight, next time.” Sinbad mused.
A few grenades landed near both Sinbad and Luffy’s feet. Neither of them moved, choosing to tank the attack. The smoke cleared, leaving both of them looking fine.
“You know I might not like your Marine organization, but you guys do have pretty useful skills.” Luffy said, deactivating Tekkai.
“Yeah… wait, now that you mention it how do you even know them?” Sinbad asked. “Did Vice Admiral Garp teach you?”
“Nah, that old fart can’t teach sh*t. He just beats me up, whenever he sees me.” Both Luffy and Sinbad shuddered at the same time.
It seemed Luffy wasn’t the only one who suffered at the hands of the Marine Hero. Both felt a sense of brotherhood in their suffering.
“Yeah, he is strong… but unless one wants a life of pain, training under him is not optimal.” Sinbad says. When he was younger, like everyone else, he looked up to the hero, but it turned out Garp wasn’t really good at teaching. But then again, Sinbad learned ‘Tekkai’ under him in three days, so that might be up for debate.
“Huh, it takes me back… I had found the six techniques from the Royal Goa Archives. They had a lot of good reads back in the royal library?” He lied. No need to give away useful information. Mainly when it wasn’t needed.
Sinbad raised an eyebrow. “You’re royalty?”
“Nah, but my brother was…” Luffy said, acting sad. “He died when a bubble man blasted a bazooka at his ship.”
Sinbad winced knowing what Luffy meant. “My condolences.”
“Nah, don’t worry. I remember his face…” Luffy said, waving it off. He didn’t really care about that particular World Noble, but it was just to throw the marines off.
Sinbad on the other hand made a note to not tell the higher-ups about Luffy targeting a specific World Noble. He didn’t like that kind either.
A figure came out from the plaza holding a giant bazooka, the same one who threw the grenades a few minutes ago. It was Sheepshead, “You will not take down, Jack-sama. Die! Men attack!!!”
Many of the Beast Pirates suddenly came out from all sides, holding weapons while pointing at them.
“”Shut it!”” Both Luffy and Sinbad said at the same time as a wave of Conqueror’s Haki crushed the Beast pirates unconscious.
“Huh, a king amongst dogs?” Luffy said, “And here I thought my gramps was the only one who could use that power amongst you folks.”
Sinbad raised his eyebrow, but nodded. If anyone in the navy had Conqueror’s Haki, then it would be Garp. There were rumors of Fleet Admiral Sengoku also having it, but Sinbad didn’t know that for sure. Maybe his father knew.
Jack seemed to be standing up, bringing both Luffy’s and Sinbad’s attention back to him.
“Let’s continue the conversation later… eh?”
218
Jack seemed to be standing up, bringing both Luffy’s and Sinbad’s attention back to him.
“Let’s continue the conversation later… eh?”
“Sure, but I’m going first…” Sinbad said, before disappearing from his spot and reappearing right in front of Jack delivering a kick that sent him flying. He followed through going in the air and using Geppo to drop kick him right in his stomach where he punctured a hole before.
Jack was crushed onto the concrete ground as he struggled to hit Sinbad. The marine on the other hand was taunting him to fight.
“Oi, my turn now!” Luffy announced, as he was jumping through the air with his naginata coated in Advanced Armament. The blackness of the Haki spreading outwards from his blade, creating a black bubble.
Sinbad looked back and he was wide-eyed as he quickly jumped to the side. “Oi, you will hit me, you idiot!”
“Shishishi… Eclipse Strike!” Luffy swung his naginata, as if blocking out the light and striking his opponent with the power of his will. Jack crossed his arms trying to block the attack with his own Haki but it was useless.
“AghhhhH!” Jack screamed as his arms were cut off right near the elbow. But that wasn’t all, the strike also made a deep wound on Jack’s chest as well as a trench behind Jack, shaking the whole plaza.
“I will kill you, bastard! You took my arms!” Jack screamed in pain and horror, wiggling like a worm from the unimaginable pain.
“Shut it!” Sinbad came along stomping him on the head, knocking him out. Jack still squirmed underneath Sinbad’s feet but now that he was unconscious he was struggling less. Internally Sinbad was a bit sore about the fact that he couldn’t give the finishing blow.
Sinbad then looked at Luffy, who was appreciating the damage he did.
“You know, we make a good team.” Sinbad said smirking, while Luffy returned the grin. “It would have been cool if you joined the Marines instead… who knows I might have taken you in on my unit?”
“Oh, please.” Luffy rolled his eyes. “Like I would ever join… but if I did, then I would have been already named the next Fleet Admiral. I’m just that awesome! No one is as awesome as me.” He bragged, comically puffing out his chest.
