Chapter 61: Ice and Lightning

And a big shout out to Slackingoff for being my 400th Follower!

Chapter 67:

Ice and Lightning

"You know what, Old Marine Guy?" Luffy smiled. "You're not half bad."

"I was about to say the same to you, Straw Hat," Aokiji responded before he frowned. "That's why I can't let you continue to travel with that woman. Hand over Nico Robin and I'll let you go."

"No way!" Luffy denied, jumping to his feet. "I don't care how cool you are, no one is taking my Nakama away from me!"

"Do you know about Nico Robin's history?" the Marine Admiral asked, unfazed by the pirate's aggressive stance. "Are you aware that every group she has ever aligned herself with has fallen, every member but her either dead or imprisoned?"

"That's not true!" Amy stated, catching Aokiji off guard. She leveled her parasol at the marine. "I was part of Baroque Works for three years, working as one of Crocodile's top agents before I turned."

"Besides," Luffy continued, "history is personal and it only says who you were. We don't care about that! It's who you are now that matters!"

Aokiji sighed heavily. He hated when he met good pirates like the Straw Hats, but he couldn't just let them get away and endanger themselves with the likes of Nico Robin. Bending down, he plucked several blades of grass and blew on them, flash-freezing the water droplets around them and in the air into a jagged sword.

"Ice Saber." With speed that belied his lazy nature, the tall man dashed forward and prepared to cut through the archaeologist, only for his weapon to be blocked by a rubber fist, two swords, a leg, and a tonfa.

"Back off," Zoro growled at him. With barely a though, Aokiji pumped his power through his mouth and blew over the fighters, coating several limbs in ice. The Monster Trio dropped, them having taken the worst of it. Luffy grabbed a frozen fist, Zoro growled at his hand holding Kitetsu III, and Sanji clutched his ice-covered leg. Coby hopped away, wary of transforming as that would make him more susceptible to the cold. Gin glared at the man who dared to threaten his family, the gold on the end on his right tonfa glittered through the ice.

"Listen, kids, just hand her over."

"No!" Luffy jumped up, punching toward the man's face while Zoro ducked low to cut through his body. Not reacting fast enough to dodge, or choosing not to, the marine was cut in half and crumbled into shards of ice. The coating over Luffy and Zoro's hands shattered under the force.

"Was that it?" Amy asked. The pile of ice shifted, the admiral slowly rising as he reformed. He slashed his arm through the air, a freezing wind blowing the fighters to their right.

"Thunderbolt Tempo!" Nami yelled, a bolt of electricity descending upon the marine. Aokiji's face vaporized, leaving a crater between the man's shoulders that decended into his chest. Steam or mist, the pirate's weren't sure which, wafted from the broken area. Silence covered the battleground like a blanket, every pirate staring at the body until Amy jumped into the air.

"There's no kill like overkill!" she shouted. "Shatter, Ice Man! 10,000 Kilogram Press!" The blonde fell on the Admiral's prone form roughly 10.32 tons of weight, crushing the rest of Aokiji's body into crystalline dust. "There we go! That wasn't too hard."

Robin allowed herself to let out a breath of relief. That was, until she felt two cold arms begin to encircle her.

"No!" the archaeologist cried, her body refusing to move as she realized the Admiral had reformed behind her. "No! I'm not the same person I was! I've changed!"

"Robin!" Zoro's voice carried over from where the others had been blown. They were too slow to help.

There was a crack of ozone as a shiny ball caught the surprised marine in the face. He shattered into ice again, his pieces being launched into the field from the force. Gin landed in front of the startled archaeologist, his headband tossed to the side back with the others. Electricity danced across his skin as he glared at the slowly-reforming marine.

"No one threatens my Nakama," the Man-Demon bit out. "Everyone, go. I'll hold him off."

"We aren't leaving you, Gin!" Luffy tried to protest.

"No, Captain," Coby said, wrapping an arm around the rubber-man's chest. "Gin is best suited to fight him out of all of us. They're both Logias after all."

