291
Kuina jumped back before slashing her blade forward, "Bleeding Serpent!"
A sword slash laced with ice was drawn out of her blade and traveled toward the Blackbeard Pirate. And, like expected, the pirate didn't face the attack head-on and dodged it, while making his way toward her.
Both of them had taken to the sky, Kuina with Geppo, Laffitte with his wings that sprouted from his back to stay afloat.
"Howling Serpent!"
Kuina attacked with multiple sword slash laced with ice as she saw Laffitte charging toward him. Multiple arcs of sword slash traveled through the air aiming to cut down anything in its path.
"Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome is usually a fool's way of thinking." Laffitte chuckled as he flew in between the attacks, meeting blades with her directly. Wado Ichimonji met Laffitte's cane rapier as sparks went off. "But that's what everyone does when meeting with someone that's superior to them."
"The only thing you are superior at anything in is wearing make-up, clown boy." Kuina said as she defended from his attack. Usually, rapiers were used for thrusting and fencing, but with Laffitte he found a way to use it like any normal blade. With hacking and slashing at opponents.
Kuina ducked under one of the strikes, backing away when the Blackbeard pirate tried to kick him.
Laffitte's face twitched for a moment, "Call me a clown again, and I will rip out your tongue girl."
Kuina smirked, "Did I hit a nerve?"
Laffitte took a deep breath before calming down, "Let's speed this up. I have places to be and things to do."
From the distance, Kuina could see fire and darkness fighting against each other. Ace and Teach were creating quite the destruction due to the fight. She couldn't see the others, but she knew they were having their own battle.
"You aren't going anywhere," Kuina said before speeding up and attacking. She would have loved to take on her Yuki form, but she needed a bit more time to prepare. And at the same time she needed to conserve her energy as she knew that beating Laffitte wouldn't be possible.
Call it a fighter's instincts, but she knew Laffitte was hiding something and not using his full abilities. And at the same time, something told her she couldn't win against him.
"We will see about that, missy," Laffitte responded as he attacked
Kuina parried the blow before countering with her own sword. She felt frustrated, the warrior in her felt angry at the prospect of not being strong enough. It was just less then two weeks ago that she had faced off against a warlord and came out as a victor.
And now she needed to hold off a less-known pirate because she wasn't strong enough. She had to admit it hurt her pride, but she knew not all battles could be won.
At the same time she was a bad matchup for Crocodile. His sand having an elemental weakness against her ice, and at the same time, he was slow. Laffitte was neither slow, nor did he show any signs of weakness.
Both of their blades slammed into each other, creating a shower of sparks as both of them exchanged blows. Each trying to kill the other. For a while Laffitte used only his blade before using his wings and legs as well. With Armament Haki reinforcing his blows, each limb was as deadly as his swords.
Kuina was able to match Laffitte's speed but as time went on, she was finding herself on the back foot. Small wounds started to appear on her body, all while Laffitte was still without any.
The wounds that appeared on her body were mostly not lethal, and with Life Return she would be able to recover from them mid-battle. Still, it didn't take away the pain.
Sure, after getting injured you could numb the area where you were injured so that it's not a bother. But even doing that took away a bit of your concentration. Also, there was so much punishment she could take.
Kuina blocked a knee to her gut only to get punched in the face as her body was hurled to the ground. Laffitte cashed in delivering a kick to her back, sending her to the ground.
Her body fell, creating a small crater before Laffitte came down with an axe kick. She barely had the time to leap away as the attack landed, making a much larger crater and making up a dust cloud.
Kuina panted as she rubbed her jaw, a red bruise on it. "Why do they always go for the face," she groaned in annoyance.
"They usually don't," Laffitte's voice came out of the dust cloud. And he spoke in an educative voice, "At least I don't. I was aiming to rip off your head with that punch, it would have been better if I was able to plant the punch in your neck. But meh… I had to do with your face." He said with a sadistic grin.
"Real funny," Kuina said with a glare. She had to hold herself back from doing anything too risky. The only reason why she was able to avoid any lethal blows was that with all the training she had from much more stronger fighters.
The last week had been hectic, Luffy and his brothers had put almost everyone in the crew against them so that they would be able to learn how to hold off much stronger fighters. And it was paying off.
Suddenly, Kuina's senses warned her of an impending danger, she was able to read Laffitte's intent just in time to dodge a thrust from his blade that would have killed her.
"Frosty Whirlwind!" She called out spinning her blade laced with haki and ice. A small spherical of icy sharp wind stretched around her, intending to cut everything down.
The Blackbeard pirate backed off, making some distance, Kuina had little time to recover as the man attacked again.
Kuina's main objective was to stall Laffitte until she got help. But it seemed it wasn't needed. The Blackbeard pirate was sadistic in nature, and seemed too eager to inflict as much pain as possible.
Kuina ducked under the first blow, before putting up her sword to block off Laffitte's upward slash. And while she was able to block it, she was sent hurtling in air.
Laffite brought his wing forward and slashed, "You aren't the only one with a long-distance attack." He said, with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
Multiple sharp white feathers flew through the sky at a fast speed towards Kuina. There were at least a few dozen of them. Laffitte also had jumped towards her from the ground to attack her.
But Kuina didn't back off, it was a bit late, but she was ready now, "Dance of the Yuki Onna!" suddenly a volley of mist exploded out of her body, covering most of her surroundings.
The feathers that came in contact with the mist turned to ice, harmlessly falling out of the sky. Laffitte who was near, saw that and quickly backed off. Not wanting to get the freezing mist on him.
But to his surprise, Kuina suddenly appeared in front of him with a burst of speed, her blade drawn, and ready to decapitate him.
She almost hit her mark. Almost.
292
Kuina suddenly appeared in front of Laffitte with a burst of speed, her blade drawn, and ready to decapitate him.
She almost hit her mark. Almost.
At the last moment, Laffitte brought his right wing forward to parry her strike. And while it managed to stop her blow, Kuina's sword was able to dig itself into his wing and freeze it. She wanted to follow up with another attack, but the Blackbeard pirate was too fast.
Laffitte moved quickly kicking her from the side, she was a bit too slow to react and she felt her ribs cracking from the blow. She was able to protect herself with Armament Haki, so she only had to worry about fractures.
With his left hand holding his blade, he thrust forward his rapier, intending to stab her. "You left yourself open!" Laffitte's grinned.
Kuina gritted her teeth, unleashing her stored energy outside of her body. "Freezing Mist." She growled out as her body exploded out the freezing mist.
Laffitte grunted, quickly flying back, only to find himself falling from the sky. His left wing was wounded and along with his left arm had gotten frozen, taking away his flying ability momentarily.
And Kuina pounced on the chance, using her leg based technique to get near him and kick him in the jaw. "Take that, bastard!"
"Ugh…"
Laffitte was left hurling back and, so she had to opt for a more destructive approach. "Ice Sword Style: Dancing of the Moonlight Blades!"
A wave of white sakura leaves made out of ice smashed into Laffitte's body, before all of it smashed into the ground. Creating a crater laced with ice along with destroying anything nearby.
A dust cloud of ice and destruction surrounded the area as Kuina noted her enemy. Her breathing was ragged, but she held herself strong. She knew the battle with Laffitte was far from over, she needed to hold him off before others got here.
"You are quite annoying," Kuina heard Laffitte's voice from the frost cloud, and with a flap of his wings, it cleared. There, in the middle of the crater, Laffitte remained unharmed.
"Oh, please you are making me blush," Kuina said drly, feeling frustrated that even with her all-out attack it didn't do anything.
Luffitte spat out some blood "Like I said, you're annoying," He said, glaring at her, "Also, don't think just because you beat a New World reject like Crocodile, that you can beat me. I'm much much stronger than him."
"I am surprised that you know that… though you will end up just like Crocodile." She said with a cold glare. With that, she moved with Geppo attacking the Blackbeard pirate.
Laffitte snorted, as he countered her strike. With two hands she swung Wado Ichimonji while Laffitte used only one of his hands to hold his rapier to block the blow.
"The only reason why pirates like Crocodile and Gekko Moria are even Warlords are because of the fame that they once held. Surviving against Yonko's are very rare deed. But that doesn't mean they are strong… it just means they are lucky." He said, "Even most Yonko Commanders are stronger than them…"
Kuina clashed her blade with his, sparks flying as she glared at him. "And you think you are stronger than him?"
