Chapter 29: Wapol's Assault

Chapter 29:

Wapol's Assault

As it turned out, convincing Luffy to let Chopper to join the Straw Hat Pirates was completely unnecessary. The rubber-man had taken to following the human-reindeer around to convince him into joining them on their journey.

Although calling him "Monster" probably wasn't the best way to go about it.

"Get back here, Monster!" Luffy yelled, chasing Chopper around the castle. "I want to be your friend!"

"Get away from me, you psycho!"

"Is a little peace and quiet after almost dying too much to ask?" Grace questioned, trying to sleep. Carue quacked in agreement.

"You get used to never having it," Gin sighed from the other bed.

"Oh good," Sanji said, walking in with two trays and a bowl. "You're all awake. One nutritious breakfast for Grace-chan, a bowl for Vivi-chwan's beloved friend, and leftovers for the shithead."

"Hey!" Gin protested.

"I don't remember telling you that you could use my kitchen," Kureha scolded.

"You're a doctor," Sanji answered, "not a cook."

"Was that an insult?"

"No, it was a fact. Leave the cooking to me while we're here."

"Doctorine! Doctorine!" Chopper called. "We have a problem! I can smell him! Wapol's back!"

"Is he now?" Kureha questioned. "Let's go meet him, then." Kureha, Chopper in his Walk Point, Luffy, Sanji, and Coby exited the building. On the edge of the plateau, the previous king and his two advisors stood.

"Ah," they heard Wapol sigh. "Drum Castle. It hasn't changed."

"Uh... Your Majesty?" Chess asked. "What is that flag flying?" The archer pointed to a pirate flag with cherry blossoms tied to the top of one of the towers.

"I don't know," Wapol shrugged. "Shoot it down."

"No!" Chopper yelled. Luffy rushed forward, his fist cocked back.

"King Wapol!" Kuromarimo called out. "It's that Straw Hat!" His warning came too late, however. The pirate's fist connected with the king and threw him back. Wapol was thrown into Robson, transferring his momentum to the snow hippo. The animal was sent flying.

"You will not touch that flag," Luffy ordered hopping back. "I don't know whose it is, but a pirate's flag is a promise to risk his life for his freedom."

"You moron!" Wapol laughed. "Flags mean nothing!"

"I'll make you regret those words!"

"Captain Luffy," Coby said. "There are four of us and only three of them. We have the advantage."

"Meat and I will take Waffle."

"My name is Chopper!"

"Chopper and I will take Waffle," Luffy amended. "Sanji, take the clown guy. Coby, the other one's yours." He shot forward, Chopper not that far behind in his Walk Point. Chess took aim at them, but his arrows were knocked out of the air from a couple kicks courtesy of Sanji. Coby charged the man with the afro.

Coby vs. Kuromarimo

"This is my opponent?" Kuromarimo asked himself. "They send a little kid after me? I'm insulted. Kuromarimo Fluff!" He punched toward the pink-haired boy running toward him, but Coby sidestepped each of the balls of hair that came for him.

"Do not underestimate me," he warned, shifting into his Hybrid Mode. The king's advisor, shocked by the sudden change, only barely avoided the sword coming for him at the last second. The weapon missed his skin, but the left half of his hairstyle fell to the snow.

"You little shit!"

"Be careful with the insults. The last person to call me that fell into the ocean."

"Die!" The man attacked with a flurry of hair-covered punches that Coby blocked with his Sabaku no Kiba blades. He twisted around a right hook, hitting Kuromarimo with his tail. The man was sent skidding backward, holding his stomach. Coby took his chance.

"Five Point Style: Meteor Swords!" Coby launched himself at his opponent, twisting himself through the air with his swords and horns pointed the same direction. Kuromarimo leapt back, but he still caught the tail end of the attack. One of Coby's horns stabbed into his left arm, rendering it useless without large amounts of pain.

In response, the man punched Coby with his good arm, leaving giant hair balls. The boy pulled away, the hair obscuring his vision. Kuromarimo continued to punch the dinosauric human as Coby pulled at the hair.

"Ha. They thought a kid could beat me just because he had a Devil Fruit? What a joke! I'll kill you first, then I'll move on to your sick friends inside."

"You won't touch them!" Coby roared, using his swords to cut the hair away. He suddenly became very stoic. "Captain Luffy has a policy on killing, you know."

"What does that matter?"

