Chapter 93: Pirates Vs Zombies (Part 1)

Here we go with the inevitable fight scenes! I hope these fulfill all your expectations! This is, obviously, only the first part. There will be five battles is total before Moria steps in...

Chapter 97:

Pirates vs. Zombies (part 1)

Luffy, Nami, Sanji, and Brook

"Quickly now! This way!" The trio of Straw Hats continued to follow the undead musician, the skeleton ahead of them cutting through zombies like paper. It seemed that, now that Brook had both his shadow returned and backup behind him, his spirits had been lifted to a level he hadn't felt in over fifty long years. He felt so alive! ...Oh, wait.

"Yohohoho!" the skeleton laughed. "This is wonderful!"

"Then are you going to join our crew?" Luffy asked, his arm stretching to punch the helmet off of an armored zombie.

"If this keeps up, I very well might!" Brook answered, decapitating the zombie Luffy had punched and shoving salt into the open throat. The quartet passed through an open archway, leading them out onto a stone bridge connecting the manor proper to a different spire. "We are almost there!" Brook informed the group.

"But you will never get there!" another voice interrupted from above. The group of four looked up to see a zombie staring down at them from a giant spider web. The zombie was an oversized spider monkey, literally. It had the body of a giant spider which was predominantly black with yellow circles on the thorax and yellow rings on all eight legs, the two front legs ending in large monkey paws. The head, which was about as tall as Luffy, was that of a monkey with half of an aviator helmet over the the right half of its face and large ears on either side. Bandages were wrapped around the creature's body and wrists, hiding most of the scars that had to be there. Finally, a monkey tail protruded from the back of the zombie.

"Monkey, monkey!" the zombie chanted. "You pirates will not reach Master Moria! I, Tararan the Spider Monkey, will stop you! Spider-mice, come!" With the end of his order, Tararan's web was flooded with tiny, dark shapes and one human one. The human-sized zombie jumped from the web, landing in a crouch before the pirates. It was Zoro's zombie.

"This doesn't look like the chapel," the zombie muttered. "That pigeon Tesla said to go right. The damn chapel must have moved."

"You know that's bad for your knees, right?" Sanji questioned as he indicated the zombie's crouched position with his cigarette, directing the question toward his fellow pirates and trying to keep his eyes off the giant spider.

"I don't think it matters to zombies," Nami replied. "Or rubber-men. Or if you don't really have knees."

"Yohoho!" Brook laughed. "You are certainly correct, Nami-san! But I... wait. You stole my joke!"

"What the Hell are you doing here, Jigoro?" Tararan asked. "Master Hogback wanted you for protection."

"Whatever," the directionless zombie waved off, his eyes narrowing on Sanji. "Something more important just came up."

"Luffy," Sanji stated, "Nami-swan. Go on ahead. I'll handle this marimo."

"What did you just call me, you swirly-eyed bastard?!"

"I called you a marimo, you shitty swordsman!" Sanji and Jigoro charged each other, the rest of the world forgotten.

"Please do go on," Brook insisted, unsheathing his cane-sword. "Moria's lair should be right through that door. I will stay behind to defeat this monstrosity and defend the bridge."

"Monkey, monkey! Oh no, you don't! Sticky Spider Net!" Tararan fired a web of silk from his backside, forcing Luffy and Nami to roll forward and Brook to jump back. Grabbing her hand, Luffy pulled Nami forward as fast as he thought her regular human body could handle. Unfortunately, Tararan's undead patchwork was faster. He appeared in front of them before either Luffy or Nami could react. "Monkey's Paw Wish!"

Tararan smacked the couple, only giving them enough time for Luffy to grab Nami in a hug to take the worst of it with his rubber body. The two all but vanished, launched back toward where the Sunny was docked.

"Nami-Swan!" Sanji cried before having to duck under a sword.

"Monkey, monkey! Look at how far they went! I hope I didn't kill them; Master Moria would be displeased!"

"You atrocious arachnid!" Brook declared. "Be gone with you! Aubade Right-Hand Strike!"

Usopp and Merry

"Do you wanna join our crew?"

"Horo-horo-horo-horo!" the hollow-woman laughed before her smile twisted and her voice took on a predatory tone. "No, I don't think so, little girl, but you'll be joining me! Negative Hollow!"