Laffitte chuckled, "Lady, I know I'm stronger than him. Also, the sky is my domain…" He laughed with his wings and shot multiple sharp feathers at Kuina.
"Oh, please. You aren't impressing anyone with that…" Kuina said, as ice shards also appeared around her, countering his feathers.
Laffitte hadn't noticed but the broken off chunks of ice were gathering around him.
"You know, this stalling game is getting pretty annoying," Laffitte said as he thrust his blade forward.
Kuina was barely able to dodge attack and yet a small wound appeared on her face, "Not the face again," she growled.
"Oh, I'm just getting started, darling," Laffitte said.
"Fine, die then."
Laffitte raised an eyebrow before noticing that Ice shards had surrounded him. "When did you…"
With a command from her, they came down from all sides, avoiding Kuina who had backed away.
The ice shards crashed into their target for a few seconds before stopping. A cloud of frost covered the view, but when it went away, Kuina saw her target.
She clicked her tongue, "I have to cut off your wings, they are way more troublesome than they look." She said a bit of annoyance in her voice.
Unlike his body, it was really hard to damage his wings. From the start of the battle, she was barely able to wound him.
As the frost cloud cleared, Laffitte was seen covering his whole body with his large wings that had protected him from the ice. And with a flip of his wings, the frozen parts of his wings broke off, free.
"That was quite cold of you. But it won't matter. I was thinking of conserving my powers to use it for later… but I have changed my mind." Laffitte said, "It seems I have underestimated you, Miss White Lady."
Kuina still had her sword up if he tried anything. "So, you are finally going to use your full strength?" She said, her grip on her sword tightening.
"Oh, I will alright, just don't regret it later." He said as already his form started to change, his wings became bigger. The already tall man grew a few feet taller. And at the same time, his muscle mass also increased, giving him a very intimidating look, "You see, I don't really like to waste my time with this form… so I will have to make it quick." More feathers started appearing over his larger frame, and his face shifted to the face of a falcon. Talons grew in both his hands and legs, as he grew in size.
Before long, his transformation was over. And Kuina was able to recognize the devil fruit immediately, "A Mythical Zoan?" he mumbled.
Laffitte nodded a bit surprised, "You guessed well. My fruit is Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Griffon" he said, his voice a bit deeper due to his transformation. He didn't fully transform, preferring to use his half-zoan state instead. Still, the physical boost it gave him was quite extraordinary. "I'm still new to this ability, it's only been a few months, so if my abilities are lacking I apologize beforehand."
With that Laffite moved, Kuina was wide-eyed as she couldn't even keep up with his speed. She only heard the wind whistling at her side as she twisted her body and held up her blade.
Laffitte's blade slammed against her, as she was almost swept off her feet from the blow.
"You are quite the persistent girl," Laffitte said, ducking under Kuina's strike before kicking forward which the girl barely dodged.
Though a clawed wound appeared on Kuina's side due to the wind pressure alone. Laffitte did have talons on his hands and feet, and they were sharp enough to break through Kuina's ice skin with ease.
She might have been able to protect herself if she used Armament Haki in time. But Laffitte's speed had been boosted to a level that even Sanji would have found it hard to compete against.
With his wings, Laffitte attacked from the side, as Kuina backed off.
"You aren't going anywhere, Missy." Laffitte chuckled, but it almost came out as a growl due to his half-zoan form.
The pirate followed through, and the ice user found herself exchanging blows with him. Sparks flew, and her frost attacks were now being tanked by Laffitte.
"In this form, I might look a bit bulky, but it has its uses." Laffitte grinned. Not even trying to hide his sadistic nature anymore.
"Tank this then!" Kuina growled, "Ice Sword Style: Dance of the Moonlight Blade!"
A wave of ice made sakura leaves, each sharper than a sword, dawned upon the zoan user. But with a wide grin, Laffitte faced it as he went right through them, his full body turning into a shade of black with the use of Armament Haki.
With his full body covered with haki, he went right through the ice, before appearing right in front of Kuina, sending a punch her way.
Kuina brought her Armament-clad hand up in time as the fist slammed into it. A sonic boom resounded in the area, and the swordswoman was wide-eyed when small cracks appeared on her blade.
And it distracted her just for a moment. Laffitte used that chance to deliver an axe kick which Kuina had barely managed to block by raising her own knee.
Crack!
And while Kuina was able to block off the attack it still managed to crack her knee. And she was sent flying down toward the ground, going through a few trees before she was able to stop herself.
Even though her ice skin enhanced with Armament Haki should have been able to protect her from taking the damage, the fact was Laffitte's Haki was too strong.
Kuina had little time to think, before Laffitte appeared right in front of her and thrust his blade forward. "Falling Meteor!" he had called out.
And Kuina had to jump back from the spot immediately, barely avoiding his sword as it got past her.
Kaboom!
As Kuina rushed away, a large crater formed where Laffitte had attacked just a moment ago.
But Laffitte didn't give her time to rest as he moved in again.
Kuina took to the sky, sending in a bunch of sword slashes toward where Laffite was.
As the sword slashes were hurled his way, Laffitte roared, his roar creating a sonic boom that destroyed anything in its path. Including Kuina's attacks.
'From when could he do that?' She growled internally. She put the pain in the back of her head, numbing it with Life Return.
"Let me send you away with a few gifts, little missy!" Laffitte cackled like a madman as he fired multiple dark feathers, each covered with Haki, toward Kuina's falling form.
Kuina saw the attacks coming and quickly reacted, "Frosty Whirlwind!"
The spherical whirlwind was able to deflect most of the armament-clad feathers, but two of them managed to get past her attack, and plant themselves in her right shoulder and left thigh.
Kuina grunted rolling back in air and using Geppo to launch herself out of the way of Laffitte who went in for another attack. Back in the air, she had time to remove the feathers from her wounds when Laffite caught back up with her, locking blades.
"What? Going so soon? Didn't you want to stall me?" Laffitte laughed, as he attacked with his rapier, with his wings and his legs, moving in an unpredictable way that even confused the girl's Observation Haki.
With his wing, Laffitte managed to slam Kuina on the side sending her to the ground.
The swordswoman was able to dig her heels in the ground stopping herself as she glared at the Blackbeard pirate.
293
"Oh, is little missy angry?" Laffitte asked with a cackle of laughter, before dropping down from the sky and landing opposite to Kuina.
Kuina's response was just a growl as she was panting from the onslaught of his attacks.
'My attacks do nothing to him. I barely even damaged him in this whole fight. The only silver lining of the situation is that at least my Haki has improved.'
It seemed being on the losing end of a death battle really helped with growth. She internally mused at her joke as she coughed, spitting out some blood as she held her sword high and a smirk on her face.
"Why are you smirking, woman? Have you gone senile?" Laffitte laughed historically, "You have, haven't you? Finally, you gave way to despair!"
"You aren't fully there in the head are you?" Kuina laughed but she was ignored.
Laffitte laughed and he was about to continue when suddenly an explosion went off, bringing in both of their attention. Green flames exploded a bit far from their location, but the trees hid their view of the situation.
But even then with Observation Haki they could see what had happened.
"Impossible!" Laffitte said with wide eyes.
Kuina had a small smile on her face as she panted, "Heh, so Zoro finally did it." She said moving her head towards Laffitte. Her hands shaky, and yet she had an unyielding will.
"That's…" Laffitte seemed to be lost for words.
Kuina didn't say anything, she just smiled. Zoro had gotten stronger, he was already stronger than both her and Sanji. And now he had gotten even better. Zoro had beaten Shiryu, but he wasn't in any position to help her, so she still need to play the stalling game. "Well, at least one of us is having a good time."
"This… this changes things," Laffite said to himself as his eyes narrowed, and suddenly Kuina felt a shiver run down her spine.
Making her put her guard up.
"You have to die, and I have to do it quickly. No more playing for me. I need to take care of the situation before things get into a bigger mess. I haven't been able to pick up Van Augur's and Burgess's aura for a while now. And I need to check up on them. Sorry, I have to end it here."
With that, he moved, his form blurring right in front of her. And clashing blades against each other.
A sonic boom went off as she parried the blow, grunting as her bones rattled due to the attack. Her feets left the ground and Laffitte delivered a roundhouse kick to her side that Kuina wasn't able to block.
