Loguetown Decisive Battle!! The Screams of Comrades

"Very well," Reina said, her voice flat, devoid of mercy, as she held her sheathed katana horizontally before her. The storm seemed to intensify around the blade, the wind whipping harder, the rain falling heavier. The air around her shimmered, not with heat, but with a bone-chilling cold. "Judgment is delivered."

She didn't unsheathe the sword. She didn't need to.

With a movement so swift it was less a motion and more a shift in reality, Reina swept the sheathed katana in a wide, horizontal arc. The air itself seemed to scream. A visible pressure wave, a shimmering distortion like a blade of pure force, shot out from the scabbard, low to the ground, expanding as it traveled. It wasn't aimed at any one person, but at everything in a 180-degree arc before her.

Zoro, already charging despite his injured shoulder, saw it coming. "Shit!" He tried to leap, to use his swords to deflect, but the pressure wave was too wide, too fast. It slammed into his legs with the force of a runaway sea train. His knees buckled with an audible crack. He let out a strangled roar of agony as he was flung backwards, not high, but skidding across the slick cobblestones like a stone skipping on water, his swords scattering around him. He landed in a heap against the far wall of the plaza, motionless, his legs bent at unnatural angles.

Sanji, who had been in the middle of a dazzling series of kicks against a squad of Marines, saw the wave coming. His eyes widened in horror. "Not good!" He attempted to jump, to use his incredible aerial agility, but the wave was too low, too all-encompassing. It caught him mid-leap, sweeping his legs out from under him. He crashed to the ground with a sickening thud, his head bouncing off the unforgiving stone. He lay still, a thin trickle of blood seeping from his temple into the rain-soaked ground. The Marines he'd been fighting scrambled back, their faces pale with terror.

Usopp, still cowering behind Richie, saw the wave of force annihilate a row of market stalls in its path before it reached him. He screamed, a high-pitched, terrified wail, squeezing his eyes shut and bracing for impact. Richie, with a panicked roar, tried to shield him, but the force slammed into the lion, sending both Usopp and the massive beast tumbling end over end, crashing through the remnants of another building. The last thing Usopp saw before darkness claimed him was a flash of white and the sound of splintering wood.

Nami, propped against the wall, her arms useless, her vision blurring, could only watch in abject horror as her crewmates were so effortlessly, so brutally, incapacitated. The pressure wave, having done its work, dissipated, leaving behind a trail of devastation – shattered crates, broken walls, and the still forms of her friends. The remaining Marines stood frozen, awestruck and terrified by the casual display of overwhelming power.

[CRITICAL DAMAGE SUSTAINED BY ALLIED UNITS! ZORO: SEVERE LEG TRAUMA, LIKELY MULTIPLE FRACTURES. SANJI: CONCUSSION, POSSIBLE SKULL FRACTURE. USOPP: UNKNOWN, BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA. ALL NON-COMBATANT!] The System's voice was a flat, despairing monotone in Nami's mind.

Reina lowered her sheathed katana, the rain still curving away from her pristine white coat. She surveyed the scene, her ice-blue eyes devoid of any satisfaction, any triumph. It was merely… an outcome.

"You see?" she said, her voice carrying easily over the dying howl of the wind. The unnatural storm, as if its purpose had been served, was beginning to subside, the sickly green-black sky slowly lightening to a bruised purple. The rain softened to a drizzle. "Resistance is futile. It only prolongs the inevitable and increases the suffering."

She turned her gaze back to Nami, who was shaking uncontrollably, not from cold, but from a mixture of rage, despair, and a pain so profound it threatened to swallow her whole. Tears streamed down Nami's face, mixing with the rain and blood.

"Why…?" Nami choked out, her voice a broken whisper. "Why are you doing this? He hasn't… Luffy hasn't done anything to deserve this!"

Reina's expression remained unchanged. "He is a disruption. A catalyst for chaos. His existence, his ambition, destabilizes the precarious balance of this world. Such elements must be… excised. For the greater good."

"Greater good?!" Nami shrieked, trying to push herself forward, to launch herself at Reina again despite her shattered arms, despite the agony. But her legs wouldn't obey. She was spent. "You call this… this… the greater good?! You're a monster!"

A flicker of something – annoyance? – crossed Reina's features. "Your emotional outburst is understandable, child. But irrelevant. My actions are guided by a justice that transcends your limited, sentimental perspective." She took a step towards where Zoro lay. "Now, where is Monkey D. Luffy?"

Zoro, miraculously, was stirring. He pushed himself up on his elbows, his face a mask of contorted pain, his legs clearly broken. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the cobblestones. "Like… we'd ever… tell you… you damn witch…" he gasped, his vision swimming. He reached for Wado Ichimonji, which lay just out of his grasp.

Reina merely glanced at him. "Your defiance is noted. And equally irrelevant." She started to walk towards him.

It was then that Sanji, with a groan, also began to move. He pushed himself onto his hands and knees, his head throbbing, his vision doubled. "Nami-swan… Zoro… you okay…?" he