26. Lightning Release

Time passed.

"I'm hungry."

"Hot."

"This sun is killing me."

The three of them complained that they still couldn't see the island after sailing for such a long time. The starving Luffy saw a bird in the sky and wanted to knock it down. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the bird's leg, then his body propelled into the air. But…

"Help meee!" Luffy shrieked. Instead of him knocking the bird, he was the one who got caught.

"That idiot. Let's chase him." Zoro said as he took a pair of oars, then gave them to Izumi and asked him to paddle together.

"Hahaha, that idiot. Even if he catches it, how can we carry it with such a small boat?" Izumi laughed out loud. Then he performed a clone hand seal. After that, a shadow clone appeared from the smoke and the shadow clone paddled the boat in Izumi's place while Izumi relaxed on the boat. Zoro was stunned by what Izumi had done, he woke up out of a daze as soon as Izumi shouted at him to paddle.

"What was that? Is that Ninjutsu?"

Zoro had heard of ninjas. Ninjas are very good at hiding or camouflaging. He never thought that a ninja could stand on water, cloning, or instant movement.

"This guy is too mysterious."

— — — —

On a certain island, there was a ship docked at the pier. The ship was very large and had a skull flag with a red nose. If someone saw that flag, then obviously that person would shout "Pirate".

From the sea, a boat was getting closer to the island.

"Zoro, I think Luffy is in trouble." Izumi pointed at the huge ship.

"A pirate?"

"If he's captured, will you attack from the front to save him? Or from behind?" Izumi stood up and held his hips with his hands.

"Why do you think he's been caught by the pirates?" Zoro wondered why Izumi said so.

Then, Izumi raised his index finger while looking at Zoro.

"Don't you think Luffy is good at looking for trouble?"

"Indeed. In that case, I'll go straight ahead." Zoro nodded. He understood what Izumi meant. Even when Luffy saved him from the navy, Luffy first made a riot at the naval base.

"Then, I'll go from behind and steal their treasures." After Izumi said that, he left quickly, leaving Zoro behind.

Arriving at Buggy's pirate base, Izumi and a shadow clone walked quietly around the base while looking for where Buggy's treasures were stored. Both a shadow clone and Izumi split up because he thought it would be faster than searching for treasures together.

Not long after, his shadow clone found the treasure's hiding place. The shadow clone dispersed into smoke and memories appeared inside Izumi's head. Izumi immediately went to the place shown in the shadow clone's memories.

Various forms of gold and diamonds are piled in one place. Seeing so many treasures scattered in the hideout, Izumi became excited. If this was on earth, there was no way Izumi would be able to see a scene like this.

Without thinking, he grabbed a few large sacks nearby and stuffed all the treasures into them. After that Izumi put them in the storage space. Fortunately, one sack counted as one item when put into his storage space, so he still had a lot of free space. He also didn't forget to pick up the map of the Grand Line before he disappeared from that place.

Izumi quietly peeked at where Buggy was. According to the canon story, Luffy should have been caught by Buggy because of Nami, then thrown into an iron cage.

However, he did not see any iron cage there. He only saw Buggy with his crew.

"Looks like they ran away when I packed up the treasures I stole."

— — — —

Izumi finally found Luffy around the city center. He saw Luffy who was still locked in an iron cage, accompanied by a girl with short hair.

"Hmm, that girl should be Nami. She's quite cute in real life."

"Luffy, what the hell are you doing?" Izumi approached them.

Nami looked at him warily, while Luffy still had the energy to joke.

"I got caught, hahahaha."

"Do you know him?" Nami asked Luffy.

"Yup. He is our friend." Luffy nodded in affirmative.

"Did you get a new crew, Luffy?" Izumi asked while approaching them.

"Yup. She's our Navigator."

But, Nami denied it.

"I never agreed that I would join! After all, I hate pirates."

"Rejection denied!"

"I won't join!"

"Anyway, you must join!"

"No means no!"

Seeing their argument, Izumi intervened.

"Hey, stop! Luffy, do you plan to live in that cage?"

"Of course, not. I'm looking for a way to get out."

"Since you're rubber, why don't you try stretching yourself out?"

"That's right, why didn't I think about it?"

Izumi wondered why Luffy was so stupid. In fact, if he moved instinctively, he could be said to be quite smart, even though he sometimes did crazy things.

Listening to Izumi's suggestion, Luffy stretched his entire body trying to get out of the cage.

Nami was so stupefied and horrified when Luffy stretched himself using his devil fruit ability.

"W-what is that? How can his body…" Nami shuttered while looking at Luffy.

"You don't know?"

Nami immediately turned around as soon as Izumi asked her.

"What's wrong with him?" Nami pointed at Luffy.

"Why don't you just ask him? I'm sure he'll tell you since he's already chosen you as his navigator. Well, he even told everyone if he was asked though."

"Are you really a pirate?"

"I'm just someone who likes to venture all the way to another world."

"You're exaggerating."

"I'm not. Luffy himself has a dream to become the pirate king. While Zoro wants to be the strongest swordsman representing the death of his best friend."

Hearing what Izumi said. Nami didn't know what to say other than to think they were crazy and careless. But she also thought, having a dream and achieving it was the most beautiful thing in this life.

"I'm Izumi. How about you?"

"Nami."

"Why is a girl like you in a place that has been taken over by pirates?"

"Well, there's a reason for that."

"Because of these?"

Izumi immediately took out a sack of treasures he stole from Buggy's base. Nami's eyes shone the moment she saw the treasures.

It was at that moment, Luffy finally came out of the cage. He immediately asked.

"Woah, so many treasures. Where did you get those, Izumi?"

"I stole them from Buggy's base."

"What?" Nami was surprised.

"Hahahaha. As expected of a ninja. You are very reliable." Luffy patted Izumi's shoulder while laughing.

"Ninja?" As for Nami, this was her first time seeing a ninja.

"By the way, where is Zoro?" Izumi asked.

"In that house, resting."

"Let's call him and defeat that Buggy together!"

"Buggy?"

"The red nose."

"Oh. Alright."

At that moment, Nami wanted to stop him.

"Wait a—"

But, Izumi had already disappeared.

"See, he's amazing, right?" Luffy said to Nami.

"But, with just 3 people, you plan to defeat Buggy and his crew?"

"No, it's 4."

"Don't include me!"

— — —- —

*Slap*

A loud sound echoed in the room. And the man who was slapped immediately woke up with a scream.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING BASTARD!"

"That's what I want to ask. Why did you get defeated so easily?"

"Shut up. I'm just a little bit careless."

"Then, let's get out of here! We're gonna end them soon!" Izumi took Zoro's swords while holding him to teleport again to where Luffy was. They appeared not far from Luffy's location. But at that moment, there was a huge shadow that came approaching them.

"Ohoho, so they're the ones who pissed off Lord Buggy?"

Izumi saw a man who appeared to be cosplaying using animal ears riding a lion about 5 times the size of his world.

However, Izumi ignored him and said to Luffy.

"Luffy. Do you want to see my Ninjutsu?"

After that, Luffy formed a random hand seal while laughing.

"I want to see. Hurry up, nin, nin!"

Then, Izumi jumped and landed above the building. He formed hand seals.

"Tiger, Snake, Tiger, Bird, Tiger, Ram, Raiton: Thunderbolt!" Izumi extended both of his arms, releasing a high lightning discharge through both palms.

Lightning struck Buggy's base which was released from Izumi's palm. Then…

"Aaaaaaaaaaahh.."

Loud screams of people could be heard from afar. Even though Izumi attacked from a distance which made the lightning power decrease, still, a lightning strike could injure and even kill ordinary people.