31 C31 : War of the Best |Part 4|
• [Marineford, near Red Line] {Year : 20.5} •
"ACE!!!" The straw-hat man shouted from his high altitude as the group from Impel Down joined him.
"Luffy!" Portgas D. Ace panicked when he recognized him. His 'only' living sworn brother came to the war, all for him! Though happy that his sworn brother wanted to save him, he was angry that Luffy was here since he could die. Just Whitebeard and his pirates would be enough to rescue him.
Ace didn't just slump in defeat, he saw and watched his father figure suddenly look stronger than before, casually blocking away the Admirals' attempts. Especially that casual swing of his bisento sent towards the execution stand, then seeing Vice Admiral Garp use his all just to stop a mere casual swing projectile.
Hope flickered in his body, yet dread began to grow from his heart when Luffy joined the war.
…
Luffy glared at the pirates who were momentarily surprised to see a Marine Battleship crashing into the battlefield from a high altitude, but snapped out of it and began to run towards the remaining entrance to scaffold. He was not about to let his remaining sworn brother to die!
The straw-hat man ran with his all, refusing to allow anyone stop him. He attacked the Marines who remained on the frozen water and moved to stop him from continuing any further. They knew who this Monkey D. Luffy was. He was the very man who looked down on the World Government, by rescuing one of his crew mate—Nico Robin the Devil Child.
Most importantly out of all deeds he did, Luffy ruthlessly punched a Celestial Dragon in a human auction on Sabaody Archipelago, which brought hundreds of Marines with a Admiral to arrest him and his crew as well as other 'collaborators'. It was also how he brought his Straw Hat Pirates to its 'end', with Bartholomew Kuma, one of Shichibukai, sending each crew mates to different directions.
Luffy swore to rescue Ace, his sworn brother. He was not going to lose an important person of his after his other sworn brother died! He glanced at Whitebeard, the father figure of his sworn brother, and saw that he was also looking back and nodded at each other.
"Gurarara!" Whitebeard laughed loudly as he began running to Little Oars Jr.. Bringing Murakumogiri with him, he crouched and jumped onto the paddle ship that was approaching Oars Jr. and held several others. "Don't worry about me, just pull the ship along and crush it straight into the scaffold!"
Sensing the ship approaching, Oars finally moved and his long arms clamped onto the paddle ship. "Grrrr~!!!"
"It seems that Whitebeard now intends to go all out." Fleet Admiral Sengoku commented on the execution stand. He knew that Whitebeard had originally toying with the Admirals otherwise the Marineford would've been already destroyed. Sighing, he brought the transponder to his mouth and ordered. "Everyone! Be prepared for Whitebeard's all-out attack!"
The Marines heard and paled. Those who hadn't guessed the truth, thought that Whitebeard was just that in front of the Admirals. They gritted their teeth and hardened themselves. Even if they died here and now, at least they died fighting.
The Shichibukai moved to where the paddle ship's path was. They intended to fight Whitebeard. At least Doflamingo, Mihawk, and Kuma was. Hancock just moved to show the Marines that she was doing the job she was called for. Gecko was regretting his whole life as he saw the Strongest Man in the World glaring at them. He nearly pissed himself on spot when Whitebeard spared one of his legendary 'battle glares' directed at him.
"Erm- I'm gonna go somewhere else, will support you all from back." Gecko Moriah said as he moved his large body away. He glanced at Little Oars Jr. with a regretful face, such a good specimen and yet he couldn't obtain it.
"Hmph." Boa Hancock just looked at Whitebeard and frowned. How was she supposed to be fighting the Strongest Man in the World?
Donquixote Doflamingo scoffed. Why Gecko Moriah was even a Shichibukai, he didn't know. His face showed a cold smirk at Whitebeard. 'Perhaps the forbidden technique I made would work on him... The Strongest Man in the World under me... Hehe!'
Dracule Mihawk moved his Yoru and clenched the hilt. 'With Whitebeard, I can go all out...'
Bartholomew Kuma pulled his gloves off and clapped them together before slowly distancing them away. "..."
