Ch.43 Little Skirmish

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　'Whiiiiish.....!'

　Luffy arm suddenly stretched out quickly towards the sword intending to get it immediately. Seeing his opponent action, the 'marine' sidesteped letting Luffy's stretched arm passed him by.

　Luffy suddenly had bad premonition as he saw the 'marine' grabbed the swords handle and aiming it at his unguarded arm! With quick reflex, rather than pulling his hand back. Luffy grabed the walls corner in opposites side and pulling his body towards the 'marine'!

　Luffy stretch his other hand in attempt to hack his opponent neck in passing!

　"Gomu Gomu no Kama!!!" Luffy yelled.

　However,

　'BAAANG...!'

　'CRRUMMMBLLEEE...!'

　His opponent suddenly turned around and gave him a spinning upwards kick right on his chin! Luffy was taken off guard as his body flung upwards and breaking through the upper ceiling and making a hole on it!

　Everything happened in instant, as Luffy couldn't even perceived the kick towards him earlier!

　Seeing Luffy body disappeared behind the hole into the next floor, the 'marine' jumps intending to follow through the ceiling hole only to see Luffy's fist welcomed him!

　"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

　'SHWIIISH....'

　'BOOOOM!'

　Luffy's technique missed once again, he only hit the floor with it as his opponent ducked away from the trajectory.

　The 'marine' stood on the lower floor and smile full of interest. Yes, the 'marine' was of course Rei in disguise! After he witnessed the mess which Luffy had caused and meeting him after that on the same floor. Rei felt like to tease Luffy for a bit and having a little skirmish with his Captain.

　A moment later, Luffy finaly jumped down back to the initial floor. Seeing his opponent smile towards him, Luffy didn't feel resentment. He only had one thought within his mind. Excitement!

　Only the strong would find excitement against the powerful opponent. And Luffy displayed it clearly on his grinning face.

　'VANISH...'

　Without word, Rei used his Shunshin technique to get close towards Luffy left side in instant! Gathered his chakra onto his fist, Rei punched at Luffy left cheek!

　'Baaam!'

　Thanks to Luffy wild instinct, he managed to block Rei's punch by crossing his arms in haste, And yet,

　'CRAAASH...!'

　Rei's chakra coated fist proved to be too much for the current Luffy! He sends the later flew outside the building, breaking the windows in his way!

　Luffy adjusted his posture in midair and landed beside the destroyed Morgan statue. Rei's punch felt a little stinging on his arms contrary to Luffy usual feeling when his body got hit by a blunt weapon!

　Luffy never had any pain before whenever his rubber body got struck by any kind of blunt attack, however now was different!

　Before Luffy wondered why, he saw his opponent followed him down onto the field and stood opposite of him.

　Rei noticed that Luffy got slight bruise on his arms, he squinted his eyes wondering if the bruise came from his attack earlier. Just when he was still in thought.

　'Woooosh...!'

　Luffy suddenly dashed towards him, stretching his hand far backwards, Luffy took a position right in front of Rei!

　'Fast!' Was Rei's thought when he saw Luffy suddenly appeared in front of him.

　"Gomu Gomu no Bullet....!" Luffy snapped his stretched fist upfronts!

　'Swish!'

　'BAAAANG!'

　Again, Luffy could only hit an empty air as Rei sidesteped from his attack trajectory!

　However, Rei took a wrong turn as now his back was against the body of morgan statue making him cornered!

　And in an instant, Luffy took advantage of it, he swing both of fists several time and suddenly Rei saw something incredible! Luffy's hands seems multiplied in midair!

　Rei knew which technique Luffy would use this time. Left with no other choice in the short timeframe, Rei activated his sharingan!

　"GOMU GOMU NO GATLING.....!"

　'RATA-TATA-TATA-TATA....'

　'Swish, swish, bam, swish, bam, boom....'

　Even with his sharingan active, Rei couldn't evade all of Luffy's fist. So he needs to block and parry the ones he couldn't dodge!

　Luffy still barraging Rei with his technique, and Rei knew he couldn't stay in that situation any longer! So, after he found an opportunity, Rei weaved his hand so fast it blurred!

　"Kawarimi no Jutsu" Rei said within his mind.

　'Poooof'

　'BAM, BAM, BAM.....'

　Luffy fist struck the Morgan's stone statue side making it looks like a beehive!

　Just in instant, Luffy instinct kicked back in! However, it was too late as Rei had already behind him and swung Zoro's unsheated sword towards his neck!

　"UWEEEK...!" Luffy made funny sound as he flew away due to the impacts towards his neck.

　Without waiting Luffy to get ready, Rei put Zoro's sword on his belt and began to pay him back by using Shunshin combo! He coated his body with chakra and started to massacre Luffy right then and there.

　'Desh! Bam! Pow! Bam!'

　Punch, kick, knee, elbow strike and the last thing Luffy saw was a clear blue sky on the ground after he got an overhead throw by Rei!

　'BOOOM!'

　After he finished, Rei jumped several distance away from Luffy. His eyes were red due to sharingan.

　"Uwaaah, it stiiings!" Luffy got back on his feet as quick as he could. Then he saw his opponent on a distance away with red eyes.

　"Why your eyes red? And how can your attack feels hurt?" Asked Luffy as he dusted his pant and red vest.

　"You hurt?" Blurted Rei.

　"It doesn't hurt so much, but it still feels stinging to me! Its weird!"

　Rei tilted his head, just like Luffy said It was trully weird! Luffy was a rubber man, he could take any blunt attack with no problem supposedly!

