Chapter 200
A shrouded figure was standing in front of a giant gate which has 20 keys in it.
"It's so close. The four keys are already within my grasp. Thank you, father, for this beautiful gift. In your hurry to dispose of me, you've made the greatest mistake of your life. And I thank you for that. We'll soon be reunited again, father."
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"Ey Ken, wake up. Everyone is waiting for you outside."
"Yawn!"
Ken stood up out of bed with a tired look as he stared at Deuce.
"Can't we wait till tomorrow or something? I'm tired."
"You idiot! If it wasn't for you wanting to rush things, you could have slept for at least a couple of days."
"Yawn. Yeah, yeah, no need to remind me."
Ken put on his black and gold cape with the Azure Pirates logo on the back. The cape was open in the middle, which showed his abs. He's wearing black boots and pants with Shusui strapped onto his left side.
"Let's go, Deuce."
"I'm right behind you."
The two of them exited the mansion, where they saw their 24 crewmembers and Dracule Mihawk. Everyone had serious looks on their faces. Ken kept walking till he was standing right in front of Sabo. He stared at him for quite a while when he suddenly swung his fist at Sabo's gut. However, Sabo managed to block it.
"It seems like I really got weaker."
"Or I just got stronger."
"That's also a possibility," laughed Ken, and the atmosphere started calming down. Ken looked at his crew.
"I know that I should have told you guys about it, and I'm extremely sorry about hiding this from you. So once we get back home, I'll let all of you get a shot in once Celine is done beating me up. But as long as we're here, let's stop thinking about the past." He pointed at Pangaea Castle and at the Celestial Dragon Gate.
"We have to fight two enemies today. One is a Yonko, and the other is the uncrowned King of the World. Two very powerful enemies. I honestly don't know if we'll make it out of this alive. But what I do know is that we've faced much more dire situations and fought people that were called monsters! But we've always made it out alive and victorious! And I'm not planning to change that today! We're the Azure Pirates! The strongest pirate crew in history! We've surpassed all those that came before us, and we'll keep surpassing everyone till we stand at the top and acquire true freedom! Let's go!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"I hate you guys."
"..."
"..."
"..."
His crew didn't say anything, which made Ken look like an idiot.
"Tsk, whatev-" Before Ken finished his sentence, he suddenly disappeared and appeared behind his crew. He unsheathed Shusui when a sudden shout could be heard.
"Gekishin!"
"CRACK!"
Loud cracking noises could be heard as a giant fist collided with Shusui. Ken looked at the huge man that tried to attack his crew.
"We finally meet, Azure Ken!"
"Blackbeard. How disappointing; it seems like you're nowhere near Whitebeards level."
"Zehahahaha! You know nothing. I'll show you true power today, Azure Ken!" screamed Blackbeard as he jumped back and joined his crew, which consists of Jesus Burgess, Doc Q, and 8 other people, who all look strong. But out of nowhere 4 figures hit Ken, which sent him flying. They immediately tried to go after him when a wall made out of ice suddenly appeared in front of them, but it didn't manage to stop them for even a split second as they went right through it.
"Sabo, take care of those idiots!" screamed Ken as he turned around and started moving away from his crew as the 4 people were chasing him, who were also getting chased by Kuzan, and Tani. Seeing the 7 of them leave, the Blackbeard and Azure Pirates immediately ran towards each other, engaging in a fight. The Blackbeard pirates quickly got back up as hundreds of pirates ran through the giant gate and came running towards them. Blackbeard however, tried to go after Ken, but he got quickly stopped by Ace, Sabo, and Deuce.
"Get out of my way!" screamed Blackbeard as one of his hands got enveloped in darkness and the other in the power of the Gura Gura no Mi. His darkness hand turned bigger, and he pointed his palm towards Ace. Ace looked shocked as a mysterious force suddenly pulled him towards Blackbeard at an incredible speed, and before he could get out of it, he got punched in the gut. Cracking sounds could be heard as the space cracked in front of his gut, and he got sent flying back. Sabo caught Ace, who was struggling for breath.