"Oh no," Usopp whimpered, his gaze locked on the ghosts circling their floating opponent.

"So you're the one that made the ghost we saw on the ship!" Merry concluded. "You gotta join us! Mrs. Nami thinks we need more women on the crew, anyway."

"Stop it, Merry!" Usopp ordered. "For one thing, you aren't the captain. Only Luffy can decide who joins the crew."

"Awww," the klabautermann whined.

"And second, we still need to beat her and that freaky teddy bear of her's."

"But, Uncle Usopp..."

"As entertaining as this little act of yours is," Perona scoffed, her two ghosts circling her, "I think it's time we skip ahead to the main attraction. Go, Negative Hollows!"

"Evasive maneuvers!" Merry yelled, her and Usopp diving opposite directions. The ghosts just brushed each of them in the arm, flying into the floor and vanishing from sight.

"That wasn't too hard!" the sniper boasted, leaning Kabuto over his shoulder and pointing at the gawking form of the Ghost Princess. "Your ghosts don't affect us if they can't touch us!"

"I wish I was a barnacle," Merry sobbed. "I should've sunk back at Water 7. I'm good for nothing but being firewood."

"Merry!" Usopp gasped, dropping his weapon in favor of falling to his knees to cradle the ship-girl. "Merry, are you ok? Snap out of it!"

"B-B-But how?" Perona stuttered. "My Negative Hollow hit you! Why are you not affected?"

"What did you do to Merry?!" the pirate demanded, ignoring the woman's question and bringing up his slingshot. "Tell me right now or I swear to Goda that I'll find a way to kill a ghost!"

"I don't understand!" Perona cried. "Why aren't you groveling?!"

"Answer my question!"

"Only if you answer mine!"

"Your attack didn't hit me, Ghost! Now fix Merry!"

"No, Uncle Usopp," Merry panted, grabbing the hem of the sniper's coat to pull herself up. "I'm fine now."

"B-But you should have been down for at least a minute!" Perona gaped. "Just who are you people?!"

"Us?" Merry smirked, her confidence rebounding. "We're the Straw Hat Pirates."

"Kumashi!" Perona all but cried, floating backwards. "Kill the man, but leave the cute girl alive. I'm going to go track down their friends. I know my Hollows work on them."

"Yes, Mistress," the bear rumbled, waddling threateningly toward the duo. Perona turned to fly away.

"Oh no, you don't!" Usopp declared. "Special Attack: Firebird Star!" A bird of flame took wing, soaring toward the free soul of the gothic lolita. Kumashi hit the deck, bearly avoiding the attack that passed through an afronted-looking Perona. She sneered at Usopp, but still retreated.

"Go get her, Uncle Usopp!" the klabautermann shouted, jumping past him with hammer in hand. "I'll take out this overstuffed teddy bear!"

"Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"He's got orders not to kill me." The little girl grinned darkly, her expression changing to fit one that would not be out-of-place on Gin's face. "That means I have the advantage."

Usopp shivered at her tone, but made eye contact with her nonetheless. "...Be careful, Merry," he finally relented. "I... I trust you to stay safe. You've got the best of all of us, right?" Before the long-nosed teen could rethink his decision, he hugged his suroget niece and bolted after the pink-haired ghost.

"Go kick her ass, Uncle!"

"Language!" Usopp rounded a corner, moving out of sight.

"Looks like it's just you and me, big guy," Merry chuckled, sizing up the zombie that stood almost twice her height. Kumashi's eyes narrowed at the little fairy that was waving her wooden hammer at him.

"I must protect Mistress Perona," he growled, his eyes going bloodshot and his body shaking slightly. "I will protect Mistress Perona. I will!" With a roar, the giant teddy bear charged the klabautermann, throwing his whole weight at her in an attempt to crush the white-haired girl. Merry flung herself to the side, narrowly avoiding the bear's surprisingly-large mass which cratered the floor where he landed. Without wasting a second, the bear rose and repeated the action, forcing Merry to keep dodging backwards.

"I thought you weren't supposed to kill me!"

"I will protect Mistress Perona!" Kumashi yelled, flinging himself at Merry for the sixth time. Merry jumped upwards, kicking off of the bear's back and leaving a pillar to take the flying bear hug/tackle. The column crumbled, large chunks of stone and marble falling on the zombie until he was completely buried. The klabautermann landed silently out of a front flip and turned back toward her buried opponent.