Kuina's body bent sideways as she felt her ribs break under the kick. The swordswoman barely held back a scream as she was thrown to the side.
She crashed onto a rocky area, her body skipping a few times before she could stop herself. Her side burned in pain, and along with that came the inability to breathe fully.
Due to it, her connection with her powers started to lessen. As her technique was based off of breathing techniques. She didn't have any time to recover as Laffitte attacked again.
"Eyes on me, girl." Laffitte said grinning as he thrust his blade forward.
Kuina tilted her head to the side, barely avoiding the blade. She growled, "You sure know how to keep a girl's attention."
"Acting brave will get you nowhere, just die, bitch!" Laffitte snorted as he attacked with swift thrusts, which Kuina was avoiding and dodging. Those she couldn't dodge were blocked by Armament Haki and her ice skin. But even then the wounds were starting to add up.
Her arms were shaking from parrying all of his attacks. He was too strong, even her ice skin had cracks all around them. And she was on the losing end, again.
"You don't know how much of a fucked up situation you are in, right now. You are going to die, and I'm going to enjoy it." Laffitte cackled as he attacked Kuina in close range.
'Am I going to die like this?' she wondered, before shaking her head, refusing to let it end like this. "The only one that's going to die is you!" Kuina roared as her body exploded in freezing mist as she slashed forward, her black blade shining white, and for a brief moment as it, smashed into Laffitte's weapon.
And to the Blackbeard pirate's surprise, his weapon broke, shattering to pieces. At the same time, Laffitte yelped back in pain at the large wound on his chest, that had frozen immediately. "Gah… Shit!" And also due to being so close his body started getting frozen due to the frozen mist.
Kuina saw this as a chance to follow through, but the Blackbeard pirate didn't let him.
"Sonic Roar!" Laffitte roared forward, his attack blowing away the mist and Kuina's ears rang. "You are much more of a danger than I thought, you have to die! Now!"
But Kuina didn't hear anything, the last attack left her ears ringing and even her vision was getting blurry. And due to her senses getting messed up, it made her a bit too late to react to Laffitte's attack.
Laffitte slashed forward with his talons that grew from his hands. Kuina jumped back with Geppo a bit too late as she felt his claws dig into her sides and rip away a chunk of flesh.
The girl hissed in pain, and slashed her blade sideways. She was sloppy and Laffite had used that chance to duck under the attack and deliver a kick to her other side.
This time Kuina by instinct used her arm to block the attack. A mistake.
Crack.
Kuina yelled in pain as her right arm twisted and bent in the opposite direction and her body was hurled down to the ground. She went through a large boulder and some trees, adding more injuries and reopening old ones.
The Blackbeard pirate followed through, wanting to smash her face into the ground with both legs. But Kuina at the last second, managed to get herself up and roll away from the attack.
"Ugh, stop being a cockroach, bitch!" Laffitte growled inhumanly, as Kuina rolled to the side and stood up, holding her sword with her blade in her left hand. Her right arm hanging limply by her side, and her left side bleeding freely. She couldn't even use Life Return anymore.
She knew if she split her focus now, she would lose consciousness.
The girl knew that her dominant arm was useless now, but she didn't back off. She still had some fight left in her. Her left hand was shaking a bit before she calmed herself down. She needed to stall a bit more. If she gave up now, the bastard would target Zoro and the others, she needed to fight him.
With a determination of her Will, a small mark started appearing on her forehead, drawing in her ice powers. But the swordswoman was oblivious to it.
'He's too strong, no, I'm too weak… but if I'm going to die, I'm going to take the bastard with me.' She thought internally, gathering all of her ice powers in her body.
It was a dangerous technique, with gathering all of her powers inside of her and unleashing it at the last moment, she should be able to take him down. But with her Haki reserves running low, even with her new and old wounds, she would be put in a very bad spot even if her plan worked.
It might kill her opponent, but it would leave her dying as well. But she had to take the chance.
The mark started to stretch around her body, silver ice crystal-like marks that spread around her body, unconsciously increasing her connection with the ice. Even with her breathing being uneven, her connection to ice was as strong as ever.
Wado Ichimonji cried due to the intention of its user before the now black blade started getting white ice-crystal-like patterns in it, intending to follow the command of her owner's last wish.
"So you still have some fight left in you, eh?"
And for the first time in the fight, Laffitte felt a sense of fear. But rather than getting scared, he smiled, covering his whole body with haki. With that leaped in for the attack with his sword drawn. He blurred right infront of his target and was about to slash down when everything slowed down.
The Blackbeard pirate was confused as his surroundings slowed down to a crawl, and at the same time, his Observation Haki flared up.
Six gunshots penetrated his body, as his body hurled back towards the forest.
Kuina who was about to unleash her attack, stopped, when she felt herself slowing down as well. She also felt small hands grab her wrist.
Sparky revealed himself as the invisibility wore off, the six-armed monkey was standing up on his tail and grabbing her wrist. He was also looking at her, "Don't do it." At the same time, Kuina felt the effects of Sparky's powers go away.
"I-I… I'm sorry…" Kuina was cut off when another voice appeared.
"Diable Jambe: Tendorn!" A flaming object struck down from the sky and struck where Laffitte was. The Blackbeard pirate who was still recovering —slowly— found himself getting kicked, laced with flames and thrown back a few meters.
"G-a-h!" Laffitte screamed in a slow pace, as he was thrown to the side with his body burning up in flames.
Sanji then jumped away with a roll and landed in front of Kuina, he also had an injured Zoro over his shoulders.
"Are you all right?" Sanji asked and wincing when he saw Kuina's state, "Bad question. We have to get you to Chopper immediately." He also noted the odd markings on her body, but didn't question her about it.
"No, I can still help," Kuina said, even though her body wasn't fully responding to her commands anymore. She felt a bit of her pain lessen, but she didn't pay much attention to it.
Sparky had used his powers to slow down the bleeding from her side and at the same time slowed down her sense of pain.
"No, Sanji is right. You are in no shape to fight" Sparky said, going forward towards Laffitte, "I will deal with him. Sanji, get her back to the ship, and look for Gin."
"What…" Sanji blinked, "You want to take him down alone?" Even Kuina was surprised.
Sparky nodded, "Don't worry, I have something that will be able to take care of him." He said looking at them and flexing his small biceps, "Also, I'm strong."
"Are you sure you can take him on…?" Kuina asked. "I-I know I am in no shape to fight, but I can take Zoro back to the ship with me. Sanji can help…"
And Sparky shook his head, "Trust me, I don't need any help. And besides, let me have my own fight. I'm going to go all monkey power on his ass!" He said, getting small smiles from both of his crewmates, "Also, Sanji, Kuina might need some help."
Sanji nodded, picking up Kuina over his other shoulder, making the girl yelp a bit before giving him an annoying glare. Though she didn't complain as her body wasn't fully listening to her.
"Sorry, Kuina-san," Sanji said, "Zoro also needs medical attention immediately, we found the bastard bleeding out in the forest."
"Okay," Kuina said, "Sparky, be careful, and watch out for his wings and feathers. His body is quite tough, and he has some kind of sonic scream, watch out for that."
Sparky chuckled, giving her a two-finger salute with three arms, "Okey-dokey. Now go! Sanji you also need to find Gin, remember."
Sanji nodded, not looking back, "Beat him for me, Sparky," Sanji said before jumping away with Kuina and Zoro on his shoulder. The cook would have loved to beat the bird bastard himself for what he did to Kuina, but he needed to do other things. Also, Kuina and Zoro needed immediate medical attention.
— — — —
A/N: I have just discovered something.
Power scaling Sparky is a very difficult thing to do. In terms of usefulness, I would rank him as a Vice Admiral, even without armament Haki.
So I'm going to say in most cases, he would be a bit lower, if not as the same Zoro in terms of 'power'.
Sparky has only Observation Haki. He hasn't unlocked Armament haki yet. His main usefulness comes from his devil fruit powers.
His powers are to slow down anything. Which he expanded on with Masked Deuce during the small training they did in Alabasta.
His powers are kind of like Boa Hancock's in a way. While she can turn things that 'love' her to stone, he can turn anything slow, object or person. She doesn't have a timer for her stone ability, but Sparky does for his slowing ability.
I hope you guys get what I'm saying. Still with everything said, I would rank, Zoro as the strongest in the crew after Luffy.
Information is power in a way. Most people don't know about Spakry's powers and they underestimate him. And Sparky like Luffy(this) isn't going to shy away from fighting dirty.
Zoro on the other hand knows about his power, and how he fights. That's why he can do things to work around him rather than fighting Sparky head-on.
Also Zoro knows a way to break through most devil fruit powers using Haki. (The same thing Law used to break free from Doc Q's disease.) he might not be able to do it now, but with Haki bloom, I could see a fighter like Zoro being able to do something with it.
Anyway, I have tried to do justice for Laffitte's ability. Making him on par with your average Vice Admiral. I will also put the current Sparky and Zoro on that rank.
Kuina and Sanji aren't there yet, a bit weaker from them, but they are strong in other areas. Though Sanji is ahead of Kuina, as my boy also got stronger after training.
Heck, if Sanji fought Zoro/Sparky ten times he would most definitely win at least four due to his speed powers. And that's cause he still hasn't fully been able to use his power efficiently yet.
Anyway, enough ranting. Have a nice day!
294
Sparky watched as Sanji left with Zoro and Kuina. He waved at them as they left, uncaring of the enemy that he was about to face.
He watched them for a few seconds before looking at the slowed-down Blackbeard pirate. Sparky felt a surge of anger deep inside of him, but like always he pressed down his animalistic instincts, and smiled, trying to remain level-headed. He was going to make the bastard suffer, but he wanted to do it in a way where he had all the control.
"Why the fuck am I slow?" Laffitte growled as he slowly came out from his crater. His voice breaking Sparky out of his thoughts. The man's half-zoan form had burns thanks to Sanji, along with having a few other wounds. The man's feathered body was now a bit charred with blood along his form.
"Well, I ate the Slow-Slow Fruit," Sparky said shrugging, "If it wasn't obvious, I can slow down anything. Currently, you are ten times slower than before."
Laffitte didn't speak as he had already ran from his spot to attack him. But he was too damn slow for the monkey to even bother with him as a threat. Heck, he was 'running' even slower than a snail. It looked quite comical, as the large griffon-man was struggling to move toward the monkey.
But that didn't mean Sparky would let the Blackbeard pirate get near him. Everyone had an ace up their sleeves, and it would be unwise to think otherwise. Also, for now, Sparky needed to play the waiting game.
Laffitte was smarter than he looked and after getting kicked by Sanji he covered his whole body in Armament Haki. So even though he was slow, he was well protected, attacking him now would be useless, even if he was comically slow
So Sparky just jumped to the side, hanging off from a tree, when Laffitte got a few feet near his location.
"Ho, aren't you a fast one," Sparky mused as he pointed one of his hands at him again, and a yellow wave came out, affecting his opponent yet again, "Don't worry, I was just extending your time. Bahahahaha…"
"Agh… fucking monkey, come back here!" Laffitte growled as he looked at Sparky.
"How about a no?" Sparky said, giving a smug grin to the man.
For a while, Laffitte just glared at him, "Why the fuck aren't you doing anything?"
Sparky scratched his head with one hand before using his other hand to open his backpack and taking out a banana. He started peeling and eating the fruit as he answered, "Eh, why would I?" He asked as he ate the fruit, he then pointed at Laffitte with his half-eaten fruit, "Your body is still covered in Armament Haki. And attacking you now would be useless. That's why I'm waiting…" he shrugged, before finishing the banana and throwing the peel at the man's face.
Laffitte was, of course, too slow as the fruit attack landed on his Armament-covered face, resulting in him giving Sparky an angry glare. "You think I can't keep up my Armament Haki for the whole day? If so you are…"
But Sparky cut him off, he already had another banana in his hands, "I know you can't keep it up for a whole day." He said, "Luffy has better Armament Haki than you… and he had a lot of creative ways to experiment with his Haki. It's flaws, it's drawbacks… while Full Body Armament gives you full body protection, its quite stamina-draining. By now you should start feeling weak… I would give you another minute before you have to drop the Armament."
Laffitte gave out a growl at the fact that the monkey knew about his bluff.
Sparky gave the Blackbeard pirate a smug look, before tossing the banana peel at the pirate. Laffitte was able to dodge the waste just barely this time and it made him glare at him more.
"If my Armament Haki has a timer, then so does your slow powers. If I'm not wrong it's similar to Ace's right-hand man's powers," He snorted as he started to shrink back from his half-zoan form to conserve stamina, "You will find that I can last more than a minute."
Sparky gave him a three-arm clap, "Wow, you are the first man I saw that's proud of lasting more than one minute. I wonder how you woo ladies with that short-timer… But, eh… I'm not one to judge."
"Why you…!"
Sparky laughed, cutting him off, amused by his reaction, "You are right, you might last for more than a minute, but I can speed up the process." Sparky said, giving the Blackbeard a smile that made the man feel a bit of fear, "Bahahaha… don't worry you will only feel like you are drowning."
The zoan user unconsciously took a step back as his senses warned him of a danger.
Sparky laughed at him, before grinning, "Luffy said using Full Body Armament too long feels like clenching your butthole to hold back poop." Sparky chuckled, taking out an apple from his bag, and biting into it. "Not a very good explanation, but a relatable one. So why don't I increase your struggle a bit?"
With that, he extended one of his arms, and his slow beams again attacked the Blackbeard pirate. The pirate wanted to jump away, but he was, again, too slow. This time, the moment Sparky's slow beam affected Laffitte's body, he turned a bit blue.
"What the… what did you do…?!" he coughed, struggling hard to breathe. He took a breath full of air, but it didn't help much, the man even started to cough. Laffitte glared at him, "What the fuck did you do, monkey?"
"Only if you say please," Sparky said perking up at the show, taking out an apple from his bag, and started eating it as he explained, "But I'm feeling rather kind today, so I will tell you. What I did previously was slow down your movement, what I did now was slow down the rate of your rate of breathing. It's a bit straining on my powers, but is much more straining on you. Be careful, if you don't do anything then you might die of air loss."
Sparky by the end of the explication had finished the apple and threw the waste at the struggling form of Laffitte. The monkey grinned, seeing the enemy struggle to catch his breath. He would have loved to slow down his heart rate, but that had a certain drawback.
Masked Deuce's powers could stop the heart or the brain, completely killing the opponent. And Sparky had learned the trick as well, as his powers were similar.
But stopping the heart or brain was a bit difficult, and only was possible for weaker opponents. Mainly because it was closely linked to one's willpower and they had a good chance on completely breaking off from the effects with Haki.
The Blackbeard pirate coughed, straining to take in air.
"What, out of breath?" Sparky asked, "Drop down your Armament Haki for a second and I might drop my 'slow'… Bahahaha…"
295
"Fuck you…" Laffitte looked up at him and growled as he shifted his body again to his half-zoan form. His struggle with his breathing got a bit easier.
Sparky blinked, "Oh-ho, I didn't know that would happen. Interesting, very interesting. Your zoan transformation was able to ease some of the difficulties, interesting…" He said taking a bite of his apple with one hand and taking out a notebook and a pencil with his other hands. He also took out his reading glasses before he wrote something down in his notebook. He then looked at the Blackbeard Pirate, "Say, on a one scale of one to ten, ten being getting strangled to death by a male stripper, and one being struggling to hold your poop in. What would you rate your suffering?"
"*cough…Fuck you!" Laffitte growled throwing himself again at the six armed monkey. This time he was faster than before. But even then, he was too slow to be any threat.
Sparky pulled down his eyelid and stuck out his tongue before he changed locations, taking his seat on the top of a large rock.
"Hmm… I will add it as a three." He said, shrugging, as he pushed up his reading glass with a sigh, "Honestly, why can't test subjects be more open about their feelings? It would make my job a lot easier."
Laffitte just growled at him, "When I find a way to get out… *cough… I will take my sweet time in ripping out your limbs one by one, before shoving em up your ass."
"Oh, kinky," He said, "But you see I ain't into men, or humans for that matter. But hey, I don't judge." He said as he snickered.
"So, it's a waiting game…" Laffitte glared, as he coughed in between, "Fine, then answer me this, if you slowed me down, then why can I speak at a normal pace?"
"Hm? Didn't you hear me the first time?" Sparky said taking another bite from his apple, while two of his arms polished his guns, "I only slowed down your concept of movement. You see, when I first started using the fruit, I was thinking in very simple terms and slowing the whole thing down.