"Oi, oi!" Doflamingo shouted at him. He knew what the paw man was going to do. "Don't you see we're here?!"
"Eliminating Whitebeard." He simply said as a transparent paw appeared between his hands.
Boa Hancock rolled her eyes and her snake moved away. She turned towards the paddle ship and made a pulling bow gesture. Pulling back her right arm, a large pink heart appeared with its back looking pulled. Letting go, countless pink arrows rained upon it as her snake took her further away from Kuma's move destruction range. "Rain of Love!"
Dracule Mihawk frowned but moved behind Kuma. He still intended to fight the Strongest Man in the World, after all, he was a good training dummy.
"Tch!" Doflamingo strung some strings and flew upwards, away from Bartholomew Kuma.
Kuma's transparent paw slowly enlarged, absorbing air. His glasses glinted slightly when the transparent paw began to glow brightly. Due to absorbing the air into one spot being a heavy task, he could not move during the time.
Whitebeard saw this and snorted. He pointed Murakumogiri's edge at Bartholomew Kuma and asked. "Idiot, if you can't move then why bother standing before me?"
Kuma did not even reply or bother to listen. His current mission was to stop pirates from rescuing the man with accursed bloodline. "Time needed : 2 minutes and 32 seconds."
"..." Doflamingo nearly tripped in the air from his strings when he heard that. Was this paw bastard really asking anyone near him to protect him? He sighed and muttered. "Even you would need people, just like me."
He moved through the air with his strings and stood in front of Kuma. Waving his hands through the air in no particular pattern, countless strings appeared.
Dracule Mihawk's mouth twitched slightly for some reason but stayed still as his hand held his Yoru.
"Strings' Dome!" Doflamingo shouted out, which made the countless strings to move around him, Mihawk, and Kuma, making a small dome. Suddenly, the strings began to glow slightly and slithered around as if having life of its own. Doflamingo turned his head to Kuma and sighed again. "Not even gonna bother thanking me? Just be glad that I didn't think taking Whitebeard on alone would be the best option now, otherwise..."
He left it hanging, but anyone would know what he meant when he flared slight bloodlust momentarily. Sadly for him, Kuma did not even listen... and no one was in the dome but him, Kuma and Mihawk. Doflamingo suddenly felt like he was sighing a lot in a day.
Whitebeard looked at the dome of strings in disbelief. Did Doflamingo really think a mere dome would stop him from destroying Bartholomew Kuma? He shook his head and brought his left fist to his right shoulder as he crouched slightly. In one smooth move, he swung it. "Quake Explosion!"
*CRACK*
Space cracks suddenly appeared in a straight path, going towards to the dome of strings. Upon contact, more cracks immediately appeared and shook the very air.
*BOOM*
The dome of strings blew up and pushed Doflamingo towards Kuma, blown away from the mere pressure of the Spatial Explosion.
"Ugh!" Doflamingo coughed out blood, bringing his hand to see it. He glared at Whitebeard, seeing him on the paddle ship that was closing in.
Oars Jr. looked heavily injured yet he still had the strength to carry a large paddle ship while stopping the coast wall coming up. He bled all over, but felt no pain in moving. Saving Ace was something Oars Jr. would do no matter what, even if it meant giving his life.
Bartholomew Kuma's transparent paw was beginning to look larger than before and glowed brighter. Mihawk frowned at this and sighed, knowing that he needed to stop Whitebeard attacking again.
Moving in front of Doflamingo in a quick step, Mihawk brought his Yoru upward with such force that would slash through the paddle ship as if it was pudding.
*SHING~*
Bright green arc projectile shot forward from Yoru and swiftly went at the paddle ship.
Whitebeard moved his crackling bisento and shouted as he began to spin it vertically as if making a shield. "Quake Barrier!"
*HISS*
The air in front of the paddle ship suddenly looked visible as it began to be compressed into a large flat wall. Using his Tremor Tremor Fruit, the space around the air began to give tremors that prevented air from coming out.
*WISSH~*
The green projectile sent by Mihawk vanished upon meeting the slightly visible Tremor Barrier, as if unable to continue any further due to the air itself blocking its path.