Merry took a tentative step forward, never dropping her guard as she approached the pile of debris. The pile shifted before exploding outward. A medium-sized chunk caught Merry in the stomach, causing her to lose her grip on her hammer and blowing her backwards in the process.

"Uh," Merry grunted as she hit the ground, barrel-rolling away her momentum. She sat up carefully, spitting up some blood while a hand unconsciously cradled her midsection.

"That hurt, you bear bastard," the klabautermann growled, her eyes flashing dangerously. Kumashi didn't respond, claws sprouting from his paws as he pushed himself out of the remains of the column. He charged.

"I must get back to Mistress Perona! Mistress Perona needs me!"

"Rigging Art," Merry announced, ropes falling from within her sleeves, "Woven Whips!" The klabautermann lashed out, dual strands of rope flying through the air toward the charging zombie. The bear's claws ripped through one of the whips, the other rope missing high and knocking his hat off before he severed that whip as well.

'He's too fast!' Merry thought as the zombie drew closer. She tried desperately to fend him off, but Kumashi's claws seemed to be more than a match for Merry's mid-range Rigging Art.

"Gordian's Knots!" Merry cried desperately, her two ropes tying themselves together until they formed a wrecking-ball-sized knot. She turned, building momentum before the ball of rope slammed into Kumashi's side. The bear gave something similar to a cough, his claws slicing through the ropes on the outside of the attack. The force flung him to the side. "Yeah! How does that feel!"

Kumashi didn't respond, shaking her head before pushing himself onto his arms and legs. He turned his bloodshot eyes on the horned girl and dug his claws into the floor, a matching pair sprouting from his stubby feet. He pushed off like a sprinter, producing a speed something of his build shouldn't have. The klabautermann tried to bring Gordian's Knot around for another pass, but Kumashi was too fast, his claws ripping apart the ropes connected to the ball before it could gain enough momentum. The woven wrecking ball bounced off into the distance. The bear bore down on the girl, five gleaming claws raised to end the battle.

"Shit!" the girl shouted. Bringing up her right leg in a perfect split she had inherited from Sanji, Merry attempted to kick the paw away as it came down on her, but her aim was off slightly, causing the outer claw to scrape down the side of her pants, tearing a cut in them and scratching her just enough to make her bleed. Injured, Merry used her other leg to jump away, only for something to clatter to the floor. Kumashi almost blinked, bending down to pick up whatever it was his opponent dropped.

Made of wood and not quite anatomically correct, it was a Merry's Heart.

"My Heart!" Merry cried leaning on her left leg. "Give that back!" The klabautermann stretched out her hands, trying to use her powers to pull her lifeline back to her person, but the bear's grip was too firm. Even so, against his will, the zombie began inching toward the white-haired girl with the pull of the wooden heart, his legs digging small grooves in the floor. "Give! That! Back!"

"I will not," Kumashi rumbled. "Mistress Perona-"

"Shut up!" Merry snapped. "Dear Goda, you're so annoying! Everything out of your mouth is 'Mistress Perona this' and 'Mistress Perona that'! Can you not talk about something else?" Leaving her left hand out trying to reclaim her Heart from the zombie, Merry's right turned back toward the pile of broken pillar, summoning her hammer back into her hand.

"I... cannot..." Kumashi grunted, digging his legs into the stonework of the floor. "I live... for Mistress Perona... She wants... you in her garden... I will fulfill her wish!"

"Well too bad, Pedobear," Merry smirked, releasing her hold on her Heart and throwing her hammer. "She's not getting what she wants this time." Kumashi staggered at the sudden loss of opposition, but stayed on his feet until the hammer smacked him in the forehead. Losing his balance, the zombie lost his grip on the klabautermann's Heart, leaving the wooden carving to bounce across the floor.

Merry dashed in before Kumashi could get up, ropes jumping out of her jacket to tie the bear's claws to his legs and rendering him immobile for the time being. She hopped up to kneel on his chest.