"But Luffy had shown me a better way of using the fruit. More creative ways. It turns out, if I only slow down one aspect of someone, like let's say, his or her movement, then I strain my powers less. I haven't mastered slowing down complicated concepts yet. But when it comes to movement, I can slow your movements down to a very low level."
Hearing Sparky's explanation Laffitte's eyes had widened and he stared forward, only to go into a coughing fit, while Sparky laughed. "You can barely breath, and using that attack only made you lose a few more seconds of your miserable life," he said, laughing while Laffitte went through a coughing fit, as he gasped for air.
"Why don't you fucking shut up damn it!"
"But, I love hearing my own voice~." Sparky whined, "Did you know how bad it was that only Luffy could understand me? Speaking took a whole lot longer than I imagined… probably got it from my old man's side. Only the bastard could speak anyways… Anyway, where was I… oh, yeah, funny thing is, it turns out my slow powers could also be used for training to gain more speed. Luffy said it was kind of similar to gravity training, or advanced resistance training… Huh, now that I say it out loud, all he thinks and talks about is training." He said rubbing his chin.
One drawback of his powers was that while slowing down the target's movements, it wouldn't take away any force or 'damage capability' of the attack, the target uses.
The punch might be slow, but it would be just as dangerous as the original one. That's why he wasn't getting near his opponent.
Sparky could slow down a few other things in Laffitte's body to end him quick, but the six-armed monkey wanted to take his time. Call him a bit greedy, but this was his first fight alone with anyone decently strong, and he wanted it to continue a while longer. And at the same time, he wanted to make the Blackbeard pirate suffer for what he did to Kuina.
Laffitte on the other hand, used the chance to throw some of his feathers out towards the monkey. The feathers weren't speedy, by any means but they were controlled, moving at a low level so that they could hit their target without getting notified.
"So you are like the pet of the crew." The Blackbeard pirate scoffed, trying to keep all attention to him. "Luffy this, Luffy that… you are nothing but a glorified pet."
"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me. Or that's how the quote goes. But I don't like what you said…" Sparky said, rubbing his chin with one hand before a grin appeared on his face. "It kind of rubs my fur the wrong way… It's insulting that you think so low of my crewmates, but then again why am I bothered by a soon-to-be-dead man…?"
"You are a pet… *cough… a mutt…" Laffitte said starting to throw out insults as the feathers started going towards its targets.
Sparky rolled his eyes, "I really feel like you are underestimating me…" he said before taking out two of his guns with his lower arms and shooting down the feathers that were inching toward him. "Wow, sixteen of them… and here I thought you thought me nothing more than a glorified pet."
Laffitte clicked his tongue as he thought of ways to escape the situation he was in. Even in his half-zoan form, he was still struggling to breathe and keeping up Armament Haki around his body. It was getting a lot tougher as each second ticked by.
Sparky wanted to say something but he was cut off when they heard a loud explosion, and the ground rumbling. Both of them looked towards the East where a giant ball of fire was clashing against a dark ball of shadows fighting for dominance.
The whole thing exploded with fire coming out of it as a victor, and an animalistic roar could be heard.
Sparky frowned, "What was that?"
Laffitte smirked, "You guys didn't know what you got yourselves into when dealing with our captain…?" his grin widened, "He has powers that are beyond your imagination…!"
Sparky, who was about to jump to the sky to get a clear view, saw Luffy going over them. The straw hat-wearing boy gave him a nod before going towards the fight. A small smile grew on his face. Luffy had it handled.
If they needed help, Luffy would have called out. As he didn't, Sparky knew they most likely had it handled. He looked at Laffitte thinking over things. But still, he needed to speed things up. Huh, ironic.
"You know, you are talking way too much for a bird that's about to get cooked," Sparky said, giving him a side glance as parts of his body started flickering in and out of Armament Haki.
Laffitte's wings came forward to protect himself from any blows as Sparky took out his guns, putting new bullets in them.
Sparky grinned, "I like me-birds-spicy."
"Wha…?" Laffitte wasn't even able to finish his sentence as a bullet was shot right into his eyes, panting the whole area in red liquid. "Agggghhh!" The bird-man screamed clawing his eyes as he tried to wipe away the spicy sauce from his eyes. But it was a mistake and Sparky used that chance to shoot two bullets directly inside of his mouth. Making the man cough along with struggling with his breathing.
"Alabastan Green Reaper!" Sparky said, "Has a nasty smell to go along with it. Took some from Usopp's stash before I left, didn't know it would be this useful. Anyway, your suffering has just started now." Sparky said cracking his six knuckles. "Let's get down to business… "
Laffitte, even in his agony, heard him and got cautious, bringing his wings over his body. But he was a bit too late again, as six bullets smashed into his body. Five pierced his wings while one managed to dig itself into his shoulder.
Now that he didn't have Armament Haki, Sparky's bullets were able to hurt him. Even without Haki, Laffitte's body was far more tougher because of his Mythical Zoan. So, Sparky's bullets were just able to dig into his skin.
But they were no ordinary bullets. Suddenly, Laffitte started feeling a lot weaker and his devil fruit powers started to retreat back into him. "Shit! *cough… Sea-stone bullets." He grunted as he tried to take out the bullets from his shoulders. But the bullets were stuck to his skin and wouldn't move, making him commit to a useless struggle. The man was on his knees as he felt his powers slip away, making him go through a coughing fit again…
Rrrrrrr…
A grinding noise made the Blackbeard Pirate look up and see the six-armed monkey with a chainsaw and a hockey mask. "Specialized chainsaw with sea stone edges…! Made it after I saw one of my crewmates have fun with his powers… Honestly, when you put Anchor and Usopp together, you can make some great stuff," Sparky ginned as Laffitte started backing off in the opposite direction with fear evident in his eyes. "The mask just adds some flavor to your misery… or that's what Luffy said… Bahahaha…
"Mythical Zoan's are pretty rare… even rarer than some logia. We have a good food collection back in the ship. But you have far too many limbs for my liking. Let's fix that…"
"N-No!"
Saprky's eyes glinted as his grin widened in a dark tone, "Oh, yes. Come to papa, birdy." With that, he started his chainsaw and jumped toward the Blackbeard pirate.
The forest was laced with the screams of a man and the laughter of a monkey.
— — — —
A/N: Sorry for the late upload, guys. Enjoy.
I wasted too much time on Laffitte, but oh well. I wanted to flesh out a few details about Sparky's powers in there as well. Next chapters will be about the brother trio against Blackbeard.
Have a great day! Bye~
296
Luffy's POV,
I jumped through the air, nearing the fight between Ace and Blackbeard. The damn fat bastard was a giant octopus now.
Just great! How many devil fruits did the bastard have anyways? Or was the power from the Yami Yami no Mi?
I shrugged, in the series, there were other people who had shown the ability to make animalistic constructs with their powers. But this thing, this Kraken-like creature, just felt different.
The beast was huge and horrifying, made out of shadows that looked semi-solid in a way. Its large head sported two eyes that were pitch black in color, and along with it, it also had a beast-like maw that could easily feed on lesser sea kings. All in all, it was most definitely this world's version of the Kraken.
I could clearly see Ace struggling with it even from this distance, his little form jolting from one point to another, fighting the monster. And it seemed like he needed some help.
Even though the situation was serious, I ironically found the scene funny,
"Give Ace a pair of chugs and cat ears. And with Teach's tentacles, this would be a whole other fight," I mused at that scene in my head.
I quickly shook those thoughts away as I started to get near them. As I passed through the sky, I saw that Sanji had to go off in the distance, carrying the wounded forms of Zoro and Kuina. Both of them looked quite roughed up.
But I couldn't get a better look at them as Sanji had sped away, not seeing me. I didn't mind, my Observation Haki picked up Sparky facing off against someone.
As I sky-walked over them, I gave my six-armed friend a nod. He was fighting some kind of bird-monster hybrid, maybe Burgess? But he shouldn't have a fruit by now… I shrugged, who knows?
But I didn't care, Sparky seemed to be in a favorable position. And I didn't want him to cut his fight short.
Sparky was the first member of my crew. And he was also my best buddy. He needed some alone monkey time for himself.
Sparky's powers are quite overpowering. And over the years, he had refined it to a degree now that he could give even experienced fighters a run for their money.
I also knew he was kind of like a glass cannon nowadays as he didn't have Armament Haki.
