Chapter 114: Battle for the East Blue

Chapter 118:

Battle for the East Blue

"You're really getting on my last nerves," Shiki frowned, eyeing the behatted rookie before him. Steam refracted the pink gloss of Luffy's skin as Second Gear continued to speed up his blood flow. "Why don't you keel over like a good little dog and die?"

"Because you threatened my home, my crew, and my wife," Luffy answered. "For that insult, you'll pay with your life."

"JIIIHAHAHA! You fool! We are in completely different classes!" Bringing up his hands, Shiki's arms began to reflect the pink shine as they were covered in a black substance. "You should feel honored, Straw Hat; I'm breaking an oath from long ago just for you. I'd vowed to never use Haki on an opponent so far beneath me, much less a single pirate from Paradise, but you seem to be an exception for far too much."

"Blah blah blah," Luffy waved, eyes shadowed by his hat. Was Shiki seeing things, or was the snow bending around him? "Can we get on with this? I want to kill you before going home and sleeping with my wife."

"You insolent worm!" Shiki shouted, insulted. "Lion's Threat: Imperial Lions!"

"Let's go, Billy!" Luffy yelled, the gigafowl swooping low for the teen to grab on just before the snow lions could impact. Shiki growled and gave chase, hovering behind the rookie and bird as they tried to run. With that, their fight became an aerial battle covering the entire island.

"Jet Pistol!

"Slashing Waves!"

Luffy's attack struck home, driving the older pirate into and through a floating plateau. The raven-haired pirate had no chance to capitalized on it, however, his mount taking evasive maneuvers to dodge the flying slashes Shiki had kicked at them, said slashed proving their edge by cleanly cutting though some floating island debris.

"Go, Billy! Let's see if lightning works!"

"Wah!" The gigafowl banked, approaching Shiki as the floating pirate exploded from the rock. Billy launched a bolt of electricity toward the ruler of the floating islands, but the man backhanded the attack with his black-clad hand. The act taking them by surprised, Luffy was unprepared for the blond to launch himself toward them, grabbing Luffy by the throat and pulling him from Billy's back. Shiki turned, slamming Straw Hat into the rocks beside them.

"You're power is nothing against mine," the older man hissed, the younger clawing at the hand chocking him. He couldn't move his throat, Shiki's hand cutting off Luffy's breath like it would any other person. "I will take everything you love. It's a shame you won't be alive to see it."

Luffy's eyes hardened, black lightning sprouting from his fingers as he began to pry Shiki's hands away. He managed a good breath before the legend's hold redoubled.

"Oh no you don't, Straw Hat. I want to watch the hope leave your eyes right here."

"Wah!" Shiki did not expect the electric shock or the 200-pound bird that slammed into his back. Luffy, being immune to electricity, took full advantage of his foe's loss of focus, pulling one of Shiki's hands away while the other grabbed the steering wheel stuck in the man's head and twisted. Finally free, Luffy went into freefall before Billy caught him, soaring a good distance before Shiki recovered.

"Stupid guitar," said pirate growled as he began to give chase once more, exchanging long-range attacks with the East Blue native and his mount. Billy flew like a giant, mutated bird possessed, leading Shiki toward the edge of the island before banking around the floating waters.

"Slashing Wave!" Shiki shouted, his attack cutting several tons of water from the rest of the faux ocean. Taking control of that, the older pirate let a superior smirk spread over his face. Billy had no time to dodge, the liquid breaking into cubes that dwarfed the fighters before condensing on top of him. Shiki watched, grinning, as his opponents struggled within the water, Luffy's Second Gear ending.

"That must be a pretty miserable death for a Devil Fruit user," Shiki laughed. "Don't worry, I'll make sure your wife and friends join you soon enough... if they aren't dead already. Maybe I'll keep one or two of them for myself, for testing purposes, of course. JIIIHAHAHA!"

BADA-BADA-BADUP... BADA-BADA-BADA-BADUP... BADA-calick

"Navigation to Captain Shiki!" the voice of the man's head navigator yelled through the snail in the captain's hand. "Come in, Captain! It's urgent!"

"What is it?"

"Captain Shiki! There's a cyclone coming in! We need to turn toward the east!" Shiki turned, gazing out in the direction his navigator had given.

"An afro?" Shiki gaped, the black clouds growing in the distance.

"No, captain! A cyclone!"