"Release me!" the zombie ordered. "I must return to Mistress-"

"Sorry, big guy," Merry smirked, dragging the doctor's mask away from the bear's mouth and gaining a sadistic gleam in her eyes. "You aren't going to get back. Baahahaha!" Before the teddy bear could respond, the horned girl shoved a lump of salt into the zombie's mouth. Kumashi gagged, trying to spit up the lump, but Merry shoved his mask back on, waiting until she could feel the shadow inside him trying to escape. Only then did she release her hold on the teddy bear and allow the shadow to return to its rightful owner. All was still.

"Oh yeah!" Merry yelled, jumping off of the purified zombie and dancing a little victory dance she had learned from Franky (picture the dance he does at the start of the time skip). "That's right! Who's the best? One fight, one victory, one hundred percent success! Woooo!" After celebrating her first win for another minute, Merry calmed down enough to stop patting herself on the back.

"Uncle Usopp!" she realized, summoning both her hammer and her Heart back to her hands. Stuffing her Heart into an undamaged pocket, the klabautermann took off after Usopp and the ghost princess. "Uncle Usopp! Where are you?!"

"No! Please! Get them off! Get them ooooooffffff!"

"You've already fallen into my trap! Usopp Golden Pound!" Merry rounded the corner just in time to see the "10-ton" hammer Usopp was wielding pop right above a panicking Perona's head, the ghost princess stuck to a bed by pink goo and covered in cockroaches. The pink-haired girl passed out from either shock or fear, her eyes rolling into the back of her head and her body slumping.

"Wow, Uncle Usopp!" Merry gasped, catching the long-nosed sniper off guard. "I thought you were saving the fake cockroaches for pranking Amy."

"I decided they had a better use," Usopp boasted. "Turns out her main attack couldn't affect me, so I was her natural enemy! I guess you took care of-" he turned around. "Merry! What happened to you?!" Usopp dropped to his knees and began to fuss over the state of the klabautermann's clothes.

"I'm fine, Uncle Usopp," Merry whined. "That bear was just a little stronger than I was expecting, but I took care of him."

"Still-"

"Come on! With still need to go kick Moria's ass!"

"Language!"

Merry VS Kumashi

Winner: Merry

Gin and Amy

"We should come up with a plan before we attack."

"I'll leave that up to you, Ms. Ex-Assassin," Gin smirked. "I think I'll watch these two dance for a while. Maybe you could join me for a song or two?" He winked.

"You flirt!" Amy smiled, smacking the lightning-man in the arm. "You just gave me the perfect plan on how to get close to them. Luckily, I infiltrated a few balls while working for Baroque Works. Now shut up, take my hand, and follow my lead."

Grabbing Gin by the hand, Amy pushed the door open and drug the lightning-man inside. The dancing zombies didn't even look up at the sound, too focused on the music to notice. Carefully, Amy led Gin into a simple waltz, working their way toward the zombie couple in time to the music.

"Alright," she began, pulling Gin against her and ignoring the red that overtook his face as a result. "When I say when, you'll spin out and attack. Go for Pinky's zombie since Grace's mood paint can't affect you."

Gin nodded, attempting to keep the pair of undead in his peripheral vision as they spun closer. Neither of the pirates noticed when the horned zombie stiffened ever-so-slightly

"Now," Amy hissed, spinning Gin out toward the brown-haired zombie's back. The Electric Devil's tonfa appeared in a well-practiced motion aimed for the back of the zombie's head, but the target was ready. Coby's zombie spun himself and his partner 180 degrees and bent backwards slightly, allowing Gin's weighted tonfa to pass over Iro's (Grace's zombie's) head harmlessly and skid across the elephant horns set into his own forehead. Amy continued the spin, pulling herself and Gin away from the undead duo just as the song ended.

"...Annoying," Iro sighed, releasing her hold on Coby's zombie. "...Too much work."

"We just have to beat them, right?" the male zombie smiled, unsheathing Coby's swords. "I'm sorry to say, Iro, but you might have to work for a little bit."

"...Fine."

"How are we doing this, Amy?" Gin questioned.

"I have a feeling that they'll try to work together, so we should probably do the same," the blonde answered. "If what I think happened happened, then they won't fight any other way. Still, we should at least try to split them up. On the bright side, I know my sister's attacks like the back of my hand."

"Hold on." Coby's zombie held up a finger. He walked over to the phonograph and replaced the record with another. A new, more aggressive song started up as the zombie returned to his position. The pirates stared at him in confusion. "Appropriate battle music," he shrugged. Gin and Amy shrugged in response.