"I don't care!"

"Grace? A little help?"

"Colors Trap: Calming Green."

"Grrr, fine," Luffy conceded with a growl, his ire just barely giving way to the effects of the chemical-infused paint. "Everyone back to the Merry! Gin, I expect you to be back soon. That's a captain's order."

"Yes, Don," the lightning-man grunted. Since Robin's body still wouldn't move, Zoro jumped in and picked her up as the rest of the crew retreated. Electricity sparked from Gin's tonfa as the weapons spun, the motion seeming to act like a generator as the man collected ambient static from the air.

"The Rumble-Rumble Fruit," Aokiji muttered in surprise. "It was supposed to be lost almost a decade ago. Does that mean that Vice-Admiral Jonathan's second-hand reports were true? How did you get your hands on the Fruit said to be invincible?"

"I killed God," the newer Devil Fruit user answered honestly. "I take it you have the Ice-Ice Fruit or something?"

"Yeah. Tell me, Man-Demon Gin. Why do you fight so hard for your crew? Why do you fight so hard for Nico Robin?"

"You wouldn't understand," Gin replied. "Don Luffy was the first man to show me real kindness after my parents died. That is how many of us joined. Others, like Robin, were saved by him whether they wanted to be or not. We have something of a bond that way. Robin has become one of us, and we will fight to the ends of Hell to keep it that way for as long as she'll let us and beyond. And that's why Don Luffy will become the King of the Pirates."

"Then I'm sorry for doing this," the marine sighed. "Ice Age." The ground around the ice-man's feet began turning white, frost growing from the origin. Gin, however, was unafraid of this as he ran forward.

"3000 Watt Slam!" With a screech of electricity, the Man-Demon brought his right tonfa down on his foe. The lightning that sparked out of his shiny weapon burnt holes in Aokiji's sleeves as the man was pushed backwards due to the force on his crossed arms.

In response, Aokiji brought up his weapon and launched forward to attack. The ice sword became coated in black and, acting on instinct, the pirate used both his tonfa to block the sword. With a clang, the three weapons became locked in a struggle. The marine bore down on his fellow Logia, causing the air temperature to drop. Feeling the cold as well as the ice creeping up his legs, Gin started to push a charge into his surroundings, heating the air and his body to counteract the chill. The ice on his legs began to steam.

Aokiji raised his eyebrow, surprised that there was a pirate with a relatively small bounty that could hold him back so well, even if the ice-man wasn't giving his all. Still, he had a job to do.

Gin gasped as frost started to grow on his weapons. Pulling back, the man flashed backward, his limbs each turning to lightning. The ice on his tonfa and legs evaporated instantly.

"Why are you holding back?" the pirate panted. "I know you're too strong for me to defeat."

"And yet you still fight.' Aokiji responded. "You were there in Alabasta, weren't you?" Caught off guard by the questioned, Gin confirmed without thinking.

"I was."

"Then I don't want to kill you. I never did like Crocodile. As I matter of fact, I don't like any of the Warlords. There was something else, too... something about Smoker. Ah, I forgot. Anyway, I'll consider my debt to your captain repaid by sparing you and your friends, but be wary, Man-Demon. Nico Robin is not someone to befriend. Eventually, she will turn her back on you, and you will pay the price." Turning away, Aokiji entered the forest, leaving the fight.

Quickly, Gin returned to the Merry and was relieved to see that everyone else was OK. Replacing his headband, the Devil Fruit user felt the familiar sensation of his powers vanishing upon contact with the rubber-lined inside. He chose to keep the Admiral's warning to himself since he knew that his captain would not care either way.

On the horizon, Aokiji's bike appeared as the marine calmly pedaled off over the water and into the distance.

"Wow, Gin!" Chopper exclaimed as the man pulled himself over the Merry's railing. "You're so strong to be able to fight off an Admiral!"

"He was holding back," Gin replied with a frown. "He let us go because we took out Crocodile."

"That's why?" Amy wondered aloud. "Weird."

"Not really," Coby muttered, shaking his head. "Aokiji is said to be to most lenient of the three Admirals."

"Nami, is the Log Pose reset?" Luffy asked.

"No, it isn't," the navigator responded. "I'll tell you when it is, though."

"I'm going to train," Zoro stated with a frown before he disappeared into the bowels of the ship.

"I'm going to join him," Coby added.

"Sanji, meat!"

And just like that, everything on the Going Merry went back to normal…

"There's a frog doing the front crawl off the starboard bow!" Zoro yelled, instantly attracting the attention of the rest of the crew.

"Really?!" Luffy and Chopper yelled excitedly as they raced to the railing to see it.

"Don't be ridiculous," Usopp chastised. "Frogs can't do the HOLY CRAP! THERE'S A FROG DOING THE FRONT CRAWL!" Sure enough, a giant frog with black hair and scars covering its body was doing the front crawl through the water.

"Follow that frog!" Luffy ordered. "We're gonna eat it!"

"Goda dammit, Luffy," Nami sighed before she began giving orders. The ship turned to two o'clock and began pursuing the amphibian.

"Stop!" Amy ordered from the crow's nest. "Stop! We're going to hit a lighthouse! Stop!"

Despite Luffy's protests, the rest of the crew brought the Merry to a stop just as several warning bells started to ring.

"What's a lighthouse doing way out here?" Nami questioned. In front of the boat, the frog jumped onto something in the water and took a ready stance. Being above water revealed that the frog was wearing a maroon loincloth.

"What is the frog standing on?" Coby asked.

"Train tracks?" Grace's answer, for that was what is was supposed to be, still came out as a question. Indeed, the giant frog was standing on a set of train tracks floating just a couple of inches under the water and flowing with the waves. A loud whistle tore through the surrounding area just before a train blew past. There was a mighty collision as the frog tried to stop the train, only to be thrown away with blood flowing from what would be another scar.

"Granny! Granny! There are pirates outside!" The voice of a little girl attracted the crew's attention and they turned to the lighthouse just in time to see the end of a striped dress disappear inside.

"Really?" an older woman slurred. "Then bring me the den-den." The old woman fell out of the doorway. She was quite heavy-set with bushy blonde hair in two braids down her back. Her face showed deep smile lines and her cheeks were flushed. She was dressed in a conductor's uniform and a bottle of something was clutched in her hand.

A little girl who had to be related to the woman ran up to her with a snail. The little girl looked exactly like the woman in miniature, except for her clothing, a lack of wrinkles, and that her hair defied gravity in its braids. A small, blue thing that looked somewhat like a rabbit waddled after her.

"Hello?" the woman slurred into the snail. "Nah, you have the wrong number." With a click, she hung up. "Oh, pirates. Why didn't ya say somethin', Chimney?"

"I did, Granny!"

"Nya nya!" the rabbit added.

"Hi! I'm Kokoro, but ya can call me Granny, and this is my granddaughter Chimney."

"And this is Gonbei, my kitty cat!" Chimney added, holding up the animal.

"Who're you?" Kokoro continued.

"I'm Luffy. I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!"

Kokoro laughed, hiccupping every few seconds. "And where are you pirates headed?"

"Somewhere east of here," Nami answered, checking the Log Pose.

"Then yer headed fer Water 7," Kokoro nodded. "Th' best shipwrights in the world work fer Galley-La there."

"Great!" Usopp exclaimed. "We can finally get the Merry fixed!"

"If yer fixin' yer ship, then I got somethin' fer ya." The inebriated woman re-entered the lighthouse before coming back out with a folded piece of paper. "This is a reference letter. Give it ta a man named Iceberg an' tell 'im Granny sent cha."

"Alright, thank you," Coby responded.

"We'll be going back there in a few days," Chimney said. "We might see you there."

"Nyaa, nyaa," her animal called.

"Set sail for Water 7!" Luffy shouted. "Let's go get Merry fixed!"

End of Chapter 67

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-SwordOfTheGods