"SLAP!"
A loud slapping noise could be heard as Deuce slapped Ace on his back, which allowed him to breathe again.
"It seems like he used the gravitational pull of the darkness to pull me towards him," said Ace.
"But it didn't seem as strong as Fujitora's, and if it's anything like his, we should be able to dodge it. Let's spread out and attack from all sides to stop him from getting all of us at once," said Deuce.
"Let's do that," said Sabo, and the tree of them immediately surrounded Blackbeard from three sides. However, Blackbeard quickly made his move before they could get the upper hand. He placed his hand on the ground.
"Black World!"
"Jump back!" screamed Deuce as he moved back, but it was too late for Sabo and Ace. A dome of darkness instantly surrounded them and took away their vision, throwing them into a world of darkness. Deuce wanted to help them out, but when he got close, spikes made out of darkness suddenly shot towards him, forcing him to back away.
"Fire Pilar!" screamed Ace from inside the dome as he got surrounded by flames that shot up, but the darkness swallowed it all up.
"Zehahaha, Devil Fruit powers are useless against me! There is no escaping me now!"
Sabo moved to the right, barely dodging a spike shooting up from under his feet. He and Ace started running around the dome, dodging all the spikes while Ace was trying to attack Blackbeard, but all of his attacks got absorbed.
"Tsk, I've had enough of this," said Sabo as he grabbed his spear, Ame no Nuhoko, from his back and ran towards Blackbeard. He slashed away all the darkness spikes as he made his way over to Blackbeard. Blackbeard immediately attacked Sabo with the Gura Gura no Mi before he could get too close. Cracking sounds could be heard again as Sabo got hit on his right cheek.
"Zehahahahaha, you're done fo-" Before Blackbeard could finish his sentence, he dodged to the right, just barely avoiding a spear through the face. However, he didn't manage to completely dodge it as a small cut appeared on his cheek that started bleeding.
"Flame Palm!"
Blackbeard quickly turned around just in time to see a flaming palm coming for his face. He managed to grab Ace's wrist, but the force behind the palm attack was too strong to be stopped that easily. Ace's palm collided with Blackbeard's face, which sent him flying out of the dome, automatically canceling it and giving Sabo and Ace their vision back. Deuce looked relieved that the two of them got out, but he and Sabo were perplexed about why Ace was looking at his palm in shock.
"That bastard. He nullified my Devil Fruit," said Ace with a pissed-off face. Deuce and Sabo looked shocked at Blackbeard, who started laughing.
"Zehahaha! Didn't I tell you already, Devil Fruit's are useless against me!"
"Tsk, so you two have become useless. I guess I'll have to deal with him myself."
"Don't get a big head, Sabo. There is no way that he is completely immune to Devil Fruit powers. We'll just have to overpower whatever limit he has on that absorption ability, right, Ace?"
"Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Go ahead, Sabo, and be our meat shield."
"Hah, I'll be done before any of you can do any damage on him!" screamed Sabo as he ran towards Blackbeard. Ace and Deuce immediately ran towards his sides and started barraging him with attacks, but Blackbeard just smirked.
"Weak."
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(Damn, we're at chapter 200! It's been almost a year since I've started this story. Time sure flies by fast. So how about some delicious power stones for my hard work =) )
Questions:
- If you describe something as indescribable, haven't you already described it?
- How long will you be remembered after the day that you die?
- Which orange came first – the fruit or the color?
- To what degree have you been able to control the course that your life has taken?
- Is the Earth alive?
- What shape is your field of vision?
- Are we living or slowly dying?
- How far up do bald people go when they wash their face?
- If killing people is wrong, then why do we kill people that kill people?
- How important do you have to be to be considered assassinated and not just murdered?
- Why do people say that they 'slept like a baby' if they slept through the night when babies are known for not sleeping?
- When they say that something is 'new and improved', how can it be improved if it's new? What is it improving on?
- If a vampire bites a zombie, does the zombie become a vampire or does the vampire become a zombie?