"...Master Moria wants them alive," Iro muttered, pulling Grace's pallet off of her belt. "Colors Trap: Drowsy Dark Blue."

"Not gonna work," Gin taunted, ripping off his headband just before the liquid could hit him. The paint sizzled upon contact, bubbling away into nothing. He blinked a couple times, the effects of the paint that had worked disappearing quickly. Grace really was a genius with chemicals, but it was a good thing she couldn't effect Logias who knew it was coming yet.

"I didn't know about that one," Amy admitted. "This might be a little harder than I thought..."

"...Troublesome," Iro sighed. "Torihon?"

"I've got you, Iro," Coby's zombie responded. "You can take the woman, I'll get the guy. Five Point Style: Meteor Swords!" In a flash, the horned zombie shot forward in a spin, both swords and his horns aimed at a shocked Gin. Bringing his tonfa up, the Logia parried the weapons, but the momentum carried the zombie's body forward until all three horns stabbed into Gin's stomach. He was undamaged, of course, little sparks of electricity flying out of the punctures and a faint charge causing the undead to twitch.

"Crab Grab!" Torihon declared, his swords coming around with the intent of slicing the man's head off with two clean cuts, but Gin's lightning-fast reflexes allowed him to catch each sword with a tonfa. The zombie jumped back, pulling his horns out of the pirate's body. He narrowed his eyes.

"My turn, copycat," Gin taunted, dashing forward. "3,000 Watt Slam!" With his golden-capped tonfa sparking, Gin brought the weapon down on the zombie that contained Coby's shadow, but his target vanished in the blink of an eye. "What the-?"

"Shave," Torihon said from the top of one of the tables, his feet placed so as to avoid the plates of food. "You may be strong, Electric Devil, but you will not be able to defeat me if you cannot hit me."

"Same to you," Gin responded. "I didn't know Coby learned that Shave thing from the CP9 guys we beat, I'm guessing from Kaku, but I do know he doesn't have that black Haki stuff What'sHisName did. You can't touch me."

"I do not know who this Coby is, but that is unimportant. It seems this fight will become a battle of attrition, of which I am superior. Pandora's Box!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ballroom...

"I really don't want to have to do this," Amy sighed. "Every time I fight you, I always get paint on my clothes." Iro did not respond, the zombie's eyes never blinking. It seemed this fight's dialogue would be mostly one-sided. "You know, if you just ate this salt, then you would never have to work ever again."

"...I am aware," Iro answered. "But then Torihon would be sad and we couldn't dance anymore. Colors Trap: Sadness Blue."

Paint flew through the air toward Amy, the woman responding by reducing her mass and jumping over the attack with a graceful flip. She landed gently and without a sound, only the crashing the the mens' fight breaking the silence between woman and zombie. Torihon flashed between them, appearing and disappearing within the span of a blink. Gin's tonfa crushed the floor where he'd been standing only half a second before.

"Get back here, you undead bastard!" Gin yelled.

"Such foul language!" Torihon scoffed, the two vanishing as quickly as they appeared.

"...Men," Iro sighed.

"I know, right?" Amy responded. "I didn't know Pinky was that fast, but he sure fits the guy mentality." She shrugged. "Oh well. Parasol Club!"

Amy launched herself forward, transferring her mass into her arms and parasol while the rest of her body became lighter for speed. Bringing her umbrella around like she was swinging a baseball bat, Amy attempted to strike. Iro ducked under the bat faster than Amy had ever seen Grace move, the breeze caused by the attack making the zombie's multicolored hair blow around.

"Colors Trap: Laughing Yellow."

"Kyahahaha!" Amy burst into a fit of laughter, almost doubling over. "Kyahahaha! You don't seem to realize- Kyahaha!- or remember, that I can fight- kyaha!- while laughing! Master Fist!" Still laughing, Amy brought her right hand down on the zombie with the same mass as Franky. The zombie jumped out of the way, the floor beneath cracking and crumbling. "Kyahahaha!"

Iro frowned, covering her paintbrush in another color. He rushed forward in short bursts, the natural speed of the body and her orders countering her shadow's lazy nature. Amy pulled back, her parasol sweeping around in an attempt to ward away the undead, but Iro's body's natural flexibility allowed her to bend around the unconventional weapon and paint over the previous mark.