"Killing is only allowed if someone specifically threatens our friends. I don't like it, but I won't hold back just so you live. Cretaceous Charge!" Coby sheathed his blades and crouched. He shot forward, changing into his Dino Mode. Kuromarimo tried to deter him, but the ancient beast batted the hair attacks away with his horns since their velocity overpowered the static electricity that Kuromarimo used to get them to stick. The closer Coby got, the more fear started to swell inside of the black-haired man.

"King Wapol!" Kuromarimo cried. "Help m-!" He never finished his plea. Coby shrunk into his Hybrid Mode just before impact. All three of his horns stabbed into Kuromarimo's chest. The man coughed blood, the red liquid splashing on the teen's face.

"Never threaten my friends," Coby growled out. He threw the man away. Kuromarimo landed on his feet near the cliff, but his footing was unstable and his breathing was labored. Blood oozed from his wounds and stained the fresh snow, at least one, if not both, of his lungs punctured. The snow shifted below him. Before the man could yell out, the powder had gone over the edge of the cliff, taking him with it. He screamed.

Coby watched as the man fell into the snowstorm raging around the mountain. The man's cries echoed in his mind, but Coby felt no remorse. The man had been a terrible person and, sometimes, only those who lived outside the law were the ones who could do the most good.

The boy's hands were stained red, but for his friends and what he believed.

*Announcer voice* FATALITY!

Coby vs. Kuromarimo

Winner: Coby

"Chopper and I will take Waffle," Luffy amended. "Sanji, take the clown guy. Coby, the other one's yours." He shot forward, Chopper not that far behind in his Walk Point. Chess took aim at them, but his arrows were knocked out of the air from a couple kicks courtesy of Sanji.

"Wh-what?" Chess questioned.

"I will be your opponent while my captain deals with your shitty king."

Sanji vs. Chess

"Shut your mouth, peasant! Our king is greater than your sorry captain!"

"Veau Shot!" Sanji flashed forward, kicking Chess in the gut. Quickly, he backhandspringed away as the king's second advisor swiped at him with an arrow. Said arrow was notched, lit on fire through some unknown means, and fired a couple seconds later. Several more burning arrows followed the first. Sanji weaved his way through the projectiles, avoiding any major damage but receiving some minor cuts and burns. Chess continued to shoot fire arrow after fire arrow.

"Dammit!" Sanji yelled. "Who many damn arrows do you have?!"

"Like I'd tell you," the archer responded. Sanji, having had enough, rushed forward for another attack.

"Slice Shoot!" He declared, his leg hooking the bow and tearing it from Chess' hands. The chef spun around and roundhouse kicked the bow over the side of the cliff and out of their fight.

"You bastard," Chess growled. "Fine! Let's see how you handle my Chess Hammers!" From within his outrageous outfit, the man pulled two large wooden hammers and raised them over his head. Sanji was forced to leap away as the king's advisor brought them down, leaving a crater in the snow.

"Looks like I'll have to take this a little more seriously," the teen muttered, hopping away again.

"Hold still and get squished already!" Chess was swinging his hammers every which way in an attempt to crush the pirate, but Sanji was just too quick for the jester. Finally, Chess overextended on a vertical swing, stumbling forward. Sanji took his chance.

"Three-Point Carve!" The blond's right leg came out, snapping down in an ax kick on Chess' left weapon, shattering the handle. Before the man could react, Sanji had moved on, his other leg breaking through the second hammer's handle. To finish, the chef spun around, planting the back of his heel into his opponent's face. Chess staggered back with blood flowing from a broken nose.

"Damn you!" he sputtered, throwing the useless sticks away. "Damn you to Hell." Sanji said nothing. Instead, he brought a cigarette to his lips and lit it. Chess, enraged by his foe's blatant disregard of his power, pulled out his next set of weapons. "Chess Axes!" The weapons in question were painted red with a head-sized hole in the body of the blade.

"These are my strongest weapons!" Chess gloated. "No one that I have ever met in life-or-death battle has lived to talk about it! Do you know what that means?" Little did the man know that Sanji had not stood by listening to his monologue. The only warning Chess had of the beginning of the end was Sanji's cry of

"Third-Rate Mincemeat! Flank!" The chef's leg slammed into the soldier's side, winding him. The jester swiped at him with his left ax, but the blond dodged to the right and retaliated. "Arm!" Chess dropped the ax. "Shoulder!" Sanji's leg came down on the man's right shoulder, dislocating it and rendering his other arm useless. "Leg!" Chess went down, his left leg pulled from under him. "Rib!" The man coughed red, a couple of his ribs fractured. "Chin!" He was thrown away. Sanji ran to catch up. "Cheek!" Chess was blasted sideways. Sanji jumped up with all of his leg strength. "And finally-

"Crush!" The teen came down with a spinning, double ax kick to his adversary's lower back. The sound of bones breaking resonated through the area as Chess passed out from the pain. Sanji stood over him, calmly smoking.

