Chapter 343: Dead or alive?

Dialogue "sample"

Thoughts 'sample'

Author notes -sample-

Disclaimer: One Piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.

Chapter 343: Dead or alive?

"One down! Hahaha!" Kaidou smashed Luffy's body with the back of his hand and sent him flying.

"I got this!" Sanji was already running in that direction and managed to catch him.

Vivi, Nami, Usopp, and some others also approached.

"This can't be happening…" Sanji said with a trembling voice.

When they got to his side, they heard him say, "He has no pulse…"

"Let me see." Nami put two fingers on his neck… nothing.

"Luffy…" Usopp turned to Vivi. "You can feel his aura, right? He is still alive, Vivi?"

Sanji and Nami also turned to her.

Vivi just stared at her Captain with a shocked expression. "I can't feel anything… he is dead."

"No! That can't be." Ace approached as best he could in his state.

Kaidou didn't move from his spot. He seemed to be enjoying the moment. "That's what happens to those who oppose me!"

"Luffy!" Ace tried to shake him. "Why?..."

"Is this really happening? What are we going to do now?" Usopp asked in shock.

"Sanji… can you still run?" Vivi whispered to him.

"Can you fight?" he replied with a question.

"I may be able to give you five seconds… at most," Vivi said. She had yet to recover an ounce of her power.

"What are you talking about?!" Nami yelled. "I already told you, I'm not leaving!"

Kaidou approached slowly while he laughed. He felt relaxed now that Luffy was dead, Ace was about to collapse, and Vivi was completely spent. He had nothing else to worry about, so he was going to enjoy this now.

Ace kept staring at his brother without moving, and Vivi wondered what was going through his head right now.

"Namuji Hyoga! (Ice Fang)" A blast of cold covered Kaidou completely and started to freeze him.

"What are you doing here?!" The Emperor roared.

Someone landed in front of Ace and stood there in a protective manner. "I won't let you hurt Ace or his friends!"

"Yamato…" Ace said weakly.

She turned around to glance at him, her expression turned sad upon seeing his current state. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it faster…"

Vivi looked at the strange girl. The first thing that caught her attention was how big she was… easily three times bigger than her. She also had silver hair and horns like the ones on Kaidou.

"Yamato! Stay out of this!" Kaidou was covered in ice but quickly freed himself.

"I'm not done!" Yamato lifted her weapon up. It was a smaller version of the one Kaidou was using. She jumped and made a vertical attack. "Himorogiri! (Ice cut)" She spun her weapon around while covering it with ice and then brought it down upon the Emperor.

"Ugg…" Kaidou barely managed to block it but was still hit on the shoulder and made a pained expression.

"Who is that?" Vivi decided to ask.

"That's Kaidou's daughter…" Ace said.

"She looks super strong!" Usopp commented.

"You think she can defeat him?" Nami asked.

"So those two are related… makes sense, they have a similar a-..." Vivi gasped.

While the battle raged between father and daughter, her attention was forcefully pulled somewhere else. "What is this?..."

"Vivi?..." Nami asked.

Vivi moved closer to Luffy's body, which had been laid down on the ground.

She then placed a hand on his chest. 'There is no pulse but… why do I feel…'

"What's wrong? Why are you staring at the Captain?" Robin asked.

"I… I don't know how to explain it… but I can feel a wisp of an aura coming from him," said Vivi.

Nami moved quickly to his side to check his pulse. "Vivi… he is… there is no p- ahhh!"

Nami jumped backward in fright.

White smoke was coming from Luffy's body.

"His aura feels completely different, but it's getting stronger… so much stronger!" Vivi's eyes were wide open.

"Luffy!" "Captain!" The crew called out.