"Just what I needed," the pirate sighed, hanging up the snail. Taking his time, the pirate turned the islands toward the east as his prisoner starting to suffocate in the watery trap. "I don't have the time to watch you drown, unfortunately. Farewell, boy." Kicking with his swords, the legendary pirate sent a dozen flying slashes into the liquid prison.

Luffy had just enough wherewithal to grab Billy as the attack tore through the water, Falling to an island below with a silent scream. Shiki laughed at the immobile form of Straw Hat Luffy below, the gigafowl grieving for him, until a strong wind pulled at his clothing. Turning east, stormclouds began to swirl. Concerned, the legendary pirate flew back toward his palace.

It was silent for only a minute, the howling winds filling the void between floating islands.

"Hey, Billy," Luffy grunted. "Can you still fly?"

"WAAHHHH!"

"That's what I like to hear!" the captain nodded, forcing himself to stand with a battle cry. "That bastard is going to pay! Let's go catch him with his guard down!" Flying upwards, the pair passed Shiki in a dozen seconds, disappearing into the stormclouds.

"He's still alive?" the old pirate snarled. He moved to give chase.

"Shiki!" Nami's voice interrupted him. He turned, finding her clinging to the lightning rod of his palace. Most of her crewmates called her name from below worridly. "Give it up! You can't win against us!"

"Nami!" Luffy gaped. "What the Hell are you doing? Get somewhere safe!"

"Shut up, Luffy! I have just as much right to protect you as you do me!"

"Nami!" Chopper and Coby yelled from below. "The dynamite's all set!"

"Dynamite?!" Shiki gasped. "You placed dynamite?"

"That's right!" Nami answered, stabilizing herself against the wind with her Clima-Tact. "The palace, the lab, the whole island, too! We'll blow it all to Hell! Your plans are over! Give up!"

"Don't fuck with me!" Shiki roared, raising two mountains from either side of the island. "I've spent 20 years on this plan, far too fucking long for it to be destroyed by one tiny, pitiful, weak crew from the motherfucking East Blue!" Shiki pulled his hands together, the floating chunks of rock doing the same.

"Billy, get Nami!" Luffy ordered, jumping off the bird. The gigafowl swooped in, grabbing the navigator a fraction of a second before the earth could crush her. The miniature mountains shattered, raining dust and rock on the fleeing Straw Hat crewmembers below.

"Stupid guitar," the blond snarled.

"Your fight is with me!" Luffy shouted. "Third Gear: Bone Balloon!" Blowing air into his arm, Luffy transferred that air into his leg and flipped, raising it into the clouds. Down on the ground, his crew fired every electrical charge they could into the clouds around him while running to their ship.

"The Hell?" Shiki blinked, surprised by the absurdity of the situation. "Didn't I kill you? Just die already!"

"I'm not the one who's gonna die here, Shiki! This is what you get for threatening my home, my crew, and my wife!" Luffy's foot began its decent, lightning striking it. A black substance of some sort, something Luffy remembered having been called Haki, grew from the point of the lightning, almost conducting the charge until it covered his leg.

"I am the most powerful person in the world!" Shiki denied. "You can't beat me!" Raising lances of earth from the island below, Shiki covered them with his own Haki and launched them at the descending kick in a continuous stream of earthen spears. The dirt did little more than spark, breaking up on contact. His attack failing, Shiki tried to protect himself by raising an entire slab from the ground below as a shield.

"Elephant Thor Ax!" Luffy roared.

"Not like this... ROGER!" Shiki screamed as the foot smashed through the old pirate's defenses, driving him into the island which shattered under the force. The Sunny launched with a Coup de Burst as the cracks in the ground spread beneath the ship, simultaneously activating the dynamite spread throughout Shiki's palace.

Luffy panted, losing his Third Gear as the buildings and island below exploded. Mushroom clouds of orange, green, purple, and every other rainbow of colors bloomed from the buildings, the chemicals within riding the dynamite's shockwaves. Unable to control his decent, Luffy vanished into the colored clouds.

"Billy!" Billy took to the air, leaving the Sunny and the pirates calling his name behind as he flew into the dustcloud colored with the chemicals and antidotes from Indigo's factory. The Thousand Sunny floated, Shiki's flag having become nothing but a parachute to hold it aloft as massive chunks of island rubble rained around it. All was still.

Finally, after a minute of quiet, Billy appeared from the cloud, Luffy's tiny form perched on his back.