“Uh-huh.” Sinbad said, before he burst out laughing. “Hahaha…”
“Shishishi…”
Even though there weren’t many marines nearby, there still were some. And seeing the Vice Admiral laughing with Straw Hat Luffy also brought smiles to their faces. No one saw that a certain bird was clicking pictures of the situation.
Now that the main threat was down, though that brought the question; what should they do?
“Hey, do you guys have sea stone cuffs around here?” Luffy asked, “I don’t know how long your debuff will work, but a pair of sea stone cuffs should be fine for him.”
Sinbad nodded and looked around. “Wait here… keep an eye on him.”
Luffy nodded as he went out to collect Jack’s shotel blade and feed it to his nameless blade.
“You did well, partner,” Luffy said.
‘Of course, I did.’ His nameless blade huffed. ‘Now, feed me the other one.’
After a while Sinbad came back as he placed sea stones cuffs on Jack’s ankles. Okay, what should they do now?
Luffy was going to say something when a voice called out.
“Sin, is that you?!” Sinbad couldn’t even move as someone ran towards him and wrapped her arms around him. Then said person then started to cry. “Do you know how scared I was!?” Vivi sniffed as she hugged her brother from behind, “I thought I would lose you like aunty!” Sinbad didn’t know what to say, so he just stayed silent, but even his eyes were getting wet. He might have not liked Alabasta, but Vivi was still someone he considered his sister.
Luffy didn’t say anything, only smiled. He was happy for Vivi, but he didn’t know why he felt a bit off. But the Straw Hat shrugged it off, as he saw Nami coming.
Nami also came from the direction Vivi came and smiled softly after looking at the scene. She then looked around the district, finally finding her captain. The girl winced with how roughed up he looked. “You have seen better days.” She mumbled.
“Yeah, but I got stronger!” Luffy gave her a weak thumbs up.
Nami snorted as she shook her head. Before going forward and hugging Luffy, “I was worried about you, dummy.” The boy was surprised but awkwardly returned the hug. That was unexpected.
Right then another few marines also came, making Nami quickly separate from the embrace as she went towards the other Straw Hats that were also coming. Luffy smiled as Nami tried to hide her flustered face. “This girl,” Luffy said, shaking his head.
Ain and Shuzo came dragging along the unconscious body of Sasaki. Both the marines were injured, but nothing too serious.
But Luffy didn’t pay attention to them. No, he had other concerns… the boy spread out his Observation Haki, picking up the auras of his other crewmate. They were okay, Zoro and Sanji became strong, really strong. But they were unconscious, being carried by Sabo.
Usopp, Bartolomeo, Coby, Johnny and Yosaku were also fine, with minimal injuries. They didn’t have any major battles it seemed. Hatchan was a bit wounded and he seemed exhausted more than anything. All in all, everyone in his crew were fine. Speaking of the crew… where was Karoo?
Luffy spread out his Haki, and his brow twitched, the duck hadn’t even left the Going Merry it seemed. Luffy also picked up the nearby aura of a certain someone.
“Oh, Sparky? Did you do what I told you to?” Luffy asked, and Sinbad was surprised to see a six-armed monkey and Binz with a transponder snail.
All of the marines either raised their eyebrows or frowned. What was Luffy playing at? Sinbad was also curious, Luffy might act simple, but he wasn’t as simple as he liked to make himself look. He wanted to ask Luffy,
But before he could ask a voice called out from the transponder snail.
219
A bit earlier, Marine Headquarters.
“Who is it?” Sengoku asked Cancer as the Vice Admiral walked in with an open Transponder snail.
Around the room, other than Sengoku, there was Vice Admiral Garp, Vice Admiral Bogard, Former Admiral Zephyr, and lastly current Admiral Kuzan. All of them were tense and worried. There was a reason why most of the higher-ups of Marineford were in the same room.
The Vice Admiral looked at the transponder snail and then back to Sengoku, “…It’s a monkey, sir.”
Sengoku felt his brow twitch, before he glanced at a certain someone.
“Hey! Not every monkey is related to me, damn it.” Garp defended. Just because his family name was Monkey didn’t mean he was one.
Sengoku sighed, picking up the transponder snail, and putting it on loudspeaker. “Who is this?”
“Sparky,” Came a voice from the other side, making Bogard who was in the room cough.
“Okay, I take it back. He is related to me,” Garp dumbfoundedly muttered, getting a glare from the Fleet Admiral.
“Gampa?!” asked the voice, the human voice then turned full on monkey, “Guahg Ugh uah ueh! Ugh uah uehuah muuah iueah ueh,” making monkey sounds as a monkey should.
None of them got what the monkey said other than Garp of course. It seemed Sparky still preferred his monkey tongue to those who could understand it. “Okay, you missed me on the Vivi part. Who’s Vivi? More importantly why the heck are you in that base?”
“Wait, Vivi?” Zephyr, who was also listening to the call, stood up from his seat, going near the transponder snail.
“Yes, Vivi.” Sparky went back to speaking human. “Female human, beautiful, Blue hair, has a duck…”
Zephyr grabbed the speaker, “Where is Vivi?”
“Who is Vivi?” Sengoku asked.
“I have one better? Why is Vivi?” Garp said, all of them looked at him. “I mean why is she important?” That was a valid question.
“She’s the princess of Alabasta that had gone missing a year ago.” Zephyr answered before he looked at Garp, “Who is this? And why does he know about my niece?”
The confusion in the room vanished. Before it resurfaced yet again as to why the unknown monkey knew about her.
“Well… Vivi… she’s a friend.” Sparky said.
Garp put his left fist over his right palm, “Now it makes sense!”
“”Shut it!”” both Sengoku and Zephyr hissed at the same time, shutting the old marine hero down
Kuzan had to step in before the three old marines killed the poor transponder snail in their shouting. “Garp-san, can you ask Sparky here what is going on?”
“Oh, he did… didn’t you guys hear?” Garp said, while picking his nose with his pinky.
“We don’t speak monkey, damn it!” Sengoku grunted, while Zephyr massaged his head.
“Oh, you should’ve said so,” Garp said, but quickly explained when both Zephyr and Sengoku were glaring at him. “Well, Sparky and his ‘friends’ seemed to have saved one of the evacuation ships on their way to Alabasta. But when they heard the G-3 marine base getting attacked by Jack, and Vice Admiral Sinbad being there, they had to make a detour. Something about Vivi’s cousin being in trouble…? So it seems my grandson and his crew are there on the island helping your brat! Bahahaha!”
“Wait, your grandson…? I thought your grandson was Mario? Wasn’t he a bounty hunter or something?” Zephyr asked. Many of the new recruits he was training idolized that figure for some-reason. Being a hero or whatnot… he didn’t know. Honestly, he thought he didn’t know who Garp’s grandson was. He didn’t keep up with the newspapers that much.
“Bahahaha… no idea why that brat got that name. But nah, his name is Monkey D. Luffy.”
“And he’s a pirate.” Sengoku said, sighing, while Garp coughed. “But I don’t even care anymore. Garp, ask about the conditions of the marines, more importantly about the civilians, and about the evacuation ships. Oh, and about the high-ranking marines stationed there… We need info on the situation there.”
Garp looked at the transponder snail, and nodded. But he knew better than to ask random questions, so he started with the main one. “Well… to start with; why did you call? Is the situation bad there? Do you need backup?”
Even though there wasn’t any fast way to send help, as the distance between the island of Alabasta and Nanimonai Island (G3 base) was one day. Even with a fast boat, it would take at least six hours to get there.
And when Sengoku called in the desert Warlord, Crocodile had declined helping the Marines. Not wanting to get involved with Kaido’s men. There were other marines on the island, like Smoker and Captain Hina but both of them weren’t that strong enough to provide significant help.
And Sengoku knew better than to push in cannon fodder just to get slaughtered.
Then there was Vice Admiral Vergo, he was also a capable fighter, but it seemed he was busy being attacked mid-way in the sea. The Marines had no way of verifying the story, but they trusted the upper ranks enough. A mistake on their part.
“Oh, I was just checking if the first evacuation ship reached it’s destination. The first ship was a bit damaged and I wanted to make sure.” Sparky said, but that was a lie. As Luffy had handed Gin a transponder snail, (not the black one. A transponder sail that they took from Mr 3 after capturing him) in case they needed it for contact. The real reason he was calling was because Luffy had a plan in mind.
“Yes, the first ship has reached Alabasta…” Garp said, “What about the others?”
“Uh… three other evacuation ships left the base, the other two are currently getting filled with survivors. Well, the situation wasn’t that good before we came here, many of the marines died along with civilians, but now the situation is completely the opposite.”
All of the marines present there looked at each other, mainly two of them relaxed a bit. That was Garp and Bogard, they didn’t know how strong Luffy got but he was always the tricky fighter so he might be able to handle it. Also it makes them proud knowing that Luffy chose to help even though he’s a pirate.
Bogard had also been called six months back to train Luffy just after the boy had unlocked his Armament Haki, so both of them knew Luffy’s capabilities. Learning all three types of Haki, even the basic concepts, by himself was no easy thing. And also Luffy had an eye for taking in strong people. Sparky was one example of it.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, Garp, but can we trust the monkey?” Sengoku said.
220
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, Garp, but can we trust the monkey?” Sengoku said.
Garp looked at his old friend and nodded.
“Okay, how’s the situation at the G-3 base?” Zephyr asked, “Do you guys need back up? There are not that many capable units but Captain Smoker and Captain Hina are in Alabasta, they could offer some help.”
