Chapter 14: True Powers?

A/N: Here's the next chapter. I hope this makes up for the previous one. I thought nobody, myself included, would want me to downplay his abilities just to make the fights more "even". Let's be honest here, the moment you find out your stronger than your enemy, there's no "being fair" by lowering your own strength to match theirs. There's not much action but this "fight" is exactly how I think would happen in this situation.

Third Person's PoV:

Usopp, Zoro, and Luffy waited patiently for the arrival of the people who wanted to harm the islanders. As soon as they got to the south entrance, Usopp set up some traps such as an oil slide, marbles, spiked balls, and even a barricade. The other two just stood there and watched in interest, at least one of them is..

They didn't really talk much but a conversation was started here and there...in favor of not ruining the serious atmosphere they had going, as serious as Luffy can get anyway.

As they waited, Usopp in anxiety, Luffy in excitement, and Zoro in a neutral expression, the crack of dawn could be finally seen.

The trio waited some more, in even more elevated emotions but the pirate ship never came. They all strained their senses to keep a look out for the rumored bad

guys but there was only the sound of crickets.

Then, Zoro picked up the sound of a particularly rowdy noise off in the distance. The other two noticed as well.. Usopp had a horrified expression. "Josh was right! They came from the North entrance!!"

The other two nodded at each other before trying to take off in opposite directions.

"Where are you going!?" The frantic sniper shouted, were these two playing around during such a sensitive time?

"To the North! The place that is coldest." Luffy said, Zoro looked at him like he was an idiot. "North is obviously this way, are you directionally challenged?" He pointed at a random direction which isn't even close.

Seeing the dead serious expressions on their faces, Usopp didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He bonked them both over the head and lead them by the ears to the correct direction. Surely just two people couldn't hold their own against around 50 grown men. The Josh and Nami pair might be dead or at the very least struggling. With that thought in mind, he manned up a bit more and ran even faster.

Usopp, along with Luffy and Zoro literally in hand, ran at his top speed for about 10 minutes before finally getting out of the forest and reaching the correct entrance.

What he saw shocked him and made him drop his jaw. Luffy and Zoro seemed to be a bit surprised too but that was it. They always knew that Josh was strong, just never got the chance to really show it.

On the open beach of the north side of Syrup village, lie roughly 50 men, all either groaning in pain on the ground or passed out completely. A bit away from them are a pair of a slightly dazed woman and a man, waving happily at the 3 newcomers.

10 minutes earlier,

Josh and Nami stood up, the latter with a bit of a tremble. Nami had gotten so absorbed by the conversation she was having with the interesting man. She momentarily forgot all about the pirates and her fear along with it.

Nami was a thief and navigator, a very good thief and navigator. When she rob pirates, the most action she would have to take are knocking out a few grunts who are caught off guard. At most she could hold her own against a few of them at once but she never took on a whole crew by herself.

Right in front of her eyes is a whole ship full of cold blooded pirates, the kind she hates the most. The young girl cursed her luck and prepared herself for battle, the both of them would need to hold off all of them until help arrives.

Nami had experienced the horror of these kinds of pirates so she would do her very best to not let the same thing happen to the islanders in the village.

"Oh... aren't you eager to fight." A teasing voice was heard beside her. This voice was much too relaxed for the determined girl's liking. "Can't you be more serious!? If I get killed because of you, I'll haunt you for every beli you ever make in your life!" Nami did not appreciate the man's tone in this life and death situation.

The blonde just sighed.. seems like Nami had forgotten all about his earlier promise to her or didn't believe it. The whole Grandline and devil fruits shenanigans are hard to believe as well.. she'll just have to find out with her own eyes then.

The blonde walked down to the beach where the pirates are currently getting off on, leaving a nervous Nami behind.

Once they all got off their docked ship, a grunt noticed a strange blonde man with an oversized coat fluttering behind him, making his way towards them. "Captain, there's a guy coming our way." He informed his current captain.

Said captain is a man with glasses shaped like hearts and lanky and kind of on the skinny side. He looks old enough to be someone's grandfather and has the strangest goatee.

"Kill whoever gets in our way." Jango commanded, he had to do everything exactly as planned or Kuro would have his head. He was heard by everyone in the vicinity, causing a few of the pirates to chuckle menacingly.

The man blocking their way did not look very strong. Sure, he's got some muscles to show but it was one against fifty! They had no doubts about their victory. All of them would later come to regret that decision.

As the antsy pirates were about to launch their attack, the man who had stayed quiet the entire time finally opened his mouth. "A bunch of weaklings think they can beat me with their superior numbers? Hahahaha... what a funny joke." Seeing the man laugh at them of all things, the Black Cat pirates were mad beyond belief.

Turning his head to Nami, the blonde shouted up at her, "Stay out of the fight, Nami! I'll show you what I can do." Nami didn't protest as she was a coward, not as much as Usopp but a coward nonetheless.

Their captain and swordsman are strong enough to take on the Buggy Pirates so she believed that he must be able to handle himself as well. The girl figured she could just pick off whoever manages to go through him.

Noticing Nami nod back at him, Josh smiled and finally faced the hoard of idiots he would have to take care of. One particularly brave grunt stepped forward, pistol in hand. He sported a devilish grin as he let a bullet loose, aiming right for his head.

Nami was observing her crewmate's every actions but after seeing a man pull out a gun but no reaction from Josh, she panicked. "NOOO!!" The beli loving girl shouted in worry, with hopes of warning the uncaring blonde.

