71 The final act (2)
3rd Person POV
The situation now was different from before. With Rayleigh and Enel by his side Jackson would have some room to breath but winning would still be difficult.
Enel by himself, couldn't take any of the four on his own but he could at least one, from approaching him for a bit where as Rayleigh would probably draw against Kuzan.
But for some reason the marines didn't make a move, they just observed them.
"Rayleigh, do you think we can retreat?"
"I fear that won't be easy. Tsuru, Tokikake and Kuzan are hard to run away from given their expertise where as Gion is like a bloody hound once you turn your back on her."
"Captain, I too, think that it would be best to fight them here instead of taking them to the others who are still heavily injured."
'So we must fight in the end...'
"Do you Guy's need any help?"
!
"Shakky!"
"What are you doing here? What about the brats?" (Rayleigh)
"Tom said he will take care of them."
The arrival of Shakky put the marines off greatly. With this their most important advantage was not only gone, they were even put at an disadvantage.
Shakky might not be a top power house but she was a strong pirate in the new world, who had to be hunted by someone like Garp.
Similar to Enel, even if she couldn't defeat one of them in a 1 on 1 battle, she could keep them occupied long enough.
"This is bad."
Both Kuzan and Tsuru had this thought. Engaging with Jackson in a frontal battle, they would have little chances to get out alive, so they planned everything out to prevent such a situation and yet...
No longer waiting the battle resumed. Enel knew about his shortcomings, since Jackson took his time to teach him that he could still be hurt despite his logia devil fruit.
So instead of directly engaging he flew up, out of range of Tokikake, and began bombarding him with lightning bolts.
Each one was as thick as a 50 years old cherry blossom tree but they still shot down in the hundred, like water during a heavy rain.
Like Jackson told him at the beginning he cared little about collateral or the surroundings as he set a huge part of the Grooves ablaze under his onslaught.
'This logia is really like a cheat!'
Even Jackson didn't expect such a onslaught much less Tokikake who found himself to be the target of all that.
Pushing both, soru and his observation haki to it's fullest, he started dodging, and only occasionally would he shoot at Enel or do a rankyaku.
Enel dodged his attacks whenever he sensed them to be able to reach his height, but he knew that he couldn't keep this up for long.
Meanwhile Jackson in his speed form rushed at Kuzan. The admiral had little to no time to even notice Jackson, as the later broke the sound barrier, unleashing raging wind blasts with every step.
Forget dodging or retaliating, just barely covering himself in haki was hard enough in the short time frame he needed to reach Kuzan yet instead of slashing at him with his sword Jackson attacked him with his fist.
"Rokuogan!"
With his decreased strength in his speed form, breaking his defense would be unlikely, so he instead he covered his arm with advanced armament haki and shot it with the gathered physical strength through Kuzan's body.
"BLERGH!"
And just like Jackson did, when Tsuru and Gion hit him, the admiral coughed blood. If Jackson had performed this attack in his muscle form the damage he could cause would have been immense but Kuzan wouldn't let himself get him by that form.
Gion who tried to rush in, was almost beheaded by Rayleigh who held her back from approaching. No, she too had to fight for her life.
Tsuru had an easier time fighting Shakky, but it still wasn't enough for her to have leisure.
"Why are you doing this Rayleigh! If you continue the deal will be nil!"
She couldn't help but ask. If they hadn't involved themselves, things would have gone according as planned but now they were forced to use plan b.
"Sadly, after all I learned, this is not for me to tell you."
Rayleigh answered back while fighting Gion. Jackson meanwhile circled around Kuzan. The later had released multiple wide area ice attacks forcing the young pirate to retreat but because of his foresight, which he now could use more freely, he didn't get hurt.
The problem was how long this fight would last. Spamming the Rokuogan was a big NO, since this technique gathers his strength shoots it in a way that bypass an enemies defense.
Meaning that he will lose his strength rapidly with every use. To top it off, both the muscle form and speed form took a lot of stamina because they weren't perfected yet meaning they were inefficient.
Changing back in his normal form, Jackson chose to clash with Kuzan head on. The admiral constructed two compressed ice spears, around as long as he was tall, cladding them in haki.
Every clash created booming shockwaves that broke the ground and formed storms. Like it was the case with Kizaru, their physical stats were about the same, yet conqueror's haki and advanced armament and observation haki gave Jackson the edge.
To Kuzan's misery Jackson always retreated when he used a wide area move, like ice age or formed hundreds of those ice spears that shot at him, effectively dodging them all.
"Black Getsuga Tenshou!"
Yet when Jackson used a big move like that, he made sure to stick closely to Kuzan, thanks to his foresight, forcing the later to block his attack instead of dodging.
Once, twice, thrice, within half a day Kuzan was turned into a bloody mess, with multiple bone deep cuts across his body.
On the other hand, Jackson started to feel his head spinning. He fought without considering his injuries, the blood loss and his stamina it would cost him effectively forcing both parties into another standoff.
The others were in a slightly better condition. Rayleigh, had some injuries on his arms and one on his torso, but Gion's state wasn't much better off then Kuzan's.
Unfortunately, Enel was in a similar condition, with holes in his body instead of cuts. Tokikake noticed fast, that Enel's attacks and range was gradually decreasing so he turned the table were soon on him.
Shakky on the other hand was mercilessly beaten by Tsuru who, other than being sweating and gasping for breath, seemed fine.
!
"They finally arrived."
Out of nowhere Jackson and the other's felt multiple strong presences nearing. Jackson's and Rayleigh's face turned grim.
"Run! Get out of here!"
They both shouted at Enel and Shakky respectively but it was still to late. 5 new figures in white suits and masks appeared surrounding them from behind.
"CP 0. What are you doing here?"
"To think we were forced to this point."
The wounded admiral spoke with difficulty. The CP 0 agents were sent prior as a safety net, to tail and kill Jackson and his crew in case they somehow managed to run away but after seeing Kuzan's signal, the ice bird that turned into a snow, all five of them had to rush to aid as per their orders.
"Captain... this seems really bad."
"Indeed it does."
The situation took another turn for the worse and now their chances was even smaller then they were in the beginning.
'Fuck... I really don't want to die.'
Were Jackson's thought but he knew no way out of this situation.
"Old man. Grab Enel and Shakky and run."
"...Kid. You are underestimating me severely."
"Go grab your crew member yourself if you want to run."
"Captain, if you are going to fight, then I can't just run. One condition for your help on Birka was for me to follow you, wasn't it?"
No one backed out. This could be very well their place to die, yet no one even thought about leaving on his own.
"You don't need to think about running, since you are all going to die here anyways. Your monstrous strength at such a young age was deemed as a potential risk factor to the WG so you will have to stay here forev-"
A sudden black sword attack made the talking CP 0 agent shut up as it almost split him in two.
"Since when was it your turn to decide that?"
Jackson's voice was heard by everyone present. He was speaking neither loudly nor quietly but it gave everyone the chills. His tone started to get lower, to an unnatural point.
"You track me, prepare a trap, attack me with numbers, force my friends to walk the line between life and death and think I'll just let you kill me?"
As he spoke he changed back into his muscle form but for some reason his muscles kept squirming.
"I was given a second chance at live, where only I decide how to live and how to die..."
His body even started emitting steam and heat greatly shocking not only his enemies but even his friends.
"I told you from the start, either you die and I live or we die all together... You came here prepared for a battle in which we were supposed to get slaughtered..."
!
Dread! An unexplainable dread washed over them as Jackson started growing in front of their eyes. Their observation haki was going crazy ringing every alarm in their minds that existed.
"Well con-fucking-gratulations! You just got yourself a war instead!"
The changes in Jackson's body were similar to what Gon experienced against Pitou! Creating a form that combined an enhanced version of the speed and muscle form was impossible for Jackson.
He simply didn't have the body or energy reserves. Even with seimei kikan, he can't create something out of nothing... so instead he decided to take what he has and sacrifice it for something greater without regards for stability.
He was constructing himself a new body, with enhanced muscle density and and bone structure, but that was impossible since the needed energy and nutrients couldn't be stored in his current body.
'I'll just offer it up... Don't think, it's either do or die... I told them that!'
As Jackson grew, parts of his body like organs or smaller muscle groups were being broken down and decomposed to reuse them for increased muscle mass, physical energy or altered bone structure.
His hair dried up and fell of, even his skin was being decomposed. Whatever wasn't an absolute necessity for fighting or survival was gotten rid of.
"... We will retreat."
Rayleigh spoke to Shakky and Enel, the later wanting to protest, earning him a slap to the face.
"Shut up and take a good look at him. This is how far he is ready to go for you guys, so if you ever, at any point felt even the tiniest amount of respect for you captain, you will neither dishonor nor disrespect his possibly last decision."
Unwilling as he was about this decision being made in his stead, he still complied.
The resulting form didn't look like an adult form of Jackson, but like an abomination made out of flesh and black bones.
The bones themselves had to be strengthened by haki at all times, since he couldn't increase their density enough to withstand the new, gray muscle's intensity.
No one, neither the marines nor the CP 0 agents dared to move recklessly at this moment.
(Play 'You want a battle? Here's a war')
[Special achievement unlocked: By either boosting or training, surpass Gol D. Roger's 100% by a significantly huge margin with your own effort.]
[Reward: Choose a generated chea-]
As Jackson opened his eyes he saw the familiar light screen but he couldn't read it now. Forget 30 seconds, surviving even 20 seconds in this mess of a body would be a miracle. He had to move and he had to do it now!
"RETREAT!!!!!"
Tokikake's shout brought the marines and agents out of their stupor. His pupils were shaking and his body was drenched with cold sweat. Whatever he saw wasn't good for them.
*slash*
3 Heads suddenly flew up. A clean cut beheaded 3 out of 5 CP 0 Agents with Jackson appearing in front of their bodies.
*BOOOOM!*BOOOOM!*BOOOOM!*
Only after he beheaded them, did the explosion like sound from his movement reach their ears. The whole Groove split under his steps and an windstorm blasted them almost away.
The very same instant did the remaining two CP 0 agents turn and made a run for it but before they could even take one step their bodies split vertically into two halves, each one falling to one side.
Before the body halves touched the ground, the marines had grouped up together. Their bodies moved on their own as Kuzan created a heavy, thick ice wall in front of them, which got supported by all 4 of them.
Be it sword or hand they supported the ice wall, while covering it in haki to their best yet, it still broke like glass.
Jackson had hit the wall, sending everyone behind flying to the very end of the Groove. The impact broke hands and arms up to their elbows, even almost sending them into the water.
'Only one move left.'
Jackson took this opportunity to inspect his condition. This would be his last move, so with the will and mindset of a falling conqueror he poured all the haki he had left into his sword.
[ACE] started absorbing all the haki, even the conqueror's haki in itself creating something that Jackson thought would be impossible.
Back then when he created the Black Getsuga Tenshou he was trying to infuse conqueror's haki into his sword, in a similar concept as that of the advanced armament haki but failed in the end.
However now, the sword was absorbing his conqueror's haki by itself, allowing for the infusion without any problems.
The blade lost it's solid form and became something like a dark violet and red flame. It grew larger and larger and larger until it became a semi-solid energy blade as high as the Groove tree themselves, dark violet with black and red lightnings dancing around.
(looking a little bit like this)
When Tsuru saw what was happening all the color vanished from her face. She witnessed only one other person managing to infuse conqueror's haki into his weapon before.
The fusion of two wills, the wielders and the weapon, created an artificial consciousness that would descent in the form of an energy blade of pure destruction. The only other man, Tsuru ever saw do something like this, was Xebec D. Rocks.
"Jump!"
Without hesitation she jumped off from the Groove and into the water followed by the others. Once Jackson swung the blade, everything near it turned to ashes and cinders. Ground turned into magma and the night turned into day in a tens of kilometres long radius.
An explosion that shook the sky and the sea, creating tsunamis that even reached the navy HQ and other islands nearby.
Grooves 19 till 27 vanished completely without leaving a single trace of their existence behind, while the shockwaves and storms that were unleashed, demolished almost the whole Sabaody Archipelago, even breaking the huge trees.
[Secret quest: Make the Navy and World Government genuinely fear you. (complete: 2/2)]
[Synchronization with the following character's power reached 65%: Gol D. Roger. Installation begins upon the blessed person's order.]
***
In the main conference hall of the Navy's HQ. Up until now, a broadcast of the ongoing fight against the Jackson pirates was being displayed. Transponder snails were placed around the Grooves and on the marines, allowing the HQ as well as the WG to watch.
The people in here, who are allowed to watch this, are none others then the top figures of the Navy. No one spoke at this moment.
What they had seen just until the connection was lost after Jackson's last attack alarmed everyone to an extreme degree.
Garp with a stern look stepped out without saying anything when a raging discussion took place in the room.
Sengoku wanted to go after him but his duty prevented him from doing that. Search troops were sent out to look for Kuzan and the others but also to try and find Jackson's body or at least traces of his death.
One day later, the news of the death of Portgas D. Jackson spread around the world. The newspapers presented him as the responsible party for blowing up many Grooves on Sabaody Archipelago before the navy's heroes subdued him.
The location and situation of his crew members were unknown as of now but all had gained a new bounty after their fights with the warlords of the sea.
This was the last time in almost 6 years anyone had heard anything about the Jackson pirates.
(AN: Hey! You did gather the 1000 stones so here is one ultra long ass chapter to finish this. I kept the ending short on purpose so I could come back to this during next chapters or possible flashbacks. Also you fuckers no one died! @John_Tron_8430 saw through my bullshit but deleted his comment. You don't kill your nakama! BAAKAAA! People really went 'kill Bepo' or Penguin or Robin etc. Anyways this fight and those against the samurai's were what I had in mind, a long time ago, I guess around the time when Sabo ate Shiki's fruit. Maybe some of you won't like it, in that case I apologize but I feel refreshed after finally getting to this point! Hope you could enjoy it!)