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Franky cheered, Usopp and Merry spinning beside him.

"Thank goodness I'm the only dead one here," Brook cried, clasping Chopper's hooves in his hands. Chopper nodded through his happy tears.

"I can't believe we pulled it off!" Amy shouted, grabbing Gin and kissing him without thinking about it. She didn't seem to realize what she'd done, releasing his static-y form and cheering. Gin crashed to the deck, static pulsing over his form in time with his heartbeat.

Coby slumped against the railing, Grace falling next to him. Both of them were asleep before their heads hit anything to rest on, namely each other.

"He did it!" Usopp yelled, throwing and catching Merry like a father would their child. "He saved everyone in the East Blue!"

"He still looks stupid like that, though," Sanji muttered around a cigarette and a smile.

"Yeah," Nami whispered, tears running down her face, as Billy landed with the sleeping form of their captain. "Yeah he does."

"Mrs. Nami?" Merry asked, hugging Billy's neck. "Can we keep him?"

Nobody noticed the form of Shiki as his unconscious body sank beneath the waves far below. Nor did they see any of his followers unfortunate enough to fall from the crumbling island and join him. Without Shiki's powers to hold them aloft, the islands began to fall, plummeting toward the sea below.

"What about Xiao?" Chopper gasped.

"I think you'll find your answer up there," Robin smiled, pointing to a flock of humans with feathers on their arms. The people were flying, dancing through the air in celebration.

"The IQ in the explosion must have finished their evolution!" Chopper breathed, more to himself than anything.

"Amazing," Nami sighed, collapsing into the furry doctor.

"Nami!"

Down below, the islands finally reached the sea, churning the ocean into a watery Hell of massive waves as the islands settled into place. A fleet of Marine ships watched the spectacle, many of their brigs already full of the pirates that had tried to run.

"That's the Straw Hat Pirates!" one of the Vice-Admirals yelled, pointing to the descending ship. "Prepare to fire! Capture them!"

Try as the marines did, the Straw Hats slipped from their fingers, much to the lament of both the marines and their prisoners.

Chopper cleared Nami from bedrest a couple days later, though he told the others she was still weak from some lingering Daft Green particles. She emerged onto the deck from the doctor's office clad in one of Luffy's oversized shirts. Production of a nest for Billy slowed to a stop as the younger members of the crew swarmed her, asking how she was.

"I'm fine," the navigator insisted, brushing Coby, Grace, and Merry off. "Honest. I feel great." Sensing something, the younger members parted as Luffy approached them.

"Hey," he said, holding out her wedding band and baby den-den. "I think you dropped these." Taking her hand, the captain gently replaced them on her ring finger and wrist. Nami just couldn't help herself, jumping into his arms and kissing him like the world depended on it. The rest of the crew smiled as he swung her around.

This was one more victory toward their goal of making Luffy the King of the Pirates.

"Damn," Fleet Admiral Sengoku hissed, lacing his fingers before his mouth. "We didn't make a single difference, did we?"

"Nope," Vice-Admiral Garp grinned, crunching on a rice cracker. "My grandson handled it, though. What do you think? Is this enough to offer him that position?"

"I doubt he'll accept," Sengoku growled back, glaring at the crumbs his friend was leaving behind. "Or even answer. You realize him turning the invitation down will result in the raising of some of his crew's bounties, correct? Not the Supernovas, but some of the others like his wife at least."

"Bah, he'd see either way as a good thing."

"Garp, this is the last time I indulge your fantasies of your grandkids becoming Marines. Both of them have proven to be too much of a thorn in the Marines' collective ass, just like your son. As I see it, either he accepts and we get rid of Moria, or he refuses, nothing changes, and we're still stuck with that dick-shaped gecko. I will offer Straw Hat two chances before Portgus D. Ace's execution."

Garp frowned. "So you're really going through with it?"

"Yes," Sengoku replied, stamping a message and sending it away. "I am."

End of Chapter 118

That's it for the Strong World movie; I hope you all enjoyed the ride! Up next we'll be moving into the Sabaody Archipelago, after a quick, canonical detour to the Flying Fish Riders. I'm open to all suggestions (though no promises about them happening) and requests for Omakes. For those of you that follow That Night in Skypia, I'm currently working on a scene from Little East Blue. If enough of you ask, I might do other pairings, though those will be non-Canon events and I will pick-and-choose.

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods