Chapter 120 - Chapter 201 - 210

201

Jack the Drought, who was almost 30 feet in height, was tossed as if he weighed as much as a pillow, crashing through several buildings, before stopping. For one second Jack was dumbstruck as to what happened. But he knew what happened, someone had caught him mid-air, then tossed him, pushing him back.

Jack got up from the rubble but before he could move, two attacks hit him.

"Phoenix Onigiri!"

"Well Cooked: Grill Shot!"

"Gah!" Jack grunted as both flaming attacks attacked him head on, creating a large fiery explosion that sent him through multiple buildings. But even with that, the damage he took was only skin deep, minor burns, but one of the kicks managed to knock him out. But only for a while.

Jack might not have covered his body with Armament Haki, but his Mammoth-hide was strong enough for any non-haki-based attack. They were too shallow. But all in all, he still had a brain, and the kick seemed to have rattled his insides.

And so when Jack woke up, he was angry. He found Sheepshead trying to wake him up, and so punched the poor man in frustration. The Mammoth zoan stood up and angrily looked for his target. It was the Straw Hat pirates.

A bit earlier, on Luffy's side,

"It's…" the marine trailed off. "It's the Fallen Hero Luffy?!"

The civilians who were on the ship saw Luffy and were awed. He tossed the beast of a giant before it could destroy their ship. Saving many lives in the process.

And Luffy looked even more impressive than his bounty poster. Having a tall and good build, with his straw hat on his back and two naginata strapped back on his back in a crossed fashion.

"It's the Straw Hat pirates!" He cheered, he was one of the civilians that got saved by Luffy. "The rumors are true… He has come to save us!" And as if it was a domino effect, more and more people started to cheer.

Almost half of the marines were still skeptical, but the other half cheered for Luffy. They needed any hope, any help at the moment, and to get help from pirates was surprising, but the newspaper seemed to not lie.

Luffy jumped from the ship, landing between Zoro and Sanji. "Shishishi… it seems we are quite popular. But let's get away from the civilians to avoid any casualties…" all three of them jumped a few times, plowing through the ranks of Beast pirates and the subordinate crewmen.

It made the civilians and those that supported Luffy from the Marines cheer even harder.

With most of the port now cleared from the pirates Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro, entered the plaza, where the battle took place previously.

Zoro didn't say anything, his eyes were moving around to find opponents he could match. And just by one attack he knew he was no match for Jack, so he would need to find opponents that he could at least contend against.

Sanji, on the other hand, disappeared from his spot, appearing right in front of Ain, with a rose in his mouth. "Mademoiselle, I came here only hearing you call… To save you from the ugly pirates that have plagued this land. Please accept this flower…"

Ain dumbly nodded and accepted this flower. She was in too much of a shock

For some reason, Sinbad felt his eyes twitch, snatching the flower away from Ain, and wrapping his arms around her. "She's mine! And who the heck are…"

But Luffy cut him off, "Who's the average-looking guy?" he asked Sanji. Internally he was having a hard time believing that Sinbad looked exactly like, well… Sinbad.

Sanji gave his captain a deadpan, but explained. "Purple hair, looks a bit like Vivi-swan, unfortunately, it's her cousin…" But he was cut off.

"Did you just call me an average-looking guy..?" Sinbad whispered as if that comment hurt him more than the wounds. He pointed at Luffy, as he stood up, being at least two feet taller than him. "I'm better looking than you…!"

"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that, buddy," Luffy said, "Obviously you are coping." He patted his shoulder. "But no one will think less of you if you are honest."

Ain really wanted to hit Sinbad, the pirate knew about Vivi, the Alabastan princess, and that meant he knew about Sinbad. And the Vice Admiral was literally pissed off about someone calling him average looking of all things? Though internally even she was embarrassed about her previous hick up and she also tried to hide the fact that Sinbad called her his.

She was about to say something, but Sanji gave her another rose. "Mademoiselle, please accept the flower and accept my love! Like my captain said, he really is average looking."

"Stop hitting on her, dart brow!"

"Stop hitting on her, love cook!"

Both Sinbad and Zoro said at the same time, before they looked at each other.

"Shut it cabbage heads!" Sanji snapped at Zoro and Sinbad at the same time, but then he blinked. "Wait! Cabbages also come in the color purple."

""Why you!"" Both of them said at the same time.

"Shishishi… you are good Sanji."

And before things could escalate any further, Shuzo asked the most logical question.

"What are you pirates doing here?" the marine asked.

"Duh… we came as back up of course," Luffy asked, before he looked at Sinbad, and then back to Jack who now stood up. "I mean what hero would I be if I didn't help people in need? Shishishi…"

"But you guys are pirates?!" Ain said something for the first time. She might not be an Absolute Justice freak, but this just wasn't logical. Most of the pirates she met wanted her dead, and the feeling was mostly mutual, so this was a bit odd.

"Uh-huh, and you guys service bubble-head men who call themselves god." Luffy said, taking out his nameless Naginata, and Horn's Edge off of his back. Red steam started coming out of his skin, as it gained a red tint, his hair growing wilder, his muscles growing larger in size, as his height matched Sinbad, looking at Jack. "Why do you think I never joined the Marines?"

That was when Ain remembered that Luffy —even though he was a pirate— was the grandson of the marine hero Garp. So the rumors about his heroic deeds were true, the newspapers weren't just making stuff up. It gave her a conflicting view.

Sinbad on the other hand wasn't finding it that hard. He has seen the gray area of both Marines and Pirates. "Just one question? How do you know Vivi?"

Luffy grinned, not looking at him, his eyes still on Jack, who started his charge towards them. "Ask her yourself, she's coming here on my ship after all."

"How dare you attack Jack-sama!" Sasaki of the beast pirate screamed. "Men, attack!" With that, all of the pirates charged again and Jack also seemed to have gotten up, looking very pissed about the situation as he also jumped toward them.

Jack also seemed to have roared as he dashed towards Luffy.

Luffy then looked at Sinbad one last time, "I came for backup, but it's your own mess… so don't push all the responsibility on us." With that he threw Horn's Edge at Sasaki who was trying to get up after getting punched by Jack. The pirate might not have been strong compared to the others in his crew, but he managed to avoid getting stabbed.

Luffy clicked his tongue before he disappeared from his spot using Soru, charging at Jack.

Zoro and Sanji also moved, Zoro going for Sasaki, while Sanji went for Sheepshead. The other pirates that were along with the Beast Pirates also wanted to attack Luffy and the group, but for some reason, they were getting shot from somewhere and falling. All the Beast Pirates knew there was a sniper but they couldn't see him.

Sinbad deduced that another member of the Straw Hats was helping the trio in the fight.

At that time Binz came with the body of X-Drake, the man was in critical condition and he needed medical attention.

"What should we do, Vice Admiral?" Binz asked.

Sinbad looked at his men, his blue lightning-dragon armor started shimmering, becoming translucent. "You go and stay with Drake… even though his condition is critical, he's a Zoan and their recovery is quite fast. But don't let him out of your sight, and don't let him join the battle."

Binz nodded, picking up the knocked-out and bleeding X-Drake and jumping towards the evacuation ships. He would help the marines there and look after his comrade at the same time.

Sinbad then looked at Ain and Shuzo, "There's no good way of saying this, but we have to trust the Straw Hat pirates this time… Ain you go and help the swordsman, and Shuzo you go and help the dart brow." Both of them nodded. "They are strong, but they will need some help. And don't attack them if they don't do anything shady. Also, keep an eye on them, they might be helping us now, but at the end of the day they are pirates."

Shuzo nodded, and while Ain was having some conflicting views on working with a pirate she didn't question Sinbad's order. Especially when he mentioned to keep an eye on them.

"I will go and help Straw Hat, Jack is not someone he can take alone." He said, 'Neither can I. Who knew I would get help from pirates today?' He mused internally, his armor changing into light particles. 'Also, how does he know about Vivi-chan? I will have to look into it later.'

"Armor change: White Fox!" He said, as his armor completely morphed his entire body. Changing from scales to white clothes, his hair gaining a white color with two white fox-like ears coming out of it and nine fox-like tails growing out of his back, all white in color. It almost looked like a Zoan transformation, if others didn't know any better.

All the previous injuries he had sustained now were disappearing at a visible rate. While his lightning dragon armor was meant for dealing the most damage with lightning powers and was a lot more durable, his White Fox armor had active regeneration in it, along with the ice powers.

He couldn't change before as it took a bit of time to switch between his armors. With that, he moved from his spot going toward where Luffy was fighting Jack.

202

Jack used one of his shotel blades to block Luffy's attack, holding his Naginata in place, before slashing with his other one, this one coated with Haki.

But he was surprised when he saw Luffy using Haki in the area where the attack was supposed to land. A rookie pirate using Haki wasn't something you saw every day.

But Jack scoffed, thinking that this level of Haki could protect him from his own.

Just as his Haki-clad blade was about to hit Luffy's exposed stomach, the rookie pirate's muscles tensed up along with a black coating of Haki. And the Beast pirate was surprised again when it protected him.