"Hmm..." Mihawk was surprised at this but nevertheless grinned. With this, he knew that Whitebeard was no longer wearing his kiddie gloves, meaning that he could also go all out as well... after Kuma finished the long move. Sighing, he glanced behind and saw that Kuma's large transparent paw was in progress of compressing itself into smaller yet stronger. "Finally... After this, I can go all out."
Those who heard his mutter and knew of what really happened back at his Greed Island, paled in fear and decided to further back away from the battle.
"Ho! Going all out, huh?" Whitebeard smiled, not minding. He peered through him and saw that the transparent paw was almost complete. Deciding to use a different technique, he brought Murakumogiri above him. "Second Release!"
*CRACKLE*
*BOOM*
Murakumogiri itself boomed out its pressure that was growing, as if to become a new whole level. Slowly, the bisento enlarged and lengthened further with its sharp edge glimmering with pure white. Thick lightning crackled around Murakumogiri, yet did not harm Whitebeard's hand when it met.
Murakumogiri now looked like a spear instead of bisento.
Several close Marines shook and fell on the ground just from the mere pressure of the spear-looking Murakumogiri Whitebeard held. Mihawk saw this and felt it too, so moving out of the way of Kuma, he began to prepare.
"King's Order!" Mihawk shouted, with thousands of swords floating and shooting towards at his position. "Merge!"
Heeding the order, all of the swords 'melted' and coiled together, above Mihawk.
*SSSsss~*
The Marines who lost their swords because of that, grieved for it. They brought their best weapons they had, only for it to be used by Mihawk and they even watched him melt it! They spent a lot of money for their respective swords! Hell, some of them were family heirlooms!
Seeing that Kuma was nearly done, Doflamingo made a swing gesture with his fingers before flying off.
'Those monsters!' Doflamingo gritted his teeth in anger and slight fear. Even he couldn't be compared to Dracule Mihawk. If Mihawk was below Ryu, that meant Ryu was beyond his eyes, furthering the distance between them. A insanity glint flashed by his eyes. 'Doesn't matter! If I use the forbidden technique on Mihawk or even Whitebeard, I can grow stronger!'
"Ursus..." Kuma suddenly spoke. Crouching and moving both of his hands in a way to push the compressed transparent paw forward, he finished. "...Shock."
Seeing the now-small paw moving towards the paddle ship, Whitebeard was about to make a move when all of sudden, Oars Jr. used all of his remaining strength to jumped in front of the paddle ship.
The paddle ship was already forward in the scaffold, so Oars Jr. did not need to worry about giving way to the scaffold. Every pirates were already running towards the remaining entrance to the scaffold.
Knowing so, the large and tall zombie gave a naive smile at Ace. Oars Jr. felt that this may be the last time he would see Ace, so he forced himself to say. "A-Ace! I did ev-everything I ca-can...!"
The transparent paw slowly arrived to Oars Jr.'s stomach.
"Oars!" Ace shouted. Whitebeard's eyes widened as he tried to make a piercing move with Murakumogiri in the space, right behind Oars' stomach, but it was too late.
'Idiot! I could've still stop it yet you just had to die like that!' Whitebeard gritted his teeth in annoyance and anger. He understood why Little Oars Jr. did that. It was because he knew that he was still going to die either way, so why not at least do something as he died.
Memories of their time together surged forth and caused tears to appear in their eyes. Ace was about to shout something when the transparent paw finally made contact with Oars Jr..
*Ssss~*
As if being forcibly twisted, Oars Jr.'s stomach slowly twisted, causing him to spew more blood. Just when it finished twisting, the compressed air finally exploded as Oars forced himself to continue smiling.
*...BOOOOM!!!*
"NO!!!" Ace gritted his teeth in despair and anger, seeing Oars Jr.'s bloodied and twisted body. Other pirates were saddened at this but nevertheless continued, knowing that the large zombie died the way he wanted to.
Whitebeard shook his head and sighed. Seeing Little Oars Jr.'s body not falling but still standing, his eyes dulled slightly before regaining light and jumped off the paddle ship. His jump caused a tremble around him and made near Marines fall onto themselves.
Every steps he took, cracks would appear. Whitebeard was instinctively flaring his Conqueror's Haki, causing weak-willed Marines and several pirates to faint with froth foaming in their mouths.
Mihawk felt his pressure and smirked. The melted swords finally made a figure of a single sword. Though single, it radiated a pressure that only Legendary Swords could. He made a legendary sword by combining countless swords.
Boa Hancock felt slightly pressured by Whitebeard, but that was to be expected. She wasn't really all for conquering the world after all. She simply had the traits of a conqueror, that's it.
Doflamingo frowned. It looked like he needed to further train his Conqueror's Haki, after all. He did not have much to train it with, though. So, he could only take advantage of Whitebeard and use his Conqueror's Haki to 'strengthen' his own.
The Whitebeard Pirates on the paddle ship followed him and began to chase towards the Marines' Officers away.
"Eliminated Little Oars Jr. with the bounty of 550M." Bartholomew Kuma simply said before he took a step forward. He was about to bring forth his right paw when suddenly, Whitebeard disappeared.
*woosh*
The view tilted for Bartholomew Kuma, as if he was falling. Everyone else looked at this and saw one of his legs gone.
Behind Kuma appeared a large shadow radiating heavy pressure. He spoke.
"You ought to watch out for your back... you bear brat!"
Immediately after, Whitebeard swung his left fist to the paw man's side. As if one-dimensional, Kuma's body cracked and appeared to be separating when a screeching sound aroused Whitebeard's attention.
*SCREECH*
Mihawk's whole presence sharply changed and his hawk eyes appeared to be more sharper than ever with his ever growing smirk. His clothes fluttered and small cuts appeared randomly on them. He brought forth the recently-smelted sword and waved his hand towards the proclaimed Strongest Man in the World.
"Burning Sword, the Inferno Hell's Judgement!"
The smelt sword caught on fire with pitch black flames and slowly rose upwards before shooting towards Whitebeard, with a single purpose. Pierce through him, his body.
Whitebeard jumped backwards, letting Kuma go. But Bartholomew Kuma did not escape without injuries. His whole right side of body was shown and blood profusely bled out as a bit of lightning crackled.
The Strongest Man in the World brought Murakumogiri in its Second Release, and began to prepare to parry against the smelt sword. Even though the smelt sword was single and looked ordinary, its aura was anything but that. It was a bit on the level of Legendary Swords, if only new.
As the sword shot off in a very fast speed, Whitebeard simply moved his bisento and easily stopped it. But it did not stop and seemed to have a sentient of its own as it began to repel the bisento and kept trying to pierce through the man's body.
While he was parrying the sword off, Mihawk calmed himself down and carefully looked at the sword. He was pretty sure that even if all of the swords were melted and combined within the Marineford, it shouldn't be on par of Legendary Swords. This meant that he may have accidentally called upon a sword that held a Sword Core with the potential to evolve to its next level if smelt repeatedly.
He secretly pitied the man or woman who he took it from...
…
As the strong men fought on the scaffold, Luffy continued to run towards the scaffold. Though he suffered slightly at Impel Down, a bit of poison here and there, he was still up and running. One of the former prisoners ran behind him, following him.
This man was a fish-man and former Shichibukai, Jinbe. Behind the fish-man was a okama man that made people think twice at the real reason why Jinbe was running. This okama man, Ivankov, was tall and masculine with manly features but his personality was that of a queer. His twitchy hands with hormones-changing made people want to avoid him lest they be turned to their opposite gender.
"Luffy! You just focus on running, we'll keep their saucy han- those men off your s*xy behin- Damn it! -off your back!" The okama man slapped himself on the forehead while pausing midway in his chase. He then showed a dreaded facial look, causing several people around him to be unconsciously worried. "I-I th-think I'm falling in-love..."
"..." Those around face-planted on the ground.
"...Or not! Heehaw~!" Ivankov immediately resumed and laughed as he gave death winks to the opposing side.
Luffy who was far ahead, instinctively clenched his butt together. He looked confused at this but shrugged it away as he focused on saving his sworn brother.