Sparky seems to be physically going through changes, his human-like voice wasn't his only change. He's also gained a few inches in height. Maybe he was going through a growth sprout or something?
Maybe that's why he didn't awaken his Armament Haki. Maybe he was too young for it, or his body wasn't ready for the Color of Armament yet. Who knows?
But at the same time, I also realized that there was no other fight going on. It seems the fight with Aramaki took way longer than I realized.
Is that what they say about good times always feeling short? I really took my sweet time ripping him apart.
As I neared the fighting location between Ace and Teach, I had to stop mid-air when a pillar of fire rose out from the ground, destroying anything and everything in its path.
BOOM!
Several other eruptions of flames occurred, charring the area. The flames were so great that it literally melted the rocks that were on the ground, turning it into a field of lava.
And Teach's Kraken form was right in the middle of the attack.
"Aghhhh!"
The large tentacle monster gave out a painful roar that shook the earth. It seems even with the bigger size difference Teach was still feeling pain from Ace's attacks. It also made me realize that it was no shadow construct…
Another devil fruit?
I actually thought that Ace's attacks would be ineffective against it, since it was made out of shadows and all. But it seems I was wrong.
That brought the obvious question of why he's going big like this… what was the benefit anyways…? He just painted himself as a bigger target this way.
The answer quickly came when the beast roared.
"Ragghhhh…!"
The roar of agony lasted only for a few seconds before red lightning crackled around the monster, sucking the fire inside of him, and taking the power away from Ace's attack and charging itself. Along the way, I could see the ground where the huge beast was starting to rot.
"That wasn't supposed to happen…" Ace said in between his pants, as he stood his ground, he suddenly felt the ground rumble and jumped back. But he was a bit late as a shadowy tentacle came out of the earth and grabbed his leg. "Ugh, shit!"
He wanted to use Enma to cut through it and set himself free, but the fire user was electrocuted with red electricity, making his muscles lock up. At the same time the giant octopus opened its maw, releasing a jet beam of red energy right towards the trapped pirate.
I was already moving by the time Ace got tangled in that tentacle situation. With my nameless naginata covered in Advanced Armament Haki, I came to the front, with my body in mixed gear, using my fastest air Soru, I came forward, "Dynamic Bull Needle!"
I didn't get in front of Ace, no, I attacked the monster's head, trying to drill through its head. But seeing me suddenly get near, Teach whipped its head back, dodging my attack and canceling his own. But the bastard released all the stored-up energy in an explosion around it.
An explosion of red energy crackled out around it, mixed with electricity as I was pushed back. Luckily I was able to brace myself with Tekkai before the attack landed, but still, I was sent flying, and the effects of the red lightning was making my muscles tense up for a few seconds.
I grunted as I flew back, spinning through the air a few times before I was able to steady myself and break free from the effects.
I had little time on my hands as the Kraken-like beast had already sent multiple shadowy tentacles at me. Even just from being near them, I could feel my energy getting drained and my devil fruit powers getting weaker.
Shit! I can't let those things grab me.
I quickly used Air Walk to my advantage to skip around the shadowy appendages. Not letting them touch me, and sending multiple wind slashes that made deep cuts into its tentacles.
It roared in pain as it glared at me. I smirked, holding eye contact, still in the air, "I'm gonna make some takoyaki out of you."
It narrowed its eyes and from it, red energy beams came out, zig-zagging through the sky. I blinked, when could he do that?
I quickly spun my naginata in hand, clad with Advanced Armament Haki. Those energy beams were dangerous, and I didn't want them to get near my body. Good thing I have an advanced form of Haki, I didn't need to touch the beams.
As the beams slammed at me, I spun my blade at rapid speed, until the beam was no more. To my surprise, my defense didn't discard the attack, no my nameless naginata absorbed it. My blade shone red as if satisfied by the meal.
"From when could you do that…?" I asked aloud, before hearing a large roar. I looked at the Kraken-like monster as it charged a blast in his mouth.
297
'No time to be amazed,' my blade called out, 'Attack!'
I obliged, as I brought my blade down, an arc of red energy came out of my blade, mixing with my own power before it went towards the Kraken-like monster. My attack dug a deep trench as it moved and the giant monster used its tentacles covered in Haki to block the attack.
The beast was able to block the attack, but he was dragged back from his location. And while it was able to avoid any major damage, one of its tentacles got a deep gash from my attack.
It roared as it slammed its tentacles into the ground, the ground breaking as several shadowy tentacles waved off like tree vines coming towards me with great speed.
CRACK
I grinned, the grip around my naginata tightening, as I bit into my free arm. Steam covered my body, as my body physically changed, "Gear Fourth: Lion man!"
With power and Haki coursing through my body, I moved forward. My steps in the air creating a sonic boom as I moved. As the shadowy appendages came forward, I went through them like a hot knife through butter with my blade. Slicing and dicing through them.
"Huh, this is fun!" I roared, a grin plastered in my face as I danced in between the shadowy dangers. Cutting through them as I moved. Seeking thrill and glory like a battle-crazed protagonist.
'Help me, will you,' I called out to my blade.
'Sure, but make sure to be the one that kills it.' My blade responded, sparks of black and red lightning coming out of my blade as it took on a red-ish black shine.
I snorted, 'Sure thing, mate.'
Teach had already attacked before I could get too close. It blasted a giant beam of red energy from its mouth toward me. Its size could easily consume me.
I knew from instinct that facing the beam head-on would be stupid. So, I quickly jumped up, trying to avoid it, running in the air in a zig-zag pattern. But the giant creature had also moved its head, making the beam follow me while destroying everything in its path. But Teach had clearly underestimated my speed as I was able to avoid the beam, until the monster couldn't fire off his attacks anymore.
By that time I was already near it. While I was fine, Teach was clearly winded, the giant shadowy octopus was panting.
And I used that chance to throw my blade at him.
The Kraken-like monster had brought one of its larger tentacles up to block my attack, but my blade skewered through its shadowy appendage, pinning it to the side of its head. The nameless naginata was still connected to me by the chain that was wrapped around my arm.
Right at that moment, something had smashed into the opposite side of it's head. It was Sabo.
I grinned.
Sabo was grabbing onto the side of the beast with one hand, while his other hand was pulled back in a claw-shaped form with Advanced Armament Haki covering it. It glowed dangerously a yellowish black, indicating its usage, "Everything Has a Core… and I just found yours." With that he plunged his hands right into the side of its head, "Internal Destruction: Ryu no Ibuki!"
"Internal Destruction Leo Roku-Oh-Gun!" I called out at the same time.
Both of our attacks were intended for internal damage and a large chunk of its head got cracks around them.
"Raghhh…" It roared, and the Kraken-like beast's body exploded in red energy, throwing both of us off.
While I pulled out my blade with the chain, Sabo was thrown back because of being so close to it.
The beast roared in pain as its large tentacles swatted away anything that was near. Sabo, who was clearly vulnerable in the air, would have got hit, but someone had moved through the air, catching him.
It was Masked Deuce. While the masked pirate pulled back, Ace had gone past him with his sword out, flames and Haki laced in his blade.
"This fight isn't over, Teach!" Ace growled as he went in for the attack. Now that he looked at his brother, he also looked quite roughed up.
I felt myself respecting him, even with all three of us, Teach was a tough opponent, but he had been dealing with him alone until now. That took strength…
However, it brought the question of why he was so strong. He didn't have any sort of Advanced Haki. He was fighting us with his devil fruit alone.
Devil fruit or devil fruits… it just showed how Haki wasn't the only source of gaining strength. I needed to focus on my fruit's powers more.
The giant Kraken-like monster roared, as it attacked with its shadowy appendages once more.
He might be strong, but it wouldn't matter… Now that the three of us are here, we should be able to handle him.
Masked Deuce was also here, but he was more or less helping us with a supporter role. It seems his Stop-Stop powers aren't working on the giant monster.
Good thing I didn't bring Sparky here, his ability might also be ineffective. Also, Teach was pissed that my monkey friend killed his doctor, so its better to not bring him here.
Ace fought alone with the Kraken-like beast for some time. And a bit later Sabo joined in, but I didn't. Instead, I was observing the giant beast. The Kraken was like a giant octopus, was it just my imagination or did it get smaller?
Also, my Observation Haki was telling me that he was growing stronger at a rapid rate. What was up with that…?
I was shocked with realization when I noticed that the island around us had turned gray and rotted. The trees, the land, everything was dead and rotten, spreading out from the monstrosity. From above I could see a huge chunk of Jaya's forest getting affected by the Kraken's powers.
And right then, an explosion of shadow and black fog made me look at the giant monster again. The Kraken-like monster grinned as its body started to fade into black smoke, before getting sucked inside at a single point.
All of us that were fighting stopped as the giant monster retreated back into itself, revealing a mutated version of Teach. He was bigger now, and his face was twisted in a way that made me remember Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean.
One of Teach's hands had the power of darkness, while the other hand glowed red with energy.
"Zehahaha…" Teach laughed as he released a wave of Conqueror's Haki. With broken teeth, it looked at us, "I'm going to rip you guys apart, and I'm going to enjoy it!"
I snorted as I released my own Conqueror's Haki, Ace also did that at the same time. And, surprisingly, I found Sabo releasing his Haki as well.
Huh, would you look at that, Sabo also had it.
I grinned, "You are fucked in so many ways that you can't possibly imagine." I said, "Chaaarge!"
I roared, stepping forward first, my brothers following behind. The fight was far from over.
298
With my blade covered in Advanced Armament Haki, I charged, blurring in front of Teach as I swung my blade in a wide swipe.
Teach grinned as he punched forward with a red energy-covered hand.
Booom!
Both of our attacks clashed against each other, fighting for supremacy. Sparks of red and black lightning flashed around our attack, as a sonic boom resounded through the air. The wind from the attack whipped back our air as we struggled.
But I was shocked when Teach started to push me back before swinging his darkness-covered hand, punching me in the side. I had protected the spot where he punched, but still, I was thrown back from his location as both Ace and Sabo dropped on him with their own attacks.
"Zehahaha! You punks made a serious mistake… now die!" Teach laughed, coming forward and attacking both Ace and Sabo. Fighting them both for a while, he ducked under Ace's swipe, giving him an uppercut, and jumping back from Sabo's strike and throwing him off with an omega beam from his eyes.
"Shit!" Sabo hissed as he crossed his arms and covered them with Haki, the omega beams didn't push him back much but it didn't let him attack either. "Ugh, asshole! Just how many powers do you have?"
"Many!" Teach said smirking, while Ace rubbed his chin from the uppercut, growling at the pirate. With all of his powers, Teach was a bastardized version of Darkseid.
Teach laughed, as Ace came forward to attack. But he wasn't the only one, Sabo also joined in.
Both of the brothers attacked, Ace with his sword and Sabo with his metal pipe. But they were too slow to hit him. Ducking again under Sabo's strike, Teach brought his hand forth trying to grab him.
But just before he could grab him, Ace had slashed the space in between them, making Teach pull his hand back. While the Blackbeard pirate jumped back, Ace punched forward towards his location, "Hiken!"
A large fist of flames came out of his hand, striking Teach's previous posi tion. But rather than dodging the attack, Teach grinned, bringing two of his hands forward. Both of them flashed with red energy as he pulled the fire into them, right into his palms.
"Thanks for the refill, bastard." Teach said. His form blurring right in front of Sabo before he punched forward. "Let me return the favor, dick-head! Hiken!"
At the last moment, Sabo had crossed his arms and covered them in Haki. But he was still thrown away.
"Sabo!"
"Sabo!"
Both me and Ace called out as the blond was thrown several meters away with smoke coming out of him. He fell to the ground before doing a backflip, giving us a thumbs up. "I'm fine," he said.
Both of us sighed in relief, before I gave my brother a stink eye, "Seriously, Ace. Don't use your fire directly on him. Be creative damn it."
"I'll try… and sorry about that."
Ace had little time to hold a conversation as Teach came for him next.
Teach punched with his red energy crackling in his arm, while Ace defended against it with Enma. He was thrown back, and before Teach could follow through I jumped him using the fastest version of Soru I knew.
Attacking with my own blade, I expected it to at least hit, but he surprised me when he jumped back, avoiding my blow. And as he did, he sent several shadowy pikes towards my location. With a swipe of my blade, I cut them off before going toward him again.
At the same time, I could see Sabo going towards him from the opposite side.
I knew what to do.
I appeared in front of Teach with a fury of strikes that grabbed all of his attention. He got overwhelmed but found a chance to kick me away. I took the hit with a smirk on my face. In Gear Fourth, I could tank a lot of punishment.
Teach was confused at first, but the man quickly found out the reason for my smirk when he was hit in the back of his head and sent flying to the side. His body skipped the ground a few times as he was smashed into a large rock, forming spider cracks before it broke onto him.
Sabo clicked his tongue, giving me a hand as he pulled me up. "I was trying to take his head off, but oh well…"
I snorted, I was reaching my limit with Gear Fourth. I needed to recharge, or I would run out of haki.
Teach growled as he got out of the crater, bleeding from his octopus-like head. But to my surprise, his bleeding stopped. And I could clearly see the wound being knit together.
I blinked. Did he have regeneration? Fuck.
No wonder this bastard managed to scar Shanks. Teach might not be the most skilled fighter, but he made it up with his abilities. But even in terms of skill, he was pretty decent.
All three of us attacked Teach. This went on for a while, hours passed as we fought.
All three of us exchanging blows with Teach. Our forms blurring in and out around Jaya. Our attacks creating sonic booms and large explosions. As we fought, rain had started pouring, making the blood and grime wash off us as we fought in the hard battle.
Not only was Teach able to keep up with us, he was also able to strike back and deal damage as well. This wasn't good.
Also, I had to retreat every half an hour or so to take a few minutes' break as my Gear Fourth Lion-Man had a timer. Unlike me, my brothers didn't need it. And they could hold him off for a while.
I honestly hadn't expected Teach to be this strong. The only silver lining is that as the fight was stretching out, Teach was losing his edge. It wasn't a lot, but even small progress was enough.
It seems fighting all of us at the same time was getting to him as well, but this also made him dangerous. He was like a cornered animal.
My attacks with my brothers were flawless, days of training together made us quite a good team. You could say, we bounced of each other like rubber.
299
Taking a deep breath, my form again shifted as steam rose around me, Going into Gear Fourth Lion-Man.
"Get back!" I said to my brothers, as I pulled back my fist, "Gomu Gomu no King Kong Gatling!"
Large and small fist, rained down on my enemy like a Gatling gun. My attacks laced with Advanced Armament Haki as they came forward.
Teach brought his arms forward and a shadowy construct that looked like fists came forward, matching my attacks. The shadowy fists were also enhanced by the red energy matching my Advanced Armament Haki.
Both of our attacks were creating a lot of destruction, for a while we were equal. But slowly I was coming out as the victor, with a roar I pushed through, my right fist planting right in his face while my left fist punched at his side where his kidney was.
This would have thrown him off, but I wasn't done. Gritting my teeth, I summoned all of my inner strength, "Leo Rokuogan!"
From my fists two beams of blue shockwave energy came out, going through Teach's body as he was thrown away with broken teeth and blood.
But the bastard was crazy as he had sent multiple shadow spikes before he was thrown away.
I had to defend myself from them, but I was also thrown in the opposite direction with a few of them stabbing into my flesh. But I was nowhere near the level of pain that Teach showed.
Teach still had that over-sensitive body due to the eating Yami Yami no Mi, I could use that to my advantage. Though with his regenerative abilities, cutting his head off might be the only viable way to end the fight.
I could also destroy his heart.
I blinked, finally realizing something. Didn't octopuses have three hearts…?
Wait, did that mean Hatchan had three hearts? I shook my head. Not the time for intrusive thoughts. I focused on Teacj with my Observation Haki, making a note to look at the changes he had from an ordinary human.
Though, even if he did have three hearts, cutting his head off would be easier.
I remember Marco had said something about Teach's body not being normal. I need to look out for that.
Seeing Teach fall to the ground, both Sabo and Ace pounced on him before he could get back up. But they were a bit late as suddenly, Teach's body turned into shadows and slipped into the ground. The bastard reappeared a bit further away with his side bleeding.
He had a shaky grin on his face as he wiped the blood from his mouth. He looked like he was in pain, but was trying to hide it. I grinned, "Aw… is the little fat cunt in pain?" I asked, "Don't worry, there's more where that came from!"
"If you are scared of sharp objects, then there's always this…" Sabo said holding his metal pipe, "Unlike like my brothers, I like to keep things civil and smash my enemy's heads in."
I chuckled as Teach snorted.
He panted while his wounds were healing, we could have attacked, but we also needed to catch our breath. He wasn't the only one getting injured, we were as well. I quickly used the time to use Life Return to mend my wounds, while I couldn't do much, it was still worth it in the long run.
I wanted the fight to end soon. But at the same time, I prepared myself for a long, drawn-out fight.
I could feel at least two of my ribs and a few other bones were broken. Sabo and Ace were the same, but they sustained a bit less injuries than me. As unlike them, I could recover mid-fight.
Masked Deuce had left soon after I joined in on the fight. None of my crewmates or him would be able to handle Teach.
I then realized that I really hated long, drawn-out fights. But in this world, fighting for more than one day straight wasn't unheard of. But I don't plan on dragging the fight that long.
No, I was trying to figure him out. But I had little success with it. Well, until now… while I was recovering, I started to focus real hard on his body.
God, that sounded cringe in my head. I was checking out an octopus dude as a married man. That… I shook my head. No time for intrusive thoughts, Luffy. I told myself.
"You punks are tough, I will give you that…" Teach said, panting, "But you can't beat me."
"We'll see about that, Teach." Ace said, standing by Sabo's side, "I will put your head on a pike for what you did to Thatch."
Teach snorted, "The only reason he died, was because he was a weak little bitch…" he then grinned, both of his fist crackling with red energy, "In the sea, only the strong survive… what I did was very similar to what Pops did back when he was part of another crew. I did the same damn thing he did, like father like son." He said smiling with his broken teeth. "For all that Newgate makes himself look like a saint, underneath… he's more of a bastard than me."
Ace growled, becoming irritated, "Shut your damn mouth, Teach!" he growled, his fists and sword getting covered in his own Haki. Humming with power, he wanted nothing more than to blast the man with his fire but knew that would be counterproductive.
"What, don't tell me you don't know what Pops did back when he was part of someone's else's crew…?" he rhetorically asked, "Of course, you wouldn't… you were just in the crew for a few years. I was part of it for decades…"
"Is this the part where you reveal that you were planning for years and what not…? If so, then cut the bullshit. We have no interest in your sob story," I said cutting him off.
Sabo looked at Ace, "Keep your head in the game bro. We will kill him… don't go doing something stupid and don't let him get to your head." I nodded at that.
While some might call Ace impulsive, and they wouldn't be wrong, but you couldn't blame the guy. Fighting constantly for that many hours, anyone would running on short fumes.
For Ace, it was personal. While Sabo was the chillest one amongst us, involve some poor civilian in a bad situation and he would be doing the same as well.
Heck, even me, I dared any bastard to even say anything about my wives. Heck, I dared any government bastard to target Robin.
We all had some things that we valued and would defend its reputation with our lives. When you have blood pumping through your blood in kilometers per hour, everyone had short fumes.
Even Teach.
I gave him a mocking grin, "And really Teach… while you act collected, remember that even if you somehow survive this… you have no one left. All of your crewmates are dead." I said, "I really have to hand it to ya… your crewmates really did have some good fruits. I will make sure to give them to good users."
Teach growled, it seems I hit a nerve. Teach snarled at me as he readied himself.
Sabo also spun his metal pipe as it blackened with haki, while I also prepared blackening my own blade. I could also see from the corner of my eye that Ace did the same. And right after that, we moved.
300
We fought Teach with everything we got.
As we fought, I realized something, Teach and me… we weren't that different. He might not be the fanciest-looking bastard out there, but he had his own kind of charisma. He was easily able to influence Ace with his words, and to recruit powerful crewmates like that…? We weren't much different.
Also, as the fight went on. All of us got stronger, even Teach. Our Haki were blooming in the midst of battle.
While Ace, Sabo, and Teach were getting stronger in Armament Haki. I was trying to remain calm in the fight, trying to improve my Observation Haki.
Focusing on any unwanted clues that Teach left when fighting; His intent, his aura, his pattern of movement.
I wasn't expecting myself to learn Advanced Observation Haki any time soon, but I could at least improve my Observation Haki.
As I fought, I tried to channel my focus on finding any differences in Teach's body. He looked like something from a half-zoan transformation, so I tried to focus on where his heart was.
Not trying to hear it. No… trying to see it. As we fought, my vision with Observation Haki improved, and I could see stuff that I wasn't able to see before.
My reaction time increased, along with my perception of seeing things in slow motion. Along with it, I started to see aura, it was a slow and lengthy process that took hours. But it was progress, nonetheless.
And I was finally able to see Teach's aura, on how his aura moved around in his body.
It was odd, there were three types of aura inside of him. Brown, Black and Red… they came from three different sources. And they beat like hearts… I grinned. Finally finding what I was looking for.
Three hearts in three places. Disgustingly pumping Teach with power. I also found that two of his hearts looked weaker than the third one. The brown one looked strong, while the red and black one looked quite worn out. Almost artificial.
It seems his body hadn't fully accepted his fruit powers yet. I grinned, knowing what I should target next.
"Sabo, buy us some time…" I said, grabbing Ace by the shoulder, pulling him back as my brother came forward with his metal pipe.
Sabo attacked relentlessly against Teach, buying us some time like I asked.
"What the…" Ace wanted to say something but I cut him off.
"I might have figured something out, but you guys need to give me an opportunity…" I whispered, panting from my overuse from Gear Fourth. I had pulled back from my transformation, "Also, if you can try going for the heart, Ace, one of them is in the middle of his chest… it might seem weird, but I think he has three hearts. I can try something… but you guys need to distract him."
Ace just gave me a serious nod, trusting me without any further discussion.. He jumped forward and I followed him behind after readying myself.
Ace came forth yelling, swinging his blade in wide arcs, using the power of his Haki mixed with Enma.
If any one of us improved in the fight the most, then it would be him. His inability to use his flames had made him rely fully on Haki and swordsmanship to go against Teach. And his Haki was getting stronger quicker.
I smirked, feeling a bit proud about him.
"Zehahaha!" Teach laughed, smashing his fist against Ace's blade. His red energy versus Ace's Advanced Haki. Sabo pulled back a bit, before supporting Ace with his metal pipe.
I didn't attack immediately, as I was in my base form. I skipped around them as they fought, trying to get a better situation on him.
Teach might have suspected that I had something planned. So I needed to be fast… catch him by surprise before he could come up with an effective counter.
Ace glanced at me and gave me a nod.
He was going to give a clear shot at him. I had to make it count.
I took in a breath of air. Biting my arm, as I inflated it, "Gear Fourth… Snake-Man!" A skinnier form of Lion-Man took it's place.
While, Bounce-Man was for tanking and power, Snake-man was about speed and unpredictability. I made Lion-man based on both versions. But that mean, if I needed speed I would use my Snake-Man form.
My grip around my naginata tightened, 'Let's do this, partner…'
'Make sure to make it count.' My blade responded.
I gave a mental nod as I moved at supersonic speed. Blurring around the battlefield while Teach fought Ace and Sabo.
Teach had seemed to notice me, and my increased speed. And it distracted him for a moment.
"Oi, asshole… rise and shine!" Ace said clapping both of his hands, right in his face, his palms, exploding out like a flashbang. Blinding both Teach and Sabo who hadn't looked away, also ringing their ears.
I also hadn't been affected as I was far from them. I really wondered why Ace hadn't used that previously. Flashbang would have been the most effective non-lethal attack against Teach.
But I didn't have time to think of that, I thrusted my blade forward, my arm stretching, "Gomu Gomu no… Drilling Python!" my fist bounced off several times in the air before it neared Teach's . Gaining in speed and power. My blade was covered in the strongest Advanced Armament Haki I could bring forth.
But even while blinded, Teach was no easy opponent. He omega beamed Sabo off of him, before pushing Ace back. At the same time, he turned his own body into shadows, dropping to the ground as he tried to slither away to another location.
But to my enhanced perception, it was playing out in slow motion. My attack also changed trajectory, and stabbed right into the ground, into the shadow. Right into where one of his hearts were.
"Gah…!" Teach's body materialized and my blade skewered him to the ground, he screamed, but his scream was dwarfed by the leaking red energy that exploded out of his body.
KABOOM