Still, the blow was enough to send Luffy away toward one of the buildings. "Elephant Gun!" But not before the said Straw Hat punched him with a giant fist coated in Haki, sending him back as well.

While Luffy sustained some damage, Jack was unharmed. In fact, the Beast pirate was annoyed. While it seemed that the young pirate didn't have strong Haki, he made up for it with some odd skill. But that level of Haki still wouldn't be able to harm him.

Jack relied mostly on his devil fruit, but his Armament Haki was also quite good, better than Luffy's at the very least. But even then most Haki users couldn't damage his thick skin even if they tried. The same was the case for Luffy.

Luffy knew that his Armament Haki was nowhere near as strong as Jack's. Jack's Armament Haki had more raw power while Luffy had better control over it, and for the Advanced Armament to awaken, control was needed.

For now, Jack's Haki had more raw power in it. But Luffy knew he would catch up soon as with each second passing, he could feel himself getting stronger.

"Shishishi… don't die before I get stronger, fishy!" Luffy said, blitzing right near Jack's side with a combination of Soru and Geppo, and he slashed his naginata. Like Luffy's fist, the blade part of his weapon grew in size listening to its partner's will. As small sparks of red Haki gathered on it's edge, coating the white blade black.

And Jack had to cross his arms and block it with Haki as he was sent through multiple buildings.

And for the first time in the fight, Jack actually got a somewhat deep wound on his body. But nothing too serious.

Luffy on the other hand seemed drained from using so much Armament Haki. He grinned at his blade, "I know you are excited as I am but using too much Haki for just one attack won't do us too well." he said to the nameless blade.

Luffy heard his blade scoff, 'Be strong then!' Luffy could hear his blade from the beginning but couldn't understand it until Little Garden. So only recently could he communicate with it. Though it was only a few words, it seemed rather talkative when fighting. Talk about being a battle maniac. The nameless naginata wanted this fight alone, so Luffy complied, not using Horn's Edge by stabbing it into the ground.

With his Observation Haki only he would be able to pick it up, others will just ignore the small hole. He did have a good connection with his weapon.

"Encouraging words," Luffy said, gripping his blade tightly as Jack got out from the rubble and was madly charging at him. "But then again, we aim to become the strongest, an oversized-fish-elephant-thingy will not stop us here."

'So someone fucking finally grew a pair!' the blade said, as it hummed again as Jack came with his shotel blades. 'We will cut him!' Both pirates clashed, blade against blade, Haki against Haki, fist against fist.

And while in every regard Jack was better, Luffy was getting stronger as well.

"Is that all you got!? Die!" Jack yelled, as he did a cross-motion from above trying to cut Luffy. But Luffy was able to get away with Soru before delivering a flying slash to the man's back, sending him towards the building. Again, Luffy's attack did nothing but annoy the oversized Fishman.

'Do we really need to exhaust all our Haki just to harm him?' Luffy thought to himself.

'Of course not!' the blade said, surprising Luffy as he didn't know his blade could communicate mentally. But it seemed it couldn't pick up all his thoughts, only those spoken towards it. 'You have to just get better.'

'Yes, really helpful…' Luffy almost tried not to roll his eyes.

"Fucking brat, die!" Jack furiously attacked.

"How about a no!" Luffy said again, engaging the wild beast.

Luffy was able to dodge most of the attacks or parry them. And while Jack was big, he was still fast, some of the attacks almost managed to hit him, which he was able to block with Haki and Tekkai.

His Iron Body kind of became passive, now with Observation Haki, he could harden the area with it, and use Armament coating for the ultimate shield. Having an exoskeleton like Sanji would have been better, but there was something satisfying about winning with only normal cards. It means his training wasn't failing him at least.

'Is this what stacking one skill over another feels like?' Luffy internally mused as he used his leg to counter Jack's punch, having both Tekkai and Armament Haki on it, it didn't damage him any bit. He was thrown away, but not before using his other leg to deliver a giant spartan kick that also sent Jack away.

'Still, Jack's really got a tough hide. And now that I'm fighting him, it's not all because of his devil fruit.' Luffy got up as he dashed towards Jack. 'Did the buffoon have a passive skill like Tekkai from all the fights he picked over the years? No wonder he's one of Kaido's most skilled men. If I had to say, his skills and power are at least equal or even better than Aramaki.'

And that was saying something as Luffy was basically in his mixed-Gear form. Using Gear One to increase his muscle mass and Gear Second to increase his blood flow and speed. He was even delivering giant attacks with his Gear Third.

The problem with Jack was that it seemed his attacks weren't doing any damage, and Luffy wasn't holding back either. Jack was just way stronger, the attacks he avoided would give him minor cuts and the attacks he parried would feel like his bones were going to break. And he doubted even if he was somehow able to cuff him with sea stone, his battle skills wouldn't diminish. 'Unlike Aramaki, he ain't a one-trick pony. But, Fuck! I'm loving this!'

'Agreed!' his blade called out.

Luffy jumped over one of Jack's strikes, his chain wrapping around the big guy's body as he thrust his spear-like weapon into Jack's shoulder from behind. Even with Armament coating the blade, the wound wasn't that deep.

But he didn't need to make the wound deep. "Impale and Explode!" Just as his naginata stabbed into Jack, the blade suddenly started to hum, with Jack trapped inside his chain he could do nothing as suddenly he felt a shockwave hit his shoulder. "Ahhhh!"

Luffy's attack created a large yet concentrated shockwave from the tip of his naginata that was stabbed into Jack. Even the ground they stood on shook due to the internal blow. It made the Beast pirate yell as he was thrown face-first into some of the buildings.

But at the same time, some part of the chain broke off from his nameless naginata. His blade didn't like the injury, but didn't comment on it.

'Do you think that worked?' Luffy asked, his arms shaking from the impact of his own attack. He made the technique after getting well used to Rokuogan and Shigan. It was one of his most powerful attacks, only it wasn't fully mastered.

'No! Duck!'

But Luffy was too late even his Observation Haki didn't pick up Jack's movement as he punched Luffy in the face, his face getting buried into itself as Jack's large fist shot him towards the unknown.

Luffy's body bounced across the ground several times, going through multiple marines and pirates, killing and maiming some of them just because of the uncontrolled speed. He only stopped when he was caught by Sanji, who had to drag his heels into the ground, digging a trench to catch his captain, he seemed to have a few beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Uugh… what the fuck happened?!" Luffy asked, ignoring the pain that he felt from his facial bones breaking. Most of his face was caved in, but he was already on his way to fixing that.

"You tell me?" Sanji said, "You shot my opponent to god knows where…"

"I did wha…?"

"Your body slammed into him. But then again he wasn't that strong, his Armament was shit compared to you guys…" The cook said, looking at the angry Jack who was madly attacking anyone in sight, and coming towards them slowly. Sanji couldn't use any Haki, but he would gladly give a hand to his captain. "Want some help?"

Luffy shook his head as he walked forward. "No, you aren't strong enough, yet. In fact, why the heck are you and Zoro fighting different opponents? We are among the Marines, and technically fighting together with 'em is a good way to reveal your secrets. Also, Sasaki is too strong for Zoro alone and Sheepshead was weak against you."

Of course, he was keeping tabs on what his crewmates were doing. Or at least those that were within his range.

"Yeah, that Shuzo guy also wanted to help me… but I declined it because it was easy. Didn't know that they had that in mind." Sanji said, both him and Zoro were too focused on gaining strength that they forgot about that. "I will keep it in mind, captain." With that, he jumped toward where Zoro was.

The green-haired swordsman was getting help from a beautiful marine. Why… that Moosehead! It almost made him forget about what his captain said. Almost…

203

Luffy looked at Jack, who was walking towards him slowly, it seemed he had relocated his shoulder and the wounds on his body were beginning to close.

Luffy then also looked around, now that he saw the battle littered with so many bodies. This place looked like an actual war zone rather than a simple skirmish. Luffy wondered why Sinbad had to pull down on Jack's pants like that.

Jack seemed to have gathered a large number of men for this, but then again, Luffy could guess that not all of the pirates were allies. As he could occasionally find some pirate groups fighting others for some valuables.

But with his backstory, and the involvement with 'Joker' he could see why this was happening. Especially when you consider this base was supposed to be under Vice Admiral Virgo.

Luffy shook his head, as he focused on his recovery. Steam started coming out of his bodily wounds. Mainly the damage done to his face was his first priority, it would be quite embarrassing if the next day his photo was taken with a mangled-up face. So, he quickly took out a small protein bar, and munched on it.

Stamina and minor injuries shouldn't be an issue as he had a highly dense calorie bar made by Sanji. With Life Return, he could recover from most damages but he knew he couldn't drag the fight out for too long.

Jack was known to have fought for five days and five nights against the minks. And Luffy wouldn't waste that much time on him. The place was in ruins, if he wanted to build a reputation, he needed to finish him fast. Dragging the battle longer wouldn't do him any good but he knew it would be impossible. Still, he didn't want Sabo to get involved.

