304 Chapter 304

304

"Wh-What was that…?" Usopp asked, gulping. Like others, he was sweating profusely, not from fear. But from the heat.

"I-I don't know…" Coby said, fanning himself with his arm, "But, that power… that's…"

Masked Deuce grinned, "That's Ace. The bastard just got stronger…"

No one spoke for a while as from the distance, the blue light fired off attacks against a shadowy monstrosity, before finally ending it. Finally, the blue light died down and everyone on the two ships became quiet. Even Cricket didn't know what to say.

The diving pirate just sighed, "I'll just have to cut my losses. At least the fight's over now."

Gin just nodded, not saying anything. The sky started to clear out. And both the Going Merry and Cricket's ship started heading towards Jaya.

Cricket mainly wanted to take another route, and not journey along the same lane as a Warlord. But Sparky insisted on taking the same route, saying that Luffy wouldn't mind paying him back for his ship. Especially since he had a part in saving Gin. Even Nami didn't argue. They were all worried about Gin.

And the tonfa user shed some manly tears when he heard and saw how worried his crewmates were. Though he tried to play it off, before Johnny, Yosaku, and Barto started making fun of him.

And so he had to shut them up using his fists.

Seeing their antics, the others laughed in the Going Merry. But only one remained silent. That was Law. The pirate was still wary of the rest of the Straw Hat crew and after losing most of his crew, the man was paranoid of his own shadow.

Law's three remaining crewmates were inside the medical room and Law sat outside it. The others were a bit cautious but with Masked Deuce, Sparky, and Sanji still being mostly fresh, they weren't worried. Especially after Law lent a hand when some of the Straw Hats returned from the fight injured.

In the medical bay, there were also Zoro and Kuina. Law had helped Chopper in treating them as thanks for doing the same for his crewmates. With Law's help their recovery was sped up by quite a lot.

Zoro was even able to regain consciousness for a while, checking up the situation on the ship before going to sleep again. He needed a lot of rest. But Kuina was still in a coma.

While this was happening, Cricket was only then starting to realize what he did. In the heat of the moment, he had said some very bold stuff. But he was dealing with a Warlord's crew here.

As they got near the island, they were beginning to see the devastation that the fight brought upon the island. Trees, rocks, and anything that were near the fight was demolished. Large chunks of some places were missing with the ground littered with deep pits, burned marks and pure devastation.

Cricket's crew gulped, seeing the utter horrifying sight of what had occurred. They couldn't even recognize the place.

Suddenly, they could see someone in the air. Sabo came running toward through the air, holding Luffy over his shoulder. Luffy looked battered and broken. Sabo landed on the Going Merry, and as the ship was smaller than Cricket's ship, they could see what was happening from there.

"Heh, heh, hey guys, what's up?" Luffy said smiling warily, his right hand was all shriveled up and black, while his body was littered with wounds. Sabo was in better condition than Luffy, but even he had multiple wounds on his body, some of them being serious.

"Luffy?!" Nami was the first one to run up to him, as Sabo put Luffy on a chair. She looked horrified seeing him in such a bad state. She didn't know what to do "How…?"

But she was cut off when Luffy grabbed her arm and pulled her in for a kiss on the lips. It was quick kiss, but it was enough. "Ugh… I almost feel better." Luffy said flexing his left bicep, looking at his stunned wife, "See Cat, a good kiss and I'm already fine."

Nami blinked before her face turned red, smacking Luffy on the head, "Stop it. You perv!" she said holding her hands over her red embarrassed face.

Luffy groaned, while Nami panicked when she remembered that Luffy was actually injured.

Seeing their antics several of his crewmates sweat dropped while Robin just giggled under her mask. She was still wearing her traditional clothes and mask to hide her identity, and most likely she would have to wear those kinds of clothes for the foreseeable future if she wanted to hide her identity. She didn't mind though, heck, she enjoyed it.

Starting to draw up her own oni-mask collection. All of them were mean and scary looking, and Robin used them with grace even getting a kick out of scaring the crewmembers from time to time.

An odd hobby, but not the oddest one in the crew.

Chopper came in not long after, with his equipment treating Luffy first then going towards Sabo next. Ace was still injured, but he wanted to bury Teach's body first, and so Masked Deuce had left to help him.

While this was happening, the Going Merry and Cricket's ship had docked. And Luffy was starting to prepare for the next things. Mainly collecting the devil fruits that should be scattered around the island.

As most of his crewmates didn't join the battle they were eager to put themselves to use and look up any and all odd-shaped fruits.

While that was happening, Luffy looked at Law, who was still sitting outside the medical room and not making eye contact.

He sighed, giving the boy one last sympathetic look before looking towards Cricket who was having his banter with Anchor. 'Let's start with him first.'