However, her worries became a nightmare when the man pulled the trigger. She reacted too late as that single bullet went straight through Josh's head. Everything froze for Nami. Right in front of her eyes, someone she considered a friend was just shot dead. This brought back some past trauma about Bellemere as well.

Unknowingly, tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She couldn't even register what the pirates were saying at the moment.

"Hahhahaha! How pathetic! Talking tough but is actually a weakling. You got what you deserved!" The still nameless grunt laughed out loud, followed by the jeers and cheers of the rest of his mates. Nami collapsed, tears staining the dirty hard grounds.

"Good shot." An all too familiar voice spoke up. This froze everyone in place. "Too bad they can't do anything to me." His words were said with a deadly tone that sent a shiver down everyone's spine.

"H-how!? I... I-I sh-shot you!!" The previously brave man took a step back, shaking his head furiously in denial. Everyone who were watching this were left with their mouths wide open.

When Nami heard the voice and exclamation of disbelief, she looked back up to see a still standing and completely alive Joshua. She couldn't believe her eyes. Although the girl had seen Luffy deflect bullets, that was not on the same level as surviving a bullet through the head. The navigator blinked a few times to make sure it wasn't a hallucination and questioned herself about what she really saw.

Multiple gun shots rang out as the same man emptied the entirety of his bullets. Now they were all sure on what they saw. There was no mistake or trick. The bullets simply passed through his body and the holes made by the bullets closed up with an electric spark.

The grunt fearfully fell on his butt and let out a hysterical high pitched scream of terror. The others who were still in denial, took out their weapons and shot as many times as they could, but it was all the same.

After Jango finally managed to pick his jaws off the floor, he spoke up. "I-it must be a devil fruit! Th-there's no other way to explain it..!" The goateed man explained. Even after knowing what it was, that did nothing to change their current predicament.

"Charge! If bullets don't work, surely swords will! If we don't carry out captain Kuro's plans, he will kill us all anyway." The frantic pirate captain ordered. He wasn't lying, Kuro will really kill them if they were late. And they had been delayed long enough. Hearing that swords might work, every grunt took out some kind of blade or sharp weapon. With a war cry, they lunged themselves at Josh one after another.

Nami witnessed her friend completely safe after being shot at countless times. She did not know how to react. All she could do was helplessly watch as the pirates charge him once more.

The first one to reach Josh was a man wielding a common katana. As soon as he was within range, the man gave a downward swing. The lightning man didn't even try to block again, only watched as the blade slashed him in half but the one who let out a howl of pain wasn't him.

The man felt an intense pain coursing through his body, he couldn't even tell which part of his body was actually in pain. Everyone watched fearfully as he collapsed and looked up to find Joshua, still perfectly fine, he was even smiling pleasantly. However, that smile was the scariest thing they've ever seen in their whole lives as pirates.

The man was burnt black and blue, twitching sometimes and letting off dangerous looking black smoke from his body, especially his mouth. Everyone took a fearful step back again. Not even swords worked! They all cursed their shit luck and questioned how any of this was possible!

Jango, seeing his men not even willing to take a step forward was extremely pissed and scared. He hypnotized all of them to not fear anything and become stronger. The Black Cats charged once again, but this time without fear for any of their lives.

One after another, pirates dropped like flies. Every time someone came in contact with the blonde, they all get electrocuted, causing them to pass out. The last member finally fell, with only Jango still standing because he had hypnotized all of them into recklessly charging.

"M-monster!!" He screamed in fear with his butt kissing the solid ground. Inching away to get as far away from the monster as possible. "Wh-What k-kind of a m-monster are y-you!??", he brought himself to ask.

"Me? I ate the Rumble-Rumble fruit. I'm a lightning man!" Josh answered, a little bit of lightning sparking in his eyes. That was enough for Jango to shriek in terror.

Nami who had been watching the whole thing from the side with her mouth agape finally understood what was going on. She suddenly remembered Josh telling her about the Logia type devil fruits. She wanted to smack herself for not realizing for so long.

Jango, as a last ditch effort, called out the 'Nyaban Brothers'. 2 men who are named Sham and Buchi. They had stayed back on the ship to guard it. Both of them also happen to be the strongest members of the Black Cat Pirates, although that doesn't really mean much.

Jango called them out in hopes of them distracting the terrifying monster long enough for him to make a run for it. However, they were also quickly dealt with because Josh was getting bored. All he did was literally stand there without retaliating. If this did not convince Nami, then Josh thought that nothing in the world could.

Looking around the beach, one would find the entire place littered with burned, twitching, and smoking men who are all groaning in agony and passed out.

Josh walked over to Nami with a wide and smug smile, as if gloating to her. Nami was sure to get her revenge for not telling her he was a Logia and worrying her to tears like that. She also smiled back at him, except, her smile was nothing but pure evil. Josh just sweat dropped.

A few minutes later, Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp arrived and Nami explained what happened to them. She went over to raid the pirate ship for valuables while Usopp and Josh tied up all the pirates so they couldn't try anything when they woke up.

About another 10 minutes later, Klahadore, or rather Kuro arrived at the scene of all of his men beaten and tied up. Josh just let Luffy and Zoro handle him.

Kaya almost tumbled over when she came to the scene of the battle. She was expecting to find a whole crew of pirates and Kuro, ready to kill everyone in town. She was willing to trade for her wealth if it meant saving their lives but the sight she saw stunned her. Usopp escorted her back to her mansion after she profusely thanked the 4 man pirates and even more profusely apologized to Usopp.