　Just as Rei still within his thought, a moment later he finaly tasted how sharp Luffy intuitions trully were!

　"Rei?" Asked Luffy seemingly unsure if the 'marine' in front of him was trully who he had thinking off. However, his instinct told him so and he chose to believed it!

　"Huh?" Rei was trully surprised as his eyes suddenly turned silver from before he had disguised himself as 'marine'.

　"Hahahaha! Its trully you! Your eyes are silver now!" Luffy was jubilant and felt quite relieved.

　Rei was trully dumbfounded for a moment there! Does his Henge didn't work? Quickly he checked on the still active Henge technique only to find no problem other than his eyes which had turned back to silver now.

　"Why did you attack me?" Luffy felt confused about the reason his crew would attack him.

　Rei chuckled as he undoing his Henge,

　'Pooof!'

　Right in front of Luffy's eyes, the young 'marine' suddenly turns into a silver eyed tall man wearing black yukata, long white ponytail and horns on his forehead.

　"It just a try out Luffy, a little skirmish. I'm so sorry about that...." Rei bowed slightly as he apologize towards his Captain.

　When Rei raised his head, he only witnessed how Luffy's eyes were twinkling with many stars in it!

　"WOAAAAH! YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR APPEARANCE???" Luffy yelled in excitement, he dashed towards Rei like he had just found a new toy!

　Like a monkey, Luffy jumped up and down seeing Rei body from a close distance, scrutinized every details of it.

　"How did you know it was me?" Rei smiled helplessly as Luffy still inspecting him up and down.

　Luffy paused slightly as he met Rei's eyes, "Intuitions? Hey! Hey! Try change your appearance once more?"

　Seeing Luffy's clear eyes, Rei could only shook his head remembering from the series Luffy had that 'animal' instinct on him.

　"You are not angry right?"

　"Nah. I don't feel any bad intention from you when we fight, i'm not angry." Luffy answered.

　Luffy finaly stoped and said, "...And It was fun! Lets do it again?" Luffy distancing himself once more intending to continue the battle.

　However Rei shook his head and patted Zoro's sword on his waist, "We should save Zoro now, Morgan going to execute him soon."

　'Pak!'

　Luffy bumped his fist onto his palm remembering about Zoro, "You're right! Hey, lets go!"

　The duo dashed towards the execution ground which Zoro was tied over there in incredible speed.

　On the way, Luffy couldn't help but asked Rei once more, "Rei, can you change to another person?"

　"Mostly...." Rei nodded.

　"So cool! Is that your Devil fruit ability?"

　'Devil fruit?' Rei thought for a moment recalling about a certain Okama with similiar Devil fruit power as his Henge in the series, "Its not, I don't eat any devil fruit."

　"Realy? By the way, How did your punch feels hurt to me?"

　Rei paused slightly as he saw the scenery around them passing in blur.

　"I'm not sure..." Answered Rei.

　"Hey! Is that secret? Come on, i wanna know why it feels stings!"

　Rei was also didn't quite sure about why Luffy felt hurt after receiving his attack. Rei thought wasn't too outrageous thinking he might had use a Haki from the series. He just feels that wasn't it.

　The only conclusions he got was because of nature chakra! After all, whenever he attacked Luffy earlier, he would always coated his body with nature chakra and somehow, one reason or another. It has an effect albeit slightly towards Luffy which was a Rubber devil fruit user.

　Glancing towards Luffy who still keeping up with his pace besides him. Rei decided to find out more about this in future.

　"Lets talk later Luffy...." Rei answered as he increased his speed leaving Luffy on his trail.

　Luffy chuckled as he too tried to catch up with Rei's speed.

〜〜〜〜〜

　On Zoro side, Koby was still tried his hardest to unbind Zoro's hand from the cross.

　"I thought you are scared of me..." Zoro muttered towards the chubby young man at his back.

　Koby paused slightly, he looked at the residual of riceball on the ground. Earlier, after Luffy banters with Zoro he saw Rikka sneaking inside the base with homemade riceball intending to feed Zoro something to eat.

　Rikka was a little girl who gave him scratches on his face earlier this morning at the town after Koby badmouthed Zoro reputation.

　When Rikka tried to persuade Zoro to eat the riceball. Unfortunately for her, Helmeppo who just came from his father office catched Rikka red-handed!

　Koby held Luffy who was fuming besides him after they witnessed the despicable Helmeppo stomped Rikka's riceball on the ground! Luffy who couldn't held on anymore jumped down and gave Helmeppo another beating.

　Helmeppo ran away along with his aides leaving Zoro, Luffy and the teary eyed Rikka.

　After Rikka left and Luffy made a one sided deal with Zoro telling the later must join his crew if Luffy were to find his swords back. Koby finaly realized that rumors about Zoro were untrue, after the later asked Koby to be fed by the dirt stained gross riceball on the ground, telling him it was such a shame if it wasn't eaten.

　And so Koby decided to help Zoro untie his bound.

　Back to the scene, Koby didn't answers Zoro immediately. He tried his hardest to release the binding which he found was too tight!

　"I thought you are a bad person before, but seeing how you act. You're actualy different from the rumors." Koby spoke with slight embarrassment.

　"Stop, Run!" Zoro suddenly ordered Koby.

　"Huh?"

　"I said RUN!"

　Zoro watched as the iron door towards the filed was opened with lots of armed marine with Morgan on the lead coming over.

　Koby gulped with difficulty as his back drenched with sweat seeing the marines coming over! He then tried his best to release Zoro's hand as fast as he could, and yet it was all futile!

　"What to do! What to do!" Koby panicked.

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