"Colors Trap: Yellow and Green. Befriending Yellowish-Green."

"Oh, Honey," Amy sighed in a wistful tone, a weighted foot stomping on one of Iro's. The zombie could not feel pain, but she still felt the bones in the foot break under the force. "You don't get it, do you? Your positive paints can't effect me because I already love you. You hold the shadow of my little sister and that's why I have to beat you." Grabbing both sides of the undead's head, Amy twisted it 90 degrees with an audible snap. Iro stumbled backward, greatly disoriented from the sudden change of perspective. "Now just let me kill you so my sister can walk in the light again."

The Weightless Woman brought her mass-increased parasol down, fully expecting to crush the undead girl before her, but Torihon Shaved before her in an instant, his cross block catching the umbrella cold.

"Back off," he growled, his cold eyes staring into Amy's. "You will not touch her. I won't let you."

"Geeze," Amy whined as Gin flashed next to her, pulling her umbrella away from the swords. "Pinky finally grows a spine to stand up to me, and it's not even his spine I'm going to be snapping."

"You wouldn't have snapped his spine," Gin scoffed. "You'd congratulate him on finally passing your test. Besides, could you image what Don Luffy and Zoro would do to you if you actually snapped his spine? Sanji could only defend against one of them at a time."

"A girl can dream," Amy sighed. "Anyway, while Pinky's possessiveness is nice, it's standing in our way at the moment."

"Iro!" Torihon fretted, checking over his fellow zombie. "Iro, are you alright?" The female of the two scowled, grabbing her head and twisting it back into place.

"She broke one of my feet," the colorful undead murmured. "I can fight, but I'll need Doctor Hogback to replace it."

Torihon glared at the pirates. "You hurt her," he growled.

"Isn't that the point of a fight?" Gin questioned, stepping in front of Amy. Rather than answer, Torihon blurred out of focus and, suddenly, everything in Gin's vision went sideways.

"...?" The man tried to speak, but no sound would come out of his mouth. It was like his lungs had just disappeared. Amy gasped.

"Gin!" she cried, the headless, shadowless body of the man still as a board beside her. The zombie swordsman blurred back into focus behind them, his swords slowly sliding back into their sheaths. With a click, the swords locked into place and the Electric Devil's body broke into parts, piling on the ground in a mutilated but bloodless heap.

"My first swing was too sloppy," Torihon muttered to himself. "The head separated before the rest of his body. Hayate-Sensei would be displeased." He glanced back as Gin's body and head began to glow, breaking down into flickers of electricity that grouped back together. The glow faded to reveal an undamaged Gin kneeling on the floor.

"For one thing, OW!" he yelled, standing up and twisting his head to the side with a satisfying pop. "For another thing, I'm really happy for Logia powers right now." He turned back toward the zombie that had cut him to pieces, a somewhat-arrogant smirk on his face. "You wanna try that again, copycat?"

Torihon growled, but the noise he made wasn't near anything the real Coby could make since this body didn't have a dinosaur's voice box, only for the noise to end suddenly. "Our work here is done."

"What?" Gin questioned. "This fight isn't over!"

"Colors Trap: Bullfight Red."

"Wha- Dammit!" Gin spun around to come face-to-face with a smirking Iro. A quick glance to the side confirmed that Amy had been subdued, both dark blue and light blue paint staining her yellow dress. Grace's zombie had struck while they were distracted, leaving Amy and tired and depressed mess. "Why you! 3,000-Watt Slam!"

Gin tonfa were spinning instantly, the gold-capped ball on the end on course for the unflinching undead. Without warning, his arm twisted, smashing the floor on his right. Despite the fact that there was now a break in the center of the pattern on the floor, Gin still could not attack anywhere else.

"As I said," Torihon scoffed. "Our work here is done. I'll get the woman, Iro. She still has her shadow. We'll leave the man in the shade here." Gin could do nothing as the horned zombie lifted his partner like she was a sack of potatoes, the zombie's partner joining him as they started walking out the door.

No! It wouldn't end like this! Gin closed his eyes, trying to find a way to rid himself of that paint. Idly, his tonfa started spinning, drawing the electricity out of his body as they started sparking like a pair of generators. He exploded.