*Announcer voice* K.O.!

Sanji vs. Chess

Winner: Sanji

"Chopper and I will take Waffle," Luffy amended. "Sanji, take the clown guy. Coby, the other one's yours." He shot forward, Chopper not that far behind in his Walk Point.

"Come on!" Wapol yelled at them. "I'll take you both on!"

"Good!" Luffy yelled back, "cause that's what you're getting!"

Luffy and Chopper vs. Wapol

"Gum-Gum Pistol!" The rubber-man's arm shot forward, but Wapol was ready this time and batted it to the right. Chopper ground to a halt.

"Wh-what are you?" he asked, staring wide-eyed at the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates.

"Me?" Luffy responded. "I'm a monster!"

"It doesn't matter what you are!" Wapol shouted. "You're going to be my next meal soon!" The previous king ran forward as fast as his large body would allow (which was surprisingly fast), his mouth stretching to an impossible size. Luffy dove out of the way. Wapol's gigantic mouth crashed down right where the rubber-man had been standing only a couple seconds before, taking a huge amount of snow into his gaping maw.

Chopper ran in, switching to Heavy Point for the force it provided. Wapol's head, which had grown to accommodate his oversized mouth, made an excellent target. The reindeer punched the man as hard as he could, causing the tyrant to spin once and collapse.

"That," Chopper muttered, "was very disappointing." He turned to the black-haired teen. "Now what is up with your body? No normal person could stretch like that!"

"I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit when I was a kid," Luffy explained with smile. "I'm made of rubber." To drive home the meanings of that statement, Luffy grabbed the inside of his cheek and pulled, stretching it out.

"Huh," Chopper shrugged. Devil Fruits really did a lot of things.

"I've got you now, Straw Hat!" The announcement was the only warning Luffy had before the light vanished from his vision. He could barely hear Chopper calling his epithet, but he was more preoccupied with the large, blunt things trying to squish him. Plus it was all slimy and not at all pleasant. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Luffy could recall this happening once before.

"I'm not going to be some snack for you!" Luffy yelled out, bracing himself and slowly forcing Wapol's mouth open from the inside. Light petered in as the king's lips were forced to part. Luffy quickly jumped out before the obese man could overpower him with his immense jaw strength.

"This guy's tough," Luffy scowled.

"Straw Hat," Chopper said. "How much damage can you do in three minutes?"

"A lot. Why?"

"That's our time limit." The animal doctor brought out a small, yellow pill that he placed in his mouth. "Rumble." He chomped down.

"It doesn't matter what you eat!" Wapol declared. "I'll just eat you before you can do anything!"

"The Rumble Ball," Chopper told Luffy, "is a drug that increases my Devil Fruit powers for three minutes, giving me seven different transformations. The clock is ticking."

"Then let's go! Gum-Gum Whip!" Luffy threw his left leg out, the stretched appendage coming around toward their opponent. Wapol was forced to jump up to avoid the attack, a move that chopper took advantage of. He'd begun running in his Walk Point as Luffy's leg headed toward the man. When Wapol was forced to jump, the reindeer shifted into his Jump Point, calling out the name of the form as he did so. He came to eye-level with the tyrant.

"Arm Point!" Chopper yelled, changing form again. His arms became ridiculously over-muscled and he readied them for an attack. "Carving Hoof Diamond!" Chopper's hooves met Wapol's crossed arms, leaving a diamond shape and throwing the man away.

Luffy attacked next. He threw his right foot into the air before bringing it down toward the man with a cry of "Gum-Gum Battle Ax!" Unfortunately, Wapol had fought his own share of fights and was no amateur. He caught the pirate's foot in his mouth (as nasty as that sounds) and spun him around. The man released Luffy, sending him flying toward Chopper.

"Guard Point!" Chopper called as the Straw Hat captain neared. His form shifted, fur growing until the deer seemed to only be a large, brown, furry ball. The hair caught Luffy, padding the collision.

"Thanks," Luffy told him, sliding to the ground. "What now?"

"Throw me," Chopper ordered, shedding his furry form. "Throw me as hard as you can."

"Sure." He picked up the small doctor. "Gum-Gum Cannon!" Much like performing a Gum-Gum Bazooka, Luffy thrust his hands forward, shooting Chopper forward faster than his own legs ever could.