"I almost had some respect for you… being able to actually hurt me." Jack said menacingly as he stood against Luffy, a small distance away. Luffy on the other hand was casually finishing off his protein bar. And it ticked Jack off. "Die!"

Luffy disappeared from his spot, but even he had to say that Jack was fast now. "Holding out on me, eh big guy?" Luffy said, narrowly avoiding another slash.

Luffy moved back, trying to take the least amount of damage as he could while he tried to mend back his wounds.

'Feed me!' His blade called out.

Luffy raised his brow, before he understood what his blade ment. 'You can do that?' he asked, a small smile creeping up his face. 'Sure, I will take the risk.'

"Nice blade you got there," Luffy mused ducking under one of Jack's slashes, Luffy's chain wrapping around the weapon as he yanked it out of his hands. "Mind if I take a good look?"

"Give me back my blade!"

"How about a no…" Luffy smirked as he jumped up into the air with Geppo, and even though Jack tried to catch up with his own jump. Unfortunately, he didn't know air walk so gravity pushed him back down.

"Why you!" Jack grunted, his face grew into that of a mammoth's with an elephant trunk in the place of his nose, his upper body remaining human while his lower half turned into some weird form of a mammoth centaur. With that he took a deep breath of air, intending to use it as an attack through his elephant trunk.

But Luffy didn't pay that much attention to it. He held out the large shotel blade Jack used, they were even bigger than his naginata, which grew in size along with him.

'Okay, what now?' Luffy asked his nameless naginata, as the chain part of its body shot out wrapped around the blade, and before long. It was gone, as if the chain dissolved it into its own body.

'This will do for now.' His blade said.

Luffy had to avoid the massive air pressure bullet that Jack shot toward him but he continued the conversation with his blade instead. 'So learn any new tricks?'

'This hardly works like that. But I did regrow the chains that I lost..' The nameless blade said. 'Also, that trunk is one of Jack's weak spots, we might be able to cut it.'

Luffy grinned. 'You should have started with that.'

With that Luffy shot towards Jack, who sadly reverted to his base form but Luffy still pushed forward to attack. He was almost back to full health now, he could keep going.

Jack charged and so did Luffy.

Honestly, Jack's swordsmanship wasn't that good, it was wild and unhinged, and yet predictable. But Jack made up for his lack of skill with raw power.

"Taking my weapons will get you nowhere!" One of Jack's hands, which was now unarmed, morphed into a Mammoth's foot as it increased in size. And with it, Jack started to attack.

"Armor change: White Fox!" Someone shouted from behind, but Luffy was too focused on avoiding the attacks. Every one of the attacks was dangerous and yet, Luffy was loving this.

Sure the battle was a fight to the death, but his odds weren't all stacked against him, like the fight with Aramaki.

Now not only was he stronger, but if things got rough, his brother would come in. Sabo was also in the battle, along with Usopp, both had shrunk down to a small size, helping with taking down cannon fodder pirates and saving as many people as they could.

Honestly, one side effect of the shrinking down to the size of an ant; was that if you don't know where your opponent is, you can't hit them.

Even with a solid level of Observation Haki, it was hard to find them. Especially Usopp as he didn't stand out much with Observation Haki, so that was why Sabo was also wearing the invisible bracelet to conceal himself, as Sabo stood out much more due to his strength. And with that, he was sure most of the Marines and Pirates wouldn't be able to find him.

And with so much chaos, no one focused on the invisible enemy that was reducing their numbers.

Anyway, Luffy brought his attention back towards Jack, well he kind of had to as he received a strong punch to his chest that knocked the wind out of him.

But the Straw Hat had little time as Jack jumped upwards, intending to stomp down on Luffy.

The young pirate shot towards the side as a very large crater formed around Jack's landing spot.

"Stop running away!"

"Stop breathing, then." Luffy's blade grew in size as he delivered a devastating air slash which Jack tanked with his body, only getting a small cut from it.

"Heh, you fight like a bitch!" Jack called out as he again charged toward Luffy.

Luffy really wanted to learn Advanced Armament, that would put that bastard in his place.

Sabo didn't have Advanced Observation, but he did have Advanced Armament. Both versions of it, Emission and Internal Destruction. Wano wasn't the only place that knew about Internal Destruction it seemed. And his brother told him that he was getting really close to unlocking it, so he will try in this fight.

Not much could be done about the enhancement aspect of his Armament Haki. As that was a bit hard to improve, but his control over Armament was already good enough.

With how thick Jack's skin is, only that would be able to harm and do critical damage to him. Of course, his skin was nothing like Kaido's, actually if his Armament Haki was stronger, he wouldn't have needed to use Advanced Armament to cut Jack.

'I can do that…' His blade said.

'Do what?' Luffy asked, a bit hopeful.

'I can bring out Advanced Armament for an attack, but it will leave you dry, so to speak.' His blade said.

'Why help now?' Luffy asked, dodging one of Jack's attacks while delivering a giant punch, which the Beast pirate tanked.

'I wanna cut him up.' his blade said. Luffy could feel it grinning.

'Spoken like a true battle-crazed sword, my friend.' Luffy also gave a mad grin, dashing towards the mammoth Zoan. 'But let's not use it hastily, we only have one chance in this. And it's not about winning, its about getting strong…'

And so their fight continued.

Luffy loved the challenge. Because for the first time, his Nameless Naginata was calling out to him, it really wanted to cut Jack. And he would make sure to do just that.

204

"You are annoying!" Jack grunted, delivering a large wind slash with his sword that Luffy had to tank with his nameless naginata. Because if he didn't, it would fly through where the evacuation ships and Going Merry were, and some of his crewmates might get injured.

But just as he stopped the attack, Jack was on him, kicking Luffy through multiple buildings.

"You think I didn't know that you were using me to clear out my own men?" Jack scoffed and held his hands up, not towards Luffy, but towards where Zoro and Sanji were, fighting against Sasaki. They were creating quite the fire show.

But before Jack could shoot out his attack, Luffy was on him.

"Getting serious, huh, kid." Jack said as he crossed his blades parring one of Luffy's attacks. As a captain, it would be foolish if he let his crewmates get hurt because of his own fight. "You are strong! I will give you that, but physical strength and skill will not save you from me." With that, he tried to yank the Nameless Naginata out of Luffy's hand, but he failed.

"Copying my trick won't work!" Luffy used a combination of Geppo and Soru to get behind Jack, his chain wrapped around his body, Luffy enlarged his hands grabbing Jack from behind, giving him a German suplex as Jack's whole head dug into the ground below, creating a crater on the solid ground.

Luffy quickly got off as Jack seemed to have snapped, his whole body starting to change. The Straw Hat quickly unwrapped his chains and got away with his Naginata, as he saw Jack take on his full zoan form.

Luffy grumbled a bit irritated, the large fucking fish-elephant was actively trying to attack his crewmates. At this rate he might need some help. Bringing out Sabo would be bad as his face might be already known by the World Government, it might ruin some of his plans. "Well, that didn't work."

"This will! Garufor Zairu!"

A large group of ice spikes dropped down onto Jack from above, all of them coated with Haki. The rain was deadly and furious, and when it stopped, it created a large structure of ice, with the hazy shadow of Jack in the middle.

Luffy looked at Sinbad, and he almost didn't seem to recognize him. He also recognized that change, Luffy wondered what type of fruit he had. So he asked, "Hey, what kind of fruit do you have?"

Sinbad looked at Luffy, "You don't just ask that kind of thing, pirate."

Luffy shrugged, "I will go first, I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi. Making me a rubber human." To add to the point he stretched out one of his forearm skin, stretching it, inhumanly.

Sinbad sighed. "That's not how it works…"

Luffy grinned, "Come on, it might help us deal with that oversized buffoon." He encouraged, 'And also know about some of your secrets.' He thought internally.

And right then, Jack screamed in rage, breaking out of his ice prison, and even with that ice spike shower, he only had minor injuries.

"Fine!" Sinbad grumbled, "It's the Armor Armor fruit, gives me the ability to change armor. That's all I'm gonna share." Luffy gave him a deadpan, "See? Not useful."

Luffy shrugged, he would look into the devil fruit encyclopedia later. Now he had more concerning matters.

Jack screamed as he took in air from his trunk, obviously preparing for an attack.

"Well, he seems to be mad. Hmm, I think his trunk might be one of his weak spots," Luffy said. "Also, now that you are in the fight he might actually try to attack your allies."

"Already know that." Sinbad grumbled, "We have to take him somewhere remote, away from the plaza."

"It won't be easy. But it's better than trying to keep all his attacks focused on yourself. Self-sacrifice will get you nowhere… not with that damn monster at least. Also, Vivi will be mad if I left you to die, so don't die, please." Luffy said those words truthfully.

The Straw Hat might have some grand dreams and he was willing to do some questionable things to accomplish it. But at the end of the day, he strived for what was right.

Call it Garp punching some morality into his head. But there was so much evil in this world that someone needed to step out and stop it.

'That sounds cringy and crazy. But if you wanna do it, I will help you.' His blade said. 'I'm as crazy as you are.'

'Hey, now call me crazy all you want. But I actually do the right kind of crazy.'

Sinbad glanced at Luffy, and saw the smirk on his face. Even though he was speaking in a not-so-serious tone, Sinbad couldn't find any lies in those eyes. The marine's eyes then lingered on the Straw Hat's pirate ship, where the other members of his crew were helping people get onto the evacuation ship. With his White Fox from, his eyesight was enhanced, making him able to see a long distance away. He could also see one particular blue-haired girl who was helping them. His eyes then moved towards Luffy. So he might be able to trust him… but still, it was a gamble.

"Fine, you will have to tank most of his attacks," Sinbad admitted, pointing at himself. "This armor is meant for dealing devastating blows and recovery, I should be able to slow down the bastard a bit but I won't be able to do much damage… unless you can give me some time to charge my attack. Unlike my previous Lightning Dragon armor I won't be able to take full-on direct hits from Jack and shrug it off. And believe me when I say this, the bastard loves to make casualties while fighting." He growled at the last part.

"So you need a tank and a fast attacker, eh… Quite demanding, aren't you?" Luffy grinned, putting one arm near his mouth, as he bit in. "I might not have some fancy sailor moon transformation, but here goes…" Taking a deep breath of air and blowing it in his arm. "Gear Fourth!"

.

The remaining members of the Straw Hat crew had docked where the evacuation marine ships were. The marines didn't stop them from entering, especially when they blew up two of the smaller ships of the Beast Pirates that wanted to harm them.

Now most of the Straw Hats were on the dock, helping civilians in getting to the ship. One by one the ships started to leave, only two evacuation ships remained.

Coby took the most active role in helping others, Johnny and Yosaku were fighting off the grunt pirates that had come near the port, and Bartolomeo and Hatchan were somewhere around the port area as well.

It seemed that Jack the Drought brought quite a large number of pirates to attack the G-3 base. Well, he was trying to destroy the whole base and so he even brought in some crews that were allied with the Beast Pirates, roaming 'Paradise' waters.

That was the reason why it looked more like a war than a skirmish. Many lives were lost on both sides, but the civilian casualties were the worst thing.

The rest of the Straw Hats did what they could to help but now that three of the evacuation ships have already left, the Straw Hats, along with the Marines, were focusing on those that weren't able to get to the evacuation ships.

Either getting injured or kidnapped. Most of the Beast Pirates were attacking and actively trying to kill the civilians. Jack had ordered that, to send a message but some of them had even worse goals in mind. To capture and sell them as slaves.

One could see that Jack only brought one ship from Wano. The other pirate ships were either allies of the Beast Pirates or got forced into the war, cause they just so happened to cross the Mammoth Zoan's way. Jack wanted to create as much havoc as possible coming to the G-3 base.

Not only did the marines kill one of the Tobiroppo, another was captured (Sasaki). They were part of the main crew. This was an active war against the Beast Pirates. The Beast Pirates had no comradery with their crewmates but the respect and fear of Kaido united them all.

And Kaido was in one of his drunken rages, so Jack didn't dare to inform him. The other two All-Stars, King and Queen knew what happened, but they weren't too bothered. But Jack found it as a chance to expand the crew's dominance and bring fear to all.

That's why Jack gathered every other pirate that their ship crossed, and forced them into working under him. So many of the pirates fighting here also had their own goals. And some of them had ideas of selling slaves after this so-called 'war' was over.

Till now, before the Straw Hats came, the so-called 'war' was mostly a massacre but now things were different. All because of a small crew of around twenty members.

205

Hatchan didn't like being with the Straw Hats at first. They did kill some of his friends…

Hatchan knew that Arlong and those who died deserved it. What they did was wrong. And Hatchan couldn't stop them, he was too weak to voice his opinion.

But then Luffy opened his eyes, this wasn't something that Fisher Tiger would do. But still, it hurt knowing that one of his childhood friends was no more.

After that day, Hatchan was invited to the Straw Hat ship. And he could have left the Straw Hat crew anytime, —he wasn't even a member— but he had to show Nami the true face of Fish-men. Arlong didn't represent their race, Hatchan wanted to live as an example of Fisher Tiger.

To one day unite both races and come into terms peacefully. Not all humans were bad. Whitebeard protected their island, and there was Koala who joined the revolutionary army because she wanted to fulfill Fisher Tiger's dream. It was good to know that the girl was doing fine for herself, even going as far to learn Fish-Man Karate to pay homage to the man that saved her.

And that day, any doubts he had about Luffy vanished. Luffy's words were true yet again, and it also made him feel ashamed that he was doing something his late mentor and friend (Fisher Tiger) wouldn't approve of.

Still, there was still time to change, he would show the world not all Fish-Men were evil. They were like humans. And he did that starting with the crew.

The crew wasn't bothered by him tagging along. They didn't even treat him differently either. And over the months of staying with the crew he started to like them. Hatchan had to be honest, he didn't like Sanji at first for killing Arlong, but that's changed. Over the months when Sanji helped him perfect his takoyaki recipe, he started to take a liking to the cook.

Hatchan always wanted to be a cook, and with Sanji's help, he would one day make the world's best Takoyaki. Not any grand dreams per say, but along with bringing peace to both races it was worth fighting for.

Momoo seemed to be liking the crew as well. He liked it even better as he wasn't treated as a pet like how Arlong used to do, and it's never a dull day with the crew.

One thing he didn't like at first was about the crew's motto that every day was training every day. Luffy was strong no bout, and so Hatchan was very surprised at how much he trained.

And there was an unwritten law that whoever was on the Going Merry, unless he or she was half dead for any reason, he or she must train. And Hatchan was no exception. Every. Single. Day. Training was dreadful… And then there was the sparring against the other members of the crew.

Hatchan didn't like how much it hurt the first day. But as time passed he started enjoying it.

Luffy knew how to make training fun, and it helped Hatchan gain some new skills during his stay with the Straw Hat pirates.

Things happened and Hatchan started accepting the crew, especially after Drum Island where the islanders weren't scared of him, even though he is a Fishman, all because they thought he was a Straw Hat.

Hatchan shook his head. Even though Luffy pushed him to officially join the crew, he didn't know what to do. He would have joined Jinbe if he still had a crew, but the Knight of the Sea was a warlord now. He didn't know how that worked, but he could guess there was no chance of joining there as well.

So for now, Hatchan was supporting the crew with Momoo t'ill Fish-Man Island. Still, with the months passing, he wouldn't mind joining the crew. They were fine men and women who would give their all for a single crewmate.

The brotherhood in the crew was something he really admired. He often heard about how the White Beard pirates had deep relations among them, the old man literally called everyone his son.

So Luffy doing that wasn't surprising. The captain might be young, and inexperienced, and yet he faced every challenge with a smile. And his crewmates seemed to be happy to accept it.

Hatchan also accepted the reality of training every day. Especially after what happened with that bounty-hunting bastard Aramaki. He was literally one shot and lost two of his hands. So gaining strength was welcomed.

Hatchan didn't want to be weak anymore. He wasn't as arrogant as Arlong, but he still had some pride as a Fish-man. So of course he wanted to be strong. He would show the world the true face of the Fish-Men. Not all of them were monsters, they could also be pillars that Nami and Koala —other humans— could find support on.

But now… he had doubts.

Hatchan looked around him, bodies of civilians, pirates, and marines lay everywhere. This was a war zone right now, so many people were dying. Arlong was bloodthirsty, yes, but never killed or actively tried to harm anyone from his own race. So seeing this was a bit shocking to him.

But when he found out who was the one behind the whole G-3 marine branch incident. His blood ran cold.

The main perpetrator was Jack the Drought. A Fish-man. His own race, doing something so evil, for what? Sick pride? Even Arlong wouldn't go this far.

Hatchan knew about him being one of Kaido's commanders, but other than that he didn't know much about him. He doubted if Jack was even from Fish-Man island.

But it didn't matter, what mattered was this much bloodshed was because of someone from his own race. Hatchan knew that the Straw Hat crew wouldn't judge him for Jack's actions.

But deep down after what happened with Arlong, he needed to do something.

This wasn't right. He would stop him. He needed to stop him. Or else Jack would give the Fish-Men a bad reputation because of it…

206

G-3 base, Navy Port,

Now that most of the evacuation ships on the island left, there was a problem; not all of the marines that were helping previously on the port stayed.

Many of the marines were injured and many didn't want to die here in the battle, and with the excuse of 'helping' the civilians on the ships many of the marines had left, reducing the number of capable soldiers by a lot. And that was bad because there were still civilians and injured marines on the island who either couldn't get on the ships or were hiding for their dear life. And that's not including who got captured.

But who could blame them, many still had families that needed them. And even with the Straw Hat pirates helping, many of the marines believed that it was a losing battle. They were fighting a Yonko Commander, the battle could go either way.

So that was why, the number advantage the marines had now shifted towards the Beast Pirates and their allies.

But Coby expected this would happen, still it bothered the young pirate he couldn't do anything. No one wanted to die, and yet someone needed to step up and do the right thing. And he was going to do it. It just so happened that his crewmates were with him on that one.

"You know, it feels good to do what's right," Johnny said, skewering one pirate with his spear before using the said pirate's body to slam into the other ones, taking down at least six of them in the process. After that was done, he kicked off the skewered pirate from his spear, hitting other pirates that tried to attack him. Of course, once the skewered pirate was dead, others also had severe injuries. But Johnny didn't even bat an eye on them.

"Yeah, well… Compared to our bounty-hunting days, I like the change… I mean we are basically heroes!" he cheered as he used his shield to slam into one pirate's neck, breaking it in the process. "I mean we are working with the Marines as pirates. Either we are doing something very right, or very stupid." Yosaku said, throwing his axe towards one pirate that carved into his chest. He ran up, jumped onto said pirate's head and took out his axe before throwing himself to another group of pirates that was behind the first one.

Both Johnny and Yosaku weren't new to killing, and yet always tried to avoid it. But after seeing how much bloodshed the pirates had done, they weren't pulling back any punches. If some died then they died, they wouldn't hold back today. The reason why they became bounty hunters in the first place was to stop evil pirates from killing innocents. Since they couldn't stop them, at least they could kill some pirates to avenge those that had fallen.

"You boys clear out the group here, make sure no one can get near the port." Nami said, bashing her bo staff on top of a pirate's head, taking him down. The others in the group tried to jump the cat burglar but suddenly she disappeared from her spot, making the pirates crash into each other. Nami appeared right above them and stomped on one head after the other, knocking them down.

"Yes ma'am!" Both Johnny and Yosaku said at the same time, after hearing Nami's order.

Nami nodded as she looked at a group of marines mostly made out of women, "Let's take the south side, then…" she said towards a certain marine. "Ensign Hirabi, was it?"

"Yeah," The girl said, she had a large sniper rifle that she rested casually on her shoulder. "We have to thank ya, pirates on helping us here… especially that pink-haired guy." She then looked at Nami, "I-I mean, not in a weird way. He's cute and all… and… and he saved my life. It's not that I like him or anything." If it wasn't obvious she fell for Coby… hard.

Nami sweatdropped at the young marine, before she internally giggled thinking she finally got some blackmail material on Coby.

Hibari was a young woman of regular stature. She had light hair with bangs worn in a ponytail. Her Marine uniform consists of a military pocketed shirt that exposes her midriff, gloves, military boots and camo pants, with the latter's right side ripped to reveal striped leggings. She also wore headphones over her ears, a belt with heart-shaped buckles around her torso, and a backpack with a hanging teddy bear. Her most unique thing was her large sniper rifle which she sometimes used to bash pirates that got near her.

And while she might seem a bit clueless, she was kind of a well-known figure as many of the marines that stayed seemed to follow her.

"Hirabi, there you are!" Another marine said, running towards them. She seemed to be Captain by her justice coat.

"Captain Kujaku! I'm here!" Hirabi snapped out of her daze looking at her. "I didn't do anything!" she said as the other marine came to her.

The marine captain sighed when a group of pirates wanted to stop her, using her whip to send a few pirates hurling back. "I didn't come here to scold you this time…" she said before her expression softened a bit. "I'm just glad that you are okay… I heard that some pirates were helping and stuff…" she then looked at Nami, who looked like a casual civilian, but she could guess that she was one of the Straw Hat pirates others were talking about. She was about to thank her when, "Hey, watch out!"

Two pirates had sneaked behind Nami and had swords drawn, intending to attack.

A blue-haired figure suddenly rushed towards the two pirates' swords mid way. It was Vivi, who had two Escrima sticks in her hand, holding off two pirates with ease. She twisted her hand as her escrima sticks suddenly discharged electricity, shocking the two pirates. Both of them yelped and dropped down with black smoke wisping off their bodies.

With the two knocked out only one pirate remained, and all the others were either dead or knocked out. And so everyone was now looking at said pirate.

"I don't get paid enough for this shit!" The last pirate screamed as he tried to run away, but a whip suddenly wrapped around his neck.

"Get over here!" Kujaku said, as the pirate was thrown to a nearby wall, going through it. Promptly getting knocked out in the process, but with that much bleeding he might not make it, but no one cared.

"Well, what should we do, Captain?" Hirabi asked her superior. "The port is now almost cleared… A few of the Straw Hat pirates are there guarding against any pirates from getting there, and there's also a sea king out giving the navy support." It was weird seeing a giant sea cow taking on large pirate ships as if it was trying to commit boxing. But at least the sea king was on their side, so they were thankful.

"I don't like working with pirates but…" Kujaku looked at Nami and Vivi, she clicked her tongue, "We might need your help, some of the civilians and even some of our marine colleagues have been captured by the pirates."

Nami frowned, "Wait, why would anyone…" but then it hit her. "Slavers?!"

The marine nodded. "It seems not all the pirates were in the port trying to kill… some of them were seen kidnapping kids and other female civilians… we might need your help." She really didn't want to take help from the pirates, especially this particular group, since her grandmother warned about them. But with how things were, she couldn't be picky.

Nami and Vivi looked at each other and nodded. "Of course. Lead the way."

207

"Go! We'll stop them!" Nami said, to a group of people, who looked quite roughed up. They had multiple injuries. All of them were underaged kids or females that stood out for their beauty, all of them seemed to be roughed up. One could guess what might have happened to them. Especially since some of the women couldn't even walk straight with blood stains in all the wrong areas.

Vivi felt a sting in her heart, if only they were here early. Thinking about this brought her the horrifying thought of what might happen if she couldn't stop Crocodile in time. Baroque Works was a bounty-hunting organization, yes, but not all people working there were good. So in case of a civil war, her people would face the consequences.

The Marine Captain Kujaku, wasn't kidding that some of the pirates were doing this in the middle of the chaos. Also, it wasn't just one group that were doing the kidnapping, there were many of them. And while some wanted to sell them as slaves, others wanted to have their own kind of sick enjoyment. That was why Nami and Vivi had to break up from the other marines to cover more ground.

And that wasn't all, some people were still hiding in buildings or stuck in the rubble from the destruction. They also needed help. The problem was just that they were short on numbers.

After the group of injured left, Nami and Vivi promptly finished any pirates off that weren't dead. They didn't like killing, but now after seeing such horrors of war, they couldn't just not do anything about it. Especially since Nami and Vivi had stopped them while in their 'act'.

None of them would lose any of their sleep for what they were doing. Some people were just better off dead.

Just when both of the Straw Hat pirates were about to leave, a group of pirates came, with one man in charge.

"You… what have you done to my men? How dare you stop my fun?!" Said a fat, obese looking pirate, he looked more like a merchant than a pirate. "Men, kill them!" His men pointed their weapons at both of them.

But before the men could fire an attack the obese man's head was suddenly covered by mud. A person from behind grabbed him, lifting him off the floor as the man struggled. "Kihihihi… now, why would you want to kill such fine products." He said, licking his lips with his long snake-like tongue "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Caribou. Better known as Wet-Haired Caribou! Kihihihi… I like to make people wet with their blood."

He then looked at both Nami and Vivi, ogling their bodies.

"I'm also very proficient in making fine ladies like you wet… Kihihihi…"

Both Nami and Vivi felt a wave of anger for the pirates, but they couldn't act rashly. Even though both of them weren't fighters, they could still judge people's skills. And both of them knew it would be better for them to leave with Soru —which both of them could perform— rather than fight.

"R-Release me…!" the obese pirate gasped, bringing the mud user's attention back to him.

"You ruined the moment," Caribou said as the fat man that was in his grasp stopped moving, his head popping up like a melon as blood and brain matter scattered around.

"Y-You- what have you done!?" One of the allies from the obese man's side wanted to say more, but a shovel struck him in the head and his face met the ground. Dropping dead.

"No, one insults big brother Caribou!" he said, stupidly. As if he was oblivious to the other pirates that had pointed their weapons at him and his so-called brother.

"Now, now…" Caribou said. "Why fight amongst each other, if you do my bidding… I might just share, after I've had my fun with those two."

The other pirates nervously looked at each other, before looking at two female members of the Straw hat pirates. Wet-Haired Caribou was no ordinary pirate, he was a logia user, which gave him the ability to use mud. So to normal pirates, even if their leaders were killed, they would follow the next strong one to survive this day.

Many of the pirate groups that had joined in helping Jack in destroying G-3 base were forced to take part in the crew. Whoever unfortunate enough to cross in front of Jack's ship was beaten to a pulp by the angry Fish-man and forced to work under him. And even though most were reluctant at first, some of the pirates saw the chance to gain fame by helping Jack.

At the same time, they could let loose without worrying about the consequences. The Caribou pirates were one of the unfortunate groups that had crossed Jack in their journey. But now seeing such well-developed beauties, he found himself very fortunate.

He had his fair share of 'fun' on the island, but both of the women looked quite fine in his eyes. But for some reason, he felt a deep sense of danger around them, it's not as if both women were dangerous, no, it was almost as if someone would kill him in the most gruesome and painful way possible if anything bad happened to them.

Caribou shook his head, he was overthinking things. No one could possibly harm him, he was a logia. Well, except that giant bastard Jack of course, but he had some weird power, he was sure that not everyone had that.

Vivi and Nami gripped their weapons tightly, a battle with him would be foolish. So the best choice would be to make a run for it. But the women and children they just saved didn't even make it halfway across towards the port, so leaving would make them the target. So they were put in a difficult position.

"What are you waiting for? Charge at them!" Caribou barked.

The pirates roared as they gripped their weapons charging at Nami and Vivi.

But before the pirates could get near them a water blade made a deep wound on the ground, making the pirates back off. And from above a six-armed Fish-man dropped to the ground, creating a small crater on it.

"Hatchi!" Nami said.

Hatchan looked back at her and nodded. "You and Vivi-chan go and handle the other stuff…" He then looked at Caribou, "I will take care of this scum." With that, he gripped his six swords ready to battle.

Hatchan was on his way towards Jack, but things happened and he ended up getting lost in the town amongst all this chaos. Who could blame him, unlike the village, this place was filled with buildings that looked exactly the same.

But it didn't matter. It seemed Nami and Vivi were in danger, and after failing last time, he wouldn't let the incident be repeated. Also, how dare that bastard ogle at his friends like that, Hatchan might not be like Sanji, but this was just unacceptable.

"Hatchi," Nami said, "Are you sure you can take him on, alone? We could help."

Hatchan shook his head, popping a certain pill into his mouth. "No, it would be better if you left. This certain technique creates too great a chance for friendly fire."

Vivi held onto Nami's shoulder and nodded.

"Thank you," Nami said, "Just be safe."

Hatchan gave a thumbs up from one of his hands, as his size started to inflate, bulking.

With that, both Nami and Vivi ran with Soru, heading toward the civilians they had saved previously.

"B-Boss, what should we do?!" One of Caribou's own men asked. After seeing the might of a fish-man like Jack, many of the pirates had a permanent fear for that particular race.

And seeing one Fish-man against them, they were quite hesitant.

"F-Fools!" Caribou said, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. "H-He's not as strong as Jack-sama… we can kill him. Everyone, attack together!" With that half of his body turned into mud, while the other pirates charged at Hatchan.

But it was too late.

"Black Six-Bladed Lotus!" Hathcan shot a concentrated beam of black ink from his body which he slashed six ways with his sword. The beam of black ink suddenly popped, creating a large cloud of black smoke that covered all the pirates into it, dawning their world black.

"Ugh!?"

"What is this?!"

"It's sticky! Ah! It burns!"

While the other pirates were panicking, Caribou figured out what it was, it was poison. He was also coughing, he could even feel that his logia powers weren't working properly as the black smoke was sticking to his body giving his mud a black goo-like overlap.

"Lotus Blade!" A black figure said, with six shining blades as he moved from one target to another.

"Gah!"

"Ugh!"

"Shit!"

One by one, inside the black smoke, pirates were dropping left and right. Caribou could do nothing as he saw the six-armed menace make his way towards him, stabbing him with his blades in six different angles.

The pirate saw the six armed fish-man, now that his skin was inky black, that was why they couldn't see him. Or was it just that he was too fast? He didn't know.

"*Cough…" Blood came out the mud user's mouth as he saw that his actual body had taken damage. But how was that… he was supposed to be a logia! "T-Tell me, how!?"

"You will never know!" Hatchan gave him a look of pity before it went away as he slashed his six swords apart, internal organs and limbs flying away.

With that, the octopus swordsman sheathed his blades. As he walked out of the black cloud of smoke he suddenly vomited some water out along with some ink.

He still wasn't used to using the sea pill. The same pill Arlong had used and wanted to mass produce for his army. It was just a seawater concentration pill, and after Arlong left he had a few on him.

He had used two of them previously during training. But this was the first time he used it in actual combat. With it, Hatchan could do something on land he wouldn't have been able to use outside water.

It was creating his ink smoke. But at the same time, unlike other octopus Fish-men this was no normal ink. No, after getting chemically poisoned by Aramaki, his octopus body mutated, and now he could create poisonous ink that could render weak devil fruit users useless with their powers.

As he was essentially creating a cloud of ink and sea-water, it made them (weak devil fruit users) unable to use their powers. Hatchan didn't know if it would work on a logia, but luckily it did.

But now, his body was getting weak, it seemed that he wouldn't be able to stop Jack. But then again, he trusted that Luffy would have been able to do it.

He wasn't as strong or skilled as the main fighters of the Straw Hat crew. Even Usopp had him beat in that department.

He wasn't talented like Coby either, he was still struggling to fix his bad swordsmanship along with the help of Zoro, Kuina and Luffy.

But he was working hard, and he had a leg up as a swordsman. Good thing Luffy knew how to bring out the best of his abilities.

————————————

A/N:

Hatchan is still the weakest of the fighters in the crew. (Equal to Bartolomeo) But he is still better than most of the pirates in the first half of grandline. Luckily he didn't come across anyone stronger, then he might be in trouble.

He only learned geppo from the rokushiki techniques, and working with Luffy, Zoro and Kuina to better his swordsmanship.

Can he cut steel?

No.

Can he do wind slashes?

No.

Luffy was mainly training him to use his own bodily powers. Octopus can do many things if guys aren't aware.

Also, that ink cloud is technically a sea cloud, as it requires a sea-pill to use it. Kind of like the sea clouds from skypiea, which should render devil fruit users powerless. So Caribou was just a bad match for him.

Anyway, have a good day.

Next chapters will be back to Luffy and the main fighters.

208

Zoro jumped towards his opponent, clashing his three blades with the giant creature. His three blades met Sasaki's mechanized sword which was spinning like a drill, creating small twisters with every swing.

Zoro jumped back, using his smaller frame, and with the help of Soru and Geppo, got around Sasaki and struck at different angles. Still, the experienced pirate's skills were nothing to scoff at, as he was able to counter each of Zoro's strikes, only a few of them landing on his thick hide.

But unfortunately, small wounds did nothing to the Ancient Zoan user as he recovered quickly. On the other hand, Zoro had to be extra careful to not get too badly hurt. It went on for a while before both Zoro and Sasaki locked onto each other, struggling mid-air.

"You are out of your league!" Both of them struggled in the air for a few seconds, before the ancient zoan overpowered him and threw him toward the ground. Sasaki wanted to follow up with an attack but another figure rushed towards him with two daggers, it was Ain.

The battle was going nowhere, and even with two of them fighting Sasaki, they were in a stalemate. There were a few reasons for that, mainly Zoro was a bit reluctant to go all out in front of a high ranking marine.

He usually wasn't this paranoid in showing his skills but Ain had a look that suggested she was analyzing him, that's why he wasn't giving it his all. That and he was also trying to figure out Armament Haki. He was near it, he could feel it, and yet it was far.

And also, Zoro wouldn't like to admit it, but both Ain and Sasaki were stronger than him. Both being able to use Armament and Observation Haki in the battle. Zoro had to use his faster speed and skills to keep up.

Sasaki was in his half-transformed form. In his hybrid form, he also possessed the abnormal ability to make his neck frill rotate around like a propeller, greatly increasing the speed of his charges and allowing him to simulate flight.

While the other Beast Pirates weren't that smart, this one was always trying to use his attacks toward nearby marines to distract Zoro and Ain.

"Give up bastard, we beat you once! We can beat you again!" Ain said, rushing to Sasaki's side striking with her daggers, which Sasaki countered with his odd sword. They struggled a bit before meeting blades yet again, both of their blades coated with Haki.

Both of them attacked, stabs, horizontal strikes, down swipes, horizontal swipes. And yet both of them were doing little damage to one another.

While Ain's Sala-Sala Fruit, Model: Axolotl gave her a passive recovery like Coby's fruit. Sasaki's Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Triceratops, gave him a boost in durability, making him tank much of the strikes with his back, always avoiding the stomach area which was weak.

Also, Sasaki might be strong, but he was captured not too long ago, and he wasn't fully back to full health. That was the only reason why Ain was able to keep up with him.

"Last time, you marines caught me off guard," Sasaki's blade suddenly twisted Ain's dagger at an odd angle, and the Beast pirate used this chance to kick Ain's body before she could dodge, sending her toward the ground.

"Ah!"

Sasaki followed through, "Die! Wind Twister!" A sharp wind twister was thrown at Ain, who was falling towards the ground.

"No, you don't! Tatsu Maki!"

Sasaki's wind twister was overpowered by a flaming wind twister that came out from Zoro.

Ain quickly stopped herself from crashing into the ground and gave Zoro an appreciating nod, which the swordsman returned.

Sasaki clicked his tongue and was about to rush toward Zoro when suddenly a figure crashed into him, almost sending him into the ground. But Sasaki quickly fixed his flight and was a bit irritated that someone caught him off-guard.

"Hah, sorry Sasaki-senpai!" Said a figure that came towards him through the air, he had blue hair and casual dressing. He was a bit tall, with a slender build, a large blue hand-like tattoo on his exposed chest, he was also hovering over the air with Sasaki, but it wasn't flight, it was a certain technique used by the Marines. The man lazily waved his hand. "I didn't know my kick would send him that far this time. I'm still getting used to my fruit's powers"

Sasaki had a tick mark seeing the figure, but sighed, "Be careful next time!" he grunted before he looked at who or what crashed into him a moment ago. It was the wounded body of Shuzo, who seemed to be a bit roughed up.

"Shuzo, are you all right?!" Ain asked, quickly rushing toward her comrade's side.

While Zoro was keeping an eye on the two enemies in case they attacked. Zoro might not have trusted the marines too much but with such powerful pirates, losing even a single ally could shift the battle in the favor of the other side.

"Yeah, that speeding bastard just got the drop on me," Suzo said standing up, as he wiped the blood from his face. Even though he didn't look any good, he could still fight.

Ain nodded and looked above towards the enemy.

"Say, Sasaki-senpai, let's team up and finish these morons off, ya?"

Sasaki looked at the blue-haired man, his name was Slender Swift, one of the super rookies from a few years back, his most notable feet was his background. He was one of the official allies of the Beast Pirates, Sasaki was surprised that this man even came here, his strength was almost comparable to his, being an ex-CP agent. It seemed Jack-sama didn't pull anything while he intended to rescue them.

Well, one of the Tobiroppo did die because of the Marines.

"Let's take care of them, and join Jack-sama, we can't waste any more time here," Sasaki said.

"Oh, oh, then I'll take the pretty face marine there… there are a few things I like to take slow if you know what I mean." He wiggled his brows at Sasaki, giving him a perverted smile.

The Zoan snorted before darkly chuckling, he looked at Ain's figure, and with how roughed up her clothes were, he could guess where Swift was coming from. "Sure, you can take the first round."

Both of them suddenly felt a rush of heat from behind them. Their Observation Haki was too late to warn them.

"No, you don't!"

And the two of them were kicked in two separate directions by none other than a very pissed off Sanji. With his enhanced senses, he did pick up what both of them were saying and he didn't like it one bit.

Sasaki and Swift both got shot in two different directions, buried into the rubble.

"What the?!" Sasaki got out from the rubble looking at Sanji with a surprised expression. How did he get the jump on him with his Observation Haki!? He knew that the blond guy shouldn't be that strong.

"What is up with that speed?!" Swift called out from the other side, disappearing from the spot where he crash-landed previously and kicked toward the blonde Straw Hat.

Sanji countered the kick with his own flaming leg, creating a shockwave.

"Ho, ho, ho, you really can keep up with the first stage of my speed. Eh, let's put that to the test." With that, both of them started to attack each other.

Zoro looked at the situation and quickly called Ain and Shuzo, " Oi, You guys take the overweight fish, we will take the perverted bastard… it seems that our cook has some personal issues with him, so I will give him support." Even though Sanji was able to keep up the speed, he was getting overwhelmed. And that was saying something, Zoro rarely found the chef this pissed.

Alone, Sanji wouldn't be able to beat him but together they had a chance.

Ain wanted to keep an eye on Zoro, but nodded. Both of them weren't comfortable fighting alongside each other, and Sasaki wasn't someone she could take alone either. Previously, X-Drake had to give his all to fight him, and he barely won, so she looked at Shuzo and nodded.

Shuzo got the message and looked at Zoro, "Be careful of that bastard, if my intel isn't wrong, he was a former CP agent."

Zoro nodded, "Any abilities that you know of…?"

"Maybe he knows all of the Rokushiki, or at least some of it, if you know what I mean," Shuzo said, he had already seen the Straw Hat pirates using the six marine techniques so he didn't explain further. "His devil fruit is speed related, and he can use Armament Haki, I don't think he has Observation Haki, but be careful… he's very fast,"

Zoro grinned, as he gripped his three swords, "Don't worry, speed shouldn't be an issue for our chef. Just clear out the battlefield. So that both of us can let our flames loose."

Shuzo didn't get what Zoro meant but nodded, as he jumped toward Sasaki.

Ain had already rushed towards the Ancient Zoan user and with both of them, they started pushing the Triceratops Zoan user to the other side of the battlefield.

Zoro breathed in, as flames started coming out from Nozarashi, wrapping around his body towards Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu. He opened his eyes and jumped towards the fight between Sanji and Swift using Geppo.

————————-

A/N: Slender Swift is an OC.

209

"Gear Fourth!" Luffy bit into his arm, blowing air into it as steam started coming out of his body, fully covering his form. He had already placed his Naginata on his back before going through the transformation. Both Sinbad and Jack looked at Luffy, as the steam cleared out.

Luffy's proportions became warped, and his body became much larger in size, almost becoming half the size of Jack, standing 15 feet with his arms, upper torso, and legs coated in Red Armament Haki. But at the same time, his legs weren't proportional to the rest of his body, so he was incapable of standing for the moment, bouncing around like an inflated balloon.

"Pft…. Hahahaha!"

"Jahahahha!"

Both Jack and Sinbad had the same reaction seeing Luffy's transformation, Luffy, on other hand, fought the urge to scowl at both of them. 'That's why I don't like using this form…! But I am not done yet.'

Luffy held his breath as he started to squeeze his muscles, bones and everything with the use of Life Return. The pressure from the trapped wind inside his body along with the explosiveness started to make his body shrink, his blood and heart-rate sped up at an inhuman rate.

Finally, Luffy stopped shrinking when his size went back to 9 feet but unlike his former size, his hair grew in size instead. With more hair, it gave him the appearance of having a black mane around his neck. His red Armament Haki that covered his body in swirly patterns, similar to a Devil Fruit, and the dark rims around the eyes marked it as being Gear Fourth. But this was his new and improved Gear Fourth.

"Gear Fourth: Lion-Man!" Luffy said as his hair was long and wild in the wind. This was his own version of Gear Fourth, even though this looked similar to Gear Fourth: Snake-Man. The similarities ended there. Luffy half squatted, "Gomu Gomu no…"

"Jahahahaha… you went back to regular size, was that supposed to impress…!!!" Before Jack could finish Luffy was on him, and his fist connected right to his face before he could move. But Luffy wasn't finished…

"Leo Roku-Oh-Gun!" Suddenly a devastating pressure came out Luffy's hand which was still connected to Jack's face. A stream of wind pressure was released internally right in Jack's face, and his body was thrown away like a missile from one corner of the plaza to another.

Even Sinbad was wide-eyed in shock! That speed, he didn't even notice him moving! But just by looking at Luffy, he knew that the Straw Hat wouldn't be able to hold on for long. "How long can you last in that form?"

Luffy looked at him, "Not long enough… start charging your attack, I will create a distraction for you."

Sinbad nodded quickly taking to the sky as he started gathering frost energy from the air. Specifically near his palms.

Jack, on the other hand, was shocked as he coughed out four teeth and some blood from his mouth. That wasn't Advanced Armament, and yet he was surprised..but the damage he took. It was as if someone had detonated a bomb inside his face. But that surprise quickly turned into anger, "You fucker…!!!"

Luffy was on him yet again, this time had his right fist held back, which was the size of a giant's fist, "Gomu Gomu no King Kong Gun!"

Jack had to cross his arms as Luffy pushed down the attack from above, the giant fist landing on Jack. But rather than Luffy pulling back after the attack, he pressed on as the rubber hand coiled inside from both sides sent shockwaves towards Jack, pressing the mammoth user down to the earth even more.

Jack coughed out blood as he was sent down to the ground, making a hole in the floor going several meters deep inside it.

Luffy didn't stand still, he jumped up into the air with Geppo —high enough that most of the people around him could see— and held out his right hand's index finger in a pistol-like fashion, while his left arm supported it. Black and Red sparks started to gather in his finger tip, as a ball of blue energy started to form.

Luffy's arms were shaking due to the energy he was trying to hold onto. This was his version of taking Shigan and Rokuogan to the extreme. Due to the sudden power in his fingertip, his finger started to recoil in itself but Luffy held on. 'A bit more….' He willed, and unconsciously used some of the Conqueror's Haki, creating more sparks of red lighting on his finger.

"Leo Gun!" he announced, as a very small yet powerful concentrated beam of energy shot out from his finger as his own figure was shot several feet to the sky. The attack landed inside the hole where Jack was at.

For some time nothing happened, before a powerful explosion went off creating a translucent blue pillar of energy that shot up to the sky, steam covering the whole area.

The pirates and marines, those who were around the area, were thrown away due to the sheer force of the attack, as the whole island shook as if an earthquake was happening. It went on for a while, before everything calmed down.

Now everyone could see the massive hole that Luffy's attack created on the island. It was a deep trench, one couldn't even see the bottom.

"M-Monster!" One of the pirates said, throwing his weapon and running away from the plaza. And like him, many of the pirates threw away their weapons as well, fleeing from the plaza as staying here during the battle between monsters wasn't an option anymore. No one could live after that, but Luffy knew better.

A deep roar came out of the hole in the plaza, shaking the earth, as something jumped up from the hole, its whole body covered in a full body of black Armament Haki. The Haki went away, only covering his arms now, while Jack the Drought was in his half-zoan form.

He looked animalistic with mammoth fur covering his body and the front part of his head had a trunk, while his jaw was still covered with his metal plate. He was even taller due to this, and yet he was fast. With one jump he reached to where Luffy was and punched towards the Straw Hat in a mad rage. "Raggghhh!"

"Yeahhhhh!" Luffy countered that with his own punch from above, a mad smile on his face as both pirates held on with the clash, with neither being able to push back one another for a few seconds. Sparks of black electricity from the Armament clash, but this time things were different.

Luffy was slightly wide-eyed as some cracks started to form around his fist, and Jack roared, smashing Luffy right into his chest out of the sky toward the ground.

Luffy could do nothing as his body was thrown into the ground, skipping a few times with the grace of a rag doll and finally stopping when he crashed into some broken buildings. The wind was knocked out of him, and his chest ached in pain, and yet it wasn't the worst of his injuries.

Luffy looked at his side and he could see his right arm turn purple from the injury; no red Haki was there, and it was also deflated, showing minimal muscles and only leaving him with a bony hand. Luffy wanted to get out of his Gear Fourth state so that he could recover but when he looked with Observation Haki, he could 'see' that Sinbad wasn't ready.

He had to hold on for a bit longer.

——————— [For those who are wondering yes, Luffy based his Leo Gun on Spirit Gun from Yu-Yu-Hakusho

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. You can go to my Discord and see it.

https://discord.gg/Gnxnuw56ks]

210

Marineford,

Fleet Admiral Sengoku was stressed today, one of their bases, the G-3 base, got attacked by the Beast Pirates and their allies.

All communication after the initial attack was cut off, and that was off from the base. It seemed that Jack the Drought took a good amount of men and gathered the rowdy pirates around 'Paradise' waters to attack the G-3 base.

Their main target was freeing the prisoners captured by Vice Admiral Sinbad. But that wasn't the issue.

"Are you sure about the reports, Sengoku?" Garp asked, his expression darkened. "Isn't there anyone that can support that purple-haired brat?"

Other than both of them, Bogard, Kuzan, and Zephyr were also present in the room. But they stayed silent with grim expressions.

Sengoku shook his head. "I tried to get in contact with Vice Admiral Vergo, but… it seems he was also busy on his front. Some pirates are keeping him occupied from going towards the G-3 base."

"Surely we can do something?"

"Damn it!" Sengoku slammed his fist on the table, "Do you really think I haven't tried…?" he glared at his old time friend, but both of them knew the anger that he had was for not being able to do anything. "If it was any other Yonko group attacking… it might have gone differently, heck we might have even negotiated terms with them. But the Beast Pirates are a wild bunch… who knows how much destruction they have caused."

"It's been a few hours already, no evacuation ships came to any nearby island. And sending in more troops there would be just suicide, other than Vergo's who's occupied, there aren't any strong marines in that part of the Grand Line." Sengoku said.

Zephyr sighed, seeing that both Sengoku and Garp looked at him with a bit of pity.

"Hey, don't worry, Z. I'm sure that little brat can take care of himself… one Yonko commander shouldn't be a problem for him." Garp said, trying to cheer up his colleague and friend. "X-Drake is there too, so they should be fine…"

Zephyr didn't say anything. But every one in the room knew Garp was bluffing, Jack was Kaido's third strongest man. At least three Vice Admiral level marines would be needed to stop that kind of monster, but everyone wanted to be cheerful in this bad situation.

And while Sinbad was stronger then a normal Vice Admiral and X-Drake could be considered Vice Admiral level, they wouldn't be enough for Jack. And that's not mentioning the others that came with the Beast Pirates for support.

Suddenly the room's door opened and Vice Admiral Cancer walked in, "Sengoku-san, one evacuation ship successfully made its way to Alabasta."

That… that was great news!

But Cancer wasn't finished, "We were also able to get into contact with the G-3 base."

All eyes looked at the young Vice Admiral as he walked in with an opened Den Den Mushi. There was an active call going on.

Sengoku frowned as the transponder snail was put on the table.

"Who is it?" He asked Cancer.

The Vice Admiral looked at the transponder snail, then back to Sengoku, "It's a monkey, sir."

.

With Luffy,

'You should have used me,' His nameless Naginata called out, still strapped to his back, as Luffy was panting from the last attack, his right arm still a mess. 'I would have been able to cut him. That was stupid.'

'Oh, shut up. I was caught up in the moment,' Luffy said, a trace of a smile still on his face. He might have messed up his arm, but that clash gave him a good understanding of the difference between his own level of Haki and Jack's. He was catching up to the mammoth user in the raw power of Armament Haki.

Soon enough he was sure he would meet the requirements.

Also, his goal wasn't to beat Jack here, if that was the case he could have brought Sparky and Usopp into the fight and done that way back. Even without Sabo, he could have taken out a Yonko commander as not everything was about strength.

But Luffy now wanted to gain a better understanding of his Armament Haki. And while training with Sabo did improve his Haki use by miles, now being able to hold his Armament for way longer, he still needed to get the raw strength that came with from fighting near-death battles. It was a calculated risk, but it was worth it in the long run.

Also, the reason why he was fighting with Sinbad was because he was one of the leading figures in the Marines and it would be good to create a personal relationship with him. Getting on friendly terms with him would do good in the future.

Luffy's musing was cut short, and the fight was far from over as Luffy saw Jack's figure coming down from the sky. This time, he took the smart option and bolted out of his spot.

Jack's figure landed on the ground, creating a giant crater before he had to hold up one of his arms, coated with Armament, and stopping Luffy's Naginata from reaching his body. With his other arm, he swiped his shotel blade towards Luffy.

Luffy countered the blade with his feet, and another clash of black lightning occurred. Both contestants seemed equal in strength, even though Jack was way larger than Luffy.

Luffy and Jack moved back a bit before again clashing with their hands and feet. Punches, swipes, jabs, kicks, throwing everything at each other, their movements were a blur to the naked eye as both attacked one another. Both opponents didn't dodge each other's attack as Jack countered it with his durability, and Luffy countered with his odd rubber body enhanced with his red Haki.

The fight continued as winds and shockwaves started generating from each of their blows.

"I will kill you, Straw Hat!" Jack screamed in rage as he sped up his attack.

"Oh! That's a new one," Luffy grinned as he countered each strike. Also, increasing his speed, "Try something better next time… Shishishi."

Both opponents weren't equal, Jack was clearly stronger, and yet Luffy was getting near his level with each blow. And even though Luffy was clearly losing, his grin was getting wider and wider.

And suddenly Luffy's eyes glinted as he finally reached the requirement.

Flash-back start,

Luffy punched an wooden log, his fist covered in Armament Haki, stopping an inch away from the log. And yet his desired outcome never happened.

The Straw Hat internally grumbled before he resumed his training on the Going Merry.

"I still can't believe that you are already trying to go for Advanced Armament Haki," Sabo said, leaning against a wall as he looked at his brother.

Luffy grinned, "Well, I do plan on becoming the world's Strongest."

"Your control over Armament is already good… I think what you are lacking in is raw power. I think improving that is the key to getting Advanced Armament Haki. Or Emission at least." Sabo said.

Luffy knew what Sabo was talking about, his brother had shown him Advanced Armament Haki, but it wasn't the one that Luffy was looking for.

What Sabo showed him was projecting his Armament outwards, Emission. But what Luffy was trying to teach himself was even more advanced, he was trying to learn Internal Destruction.

When Luffy asked Sabo, the boy was dumbfounded that Luffy even knew that. While Emission wasn't exactly common with Armament Haki, Internal Destruction was even more rare. Sabo could use it, yes, but wasn't that good at teaching him.

His dragon fist was based off of that technique. Advanced armament haki was rare, this was one of the reasons why he held the second position in the rev. army.

"I get your theory, but… It's just… I think I'm this close, but can't just seem to get it." Luffy complained, now he wasn't one to whine about training as he believed in hard work but still, the progression was super slow. "And if you can do Internal Destruction with your Haki, then I won't lag behind either… that's why I'm training."

Sabo chuckled, "Well, at least you are motivated… I think what you need is a trigger point. Something to bring the need for your body to use that Haki… remember, Haki is connected as much to your strength as it is to your will. It's already complicated. So I think it should be better to take it easy."

"So what should I do? Throw myself into a death battle…? I doubt there's anyone in the first half of the Grand Line that can give me a challenge." Luffy said, and he wasn't bragging either. Without stronger opponents, life seemed to stagnate for him. And things get a lot more boring if that happens.

Sabo could only shake his head, "You and your lust for battle… but who knows danger is everywhere in the Grand Line, just because this place is called 'Paradise', it's not… don't get fooled. I'm sure you will find your trigger point, little brother.'

With that he ruffled up Luffy's hair, which the naginata user slapped away, making Sabo chuckle. And of course, the Straw Hat stuck out his tongue before he resumed training.

Flash-back end.

Sabo was right, he did find his trigger point. And he was finally able to awaken his Advanced Armament Haki. And Luffy grinned, it wasn't just Emission either.

——————— [Finally, Luffy unlocked his Advanced Haki. Both Emission and Internal Destruction]