Or, to be more accurate, he lightning-traveled. Unlike his increased movement speed that he'd been using to keep up with the zombie where he'd been changing parts of his body into electricity to supercharge his limbs, this was a complete transformation. The sudden release of his corporal body in favor of pure lightning instantly evaporated the red paint on his back. He reappeared in the doorway of the room, his weapons already moving.

"What?!" Torihon cried, caught off guard. The sparking, golden balls on the ends of Gin's tonfa crashed into his face, destroying the rhinoceros horn implanted there, and Iro's chest, flinging her back the way they'd come from. Torihon dropped Amy and staggered backwards while Iro hit the far wall with a crunch.

"Amy," Gin muttered, shaking the sleeping woman. He ran a hand over the designs upon her back, burning holes through both the paint and some parts of her dress. She woke with a gasp, a weighted fist rocketing out on instinct to punch a corporal Gin into the hallway where he exploded again before reappearing in front of her.

"Again, OW!"

"Sorry."

"Y-You blasted pirates!" Torihon yelled, Iro's broken and all-but-dead body in his arms. "I'll send you all to Hell!"

"I'll deal with him," Amy insisted. "You purify Grace's zombie." Amy charged into the room, clashing with the horned undead in the middle, inconceivably-dense parasol meeting twin swords. He was only there for one clash, vanishing in a Shave to battle Gin as he tried to get around.

The Logia was already spinning when the zombie appeared, his weapons blasting the undead back toward the center of the room. Torihon landed on his feet, but jumped back only a second later before Amy's falling body could crush him, cratering the floor.

"I'm your opponent, boy," Amy stated, floating to her feet and raising her umbrella so it crossed her body diagonally.

"So be it," the horned zombie growled, heafting Coby's weapons. "I'll deal with you quickly. Meteor Swords!"

"Dense Shield!" Torihon's swords and horn clashed with Amy's open umbrella, the weapons scraping against the shield with a screech. Amy spun her umbrella, the friction between it and the zombie causing Torihon to lose his balance and stumble. Taking the opportunity presented to her, the Weightless Woman closed her parasol and swung it like a baseball bat, the unconventional weapon throwing the undead into a wall. Torihon growled as he pulled himself from the rubble, scrapes from the impact littering his body.

"I-I'll get you!" he cried. "I'll kill you! Shave!"

"Dense Shield!" Amy's umbrella opened just in time, the speeding undead crashing into it with tremendous force. The woman skidded backwards, her shoes digging grooves into the floor, and stared in shock at her shield.

While both of the zombie's remaining horns had broken off from the impact, the ends of the swords had punctured the umbrella. Moving quickly, Amy pushed forward and down, pinning the undead between her weapon of choice and the floor. Torihon's head and neck poked out from underneath the yellow parasol before her.

"Release me!" he demanded.

"I don't think so," the pirate woman responded, one foot coming to rest on the neck of her victim while the other secured his body under her umbrella. "Crescendo Stone: Slow Guillotine. 50 Kilos... 75 Kilos... 100 Kilos... 125 Kilos..."

"W-What are you doing?" Torihon coughed. He tried to pull his swords free from the umbrella, but his angle only caused them to tear it just a little more.

"150 Kilos... 175 Kilos... 200 Ki-"

POP

With a sickening pop and a splat, the head of the zombie broke away from the crushed neck, rolling across the floor with a shocked expression and long-dead blood leaking from the base. Kneeling down, Amy stuffed a handful us salt into the remains of the body's neck, freeing the wiggling, black mass there. It and another pool of shadow met on the ceiling, seeming to dance around each other before both flew out the doorway.

"Damn, that's brutal," Gin commented, observing the carnage. "Does this mean you won't kill Coby when and if we learn that he and Grace are together?"

"I suppose," Amy huffed, climbing off of her upside-down umbrella to allow Gin to collect Coby's Sabaku no Kiba blades from the corpse. She tsked at the holes, but knew there was nothing she could do about them at the moment. "Did you get Grace's pallet and paints?"

"Of course," the man responded. "What do you take me for? An idiot?"

"Well..."

"Oh shut up."

Gin and Amy VS Torihon and Iro

Winners: Gin and Amy

End of Chapter 97

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-SwordOfTheGods