“Um… no.” Sparky said. All of them blinked at the monkey’s response.
“What do you mean, no?” Zephyr said. “The base was attacked by Jack the Drought, one of Kaido’s men…”
And not to mention in that base was Sinbad, his own son. And even though currently Vice Admiral Tsuru wasn’t present here, there were rumors that her granddaughter was also stationed on that base. Even though in reality all lives were equals, but personally everyone wanted their loved ones to live first, that was just basic human emotion.
“Uh, yeah, the elephant fish-man guy… tall, ugly, big and weird.” Sparky said, “But don’t worry, Luffy and Vivi’s cousin is fighting him. He’s tough, but he’s losing…” As he said that all of the marines in the room could hear a loud sound coming from the other side, “Oh, they already won the battle it seems. Huh, talk about timing.”
The room fell silent as all the marines looked at each other. Everyone knew Vice Admiral Sinbad’s strength, he was strong, but even he wouldn’t be able to take Jack on alone. Unless, someone with strength equal to his fought alongside him.
And while X-Drake could stand equal to Sinbad’s side, he wasn’t on the same level as Sinbad.
It was hard to believe, a boy that hadn’t been in the sea for even a year, getting this strong. Sengoku could already feel the headaches the boy would cause him in the future.
And for the first time in the day, Zephyr was feeling a bit relieved.
The silence was broken by Garp’s laugh, “My grandson is strong… Bahahaha!”
Sengoku grabbed Garp by the collar and shook him while Garp was laughing. “Now, isn’t the time for jokes!”
“Bahahaha… don’t worry, the young ones have it handled.” Garp said, “Oi, Sparky bring some proper marine on to calm down Sengoku, old age isn’t doing him any good.”
“Why you…!”
“I will bring someone that can do it, Grandpa. Just wait a minute!” With that, the other side went silent. Before the sound of shouting and screaming came from the other side.
“Unhand me, you six-armed menace!” Came a voice which was definitely not Sparky’s. “I have to get back to Vice Admiral X-Drake’s side… I have to give him the good news when he wakes u-” he was cut off by a slap. “Ugh… you hit me! Why?!”
“Speak to it.”
“Speak to who? Oh, is that a transponder snail? Moshi moshi, who’s this?”
Sengoku rubbed his forehead. “This is Fleet Admiral Sengoku speaking, what is your rank and name, marine?!” he already could guess by the voice who it was.
“Hic!!!” the figure from the other side shut up. “Sengoku-sama, this is Commodore Binz speaking!”
“Binz, what’s the situation there? Get to the details, and speak your mind.” Sengoku ordered.
And so the marine explained. And after that was over, Sparky quickly brought him and the transponder snail to the plaza.
.
Present time,
“Vice Admiral Sinbad, can you hear me?” The transponder snail said, bringing almost everyone’s attention to Binz who was carrying the snail.
“Is that Fleet Admiral…?” Sinbad looked at Binz who hurriedly nodded. Sinbad quickly made his way to grab the transponder snail, but he was a bit late as Luffy got there first.
“Moshi Moshi… Gramps you there on the other side?” Luffy asked, irritating all of the marines.
“Bahahaha… brat you’re still alive?!” Came a voice that was none other than the Marine Hero’s. “Heard you and the purple-haired brat took down Jack…”
“Yeah, he was tough. It was fun. Shishishi…” Luffy said. Now if anyone in the Marines had any doubts about Luffy’s and Garp’s relation it was cleared. But it was still hard to believe that a pirate was the grandson of the great Marine Hero.
“Bahahaha!”
“Shishishi!”
“”Shut it, both of you!”” Both Sinbad and Sengoku said from the same time.
And that shut them up, before Sengoku spoke again. “What’s your status, Sinbad?”
“I’m mostly fine… and so are most of my unit. I don’t know about the other high ranking marines stationed here, but the casualties on the marines’ side should be more than a thousand…” Sinbad’s face turned grim, even though most of the people around here were a bit cheerful, almost everywhere one could see the dead bodies of marines and pirates.
“Binz had reported as much.” Sengoku said, “What happened to Jack?”
Sinbad glared at the fallen body of Jack. “He is alive, but…” the transponder snail was snatched away by Luffy.
“Yeah, about that… I have a proposal.” Luffy said, making everyone in the marines frown.
The line was silent for a moment, “What are you playing at, brat?” Sengoku asked, almost growling.
“Shishishi…” Luffy said, and looked towards Vivi. As everyone was gathered here, he could play it. “Sengoku-san, I heard that you are in for an early retirement?”
The Fleet Admiral scoffed, “Get to the point.”
“Shishishi… well, Sengoku! I’ve come to bargain!”