"Horn Point!" Chopper's shape changed again, his antlers growing as he moved through the air toward Wapol. The king only laughed as the reindeer headed his way.

"I always did enjoy fast food!" Wapol laughed. He opened his mouth, ready to catch the doctor inside and swallow him. But just as Chopper neared his mouth...

"Heavy Point!" Chopper shifted into his largest form, his hands and feet catching and holding onto the king's teeth. The horns had been a feign, the king realized. Wapol tried to close his mouth, but the Devil-Fruit-using reindeer held firm. "Straw Hat! Now!" Luffy dashed toward the two, pushing his arms backwards for an attack.

Neither Luffy or Chopper were ready when Wapol's tongue turned into a cannon.

"Tongue Cannon!" the tyrant called. The aptly-named attack worked, the cannonball that shot out slamming into the reindeer's solar plexus and launching him away. The king then swung at the stunned pirate, decking him with a right hook.

"I-I don't understand," Chopper stuttered from where he'd landed.

"You fools! My Chomp-Chomp powers go further than you think! Anything I eat becomes part of my body!"

"This just got a lot harder," Chopper muttered, shrinking to his default form, Brain Point. "And we have less than a minute left. Straw Hat, can you hold him off for 30 seconds?"

"Sure thing, Chopper." He ran forward. In response, Wapol tried to take potshots at him using his Tongue Cannon. Luffy avoided the first few before deflecting one that would have hit Chopper with a Gum-Gum Balloon.

"Scope," Chopper declared, placing his hooves together. He began to analyze their opponent, looking for his weakness.

"Gum-Gum Barrage!" Luffy yelled, rushing toward Wapol. "Whip!" Wapol jumped. "Pistol!" The king was able to divert the attack to the left. "Battle Ax!" Wapol hopped to his left, leaving Luffy's foot the implant itself in the ground. The pirate used this leverage to pull himself forward with his right arm outstretched. "Sickle!" Wapol chomped down on the limb, but Luffy's rubber body prevented it from doing any damage. Straw Hat brought his other arm up the bring it down on the king's head, but Wapol used the bricks from the house he'd eaten in Big Horn to turn his skull into bricks. Still, the attack hurt.

"Is it the body?" Chopper asked himself as Luffy attacked. "No, that's not it. The legs? No. Arms? That's not it either. Wait... That's it! Straw Hat! Force his mouth open and hold him still!"

"Okay!" Luffy chose not to question the command. His right arm was still stuck in his opponent's mouth, but that only meant he had more leverage. The teen twisted himself around the man and pried his mouth open with his free hand. Wapol was stuck and Chopper was near the end of his three minutes.

5...

He rushed in. Wapol tried to shoot him with a cannonball, but he was out of ammo.

4...

"Arm Point!"

3...

The reindeer pulled his oversized arms back for maximum impact. Wapol tried to wiggle away to no avail.

2...

"Carving Hoof Cross!"

1...

Chopper's hooves slammed into Wapol's uvula. He gagged, the force of the attack hitting his weakest point without hindrance. The hit did not knock him out, but it came damn-near close.

"Let me handle this, Chopper," Luffy insisted as the Zoan Type user shrunk back into his preferred form. "I'll send him so far; he'll never see this island again."

"Okay." The reindeer doctor backed away slowly as Luffy detached himself from Wapol. The king staggered, barely conscience.

"GUM-GUM... BAZOOKA!" Luffy's arms snapped forward, breaking the sound barrier near the end. They hit Wapol with enough force to topple two buildings, sending the man into the sky. He vanished into the distance.

"He's..." Chopper began. "He's gone. Th-thank you, Straw Hat."

"It was nothing," Luffy responded. "After all, that's what friends are for."

*Announcer voice* RING OUT!

Luffy and Chopper vs. Wapol

Winners: Luffy and Chopper

End of Chapter 29

Let's be honest for a moment. When it comes to Wapol and his men, they were weaker than most, if not all, of the East Blue villains. The only reason they stood any chance was because of Wapol's powers. Plus Canon Sanji beat Chessmarimo rather easily, so keeping them separate made them that much weaker. I still hope they were good fight scenes.

I'll also be keeping track of how many official/confirmed kills each member has throughout the course of the story, meaning characters that we got to know, not thugs, grunts, or ordinary solders. That Whisky Peak fiasco? Nothing confirmed (Gin did kill people, though. Zoro too, probably). The count won't be that high, but still.

Luffy's kills: 1

Coby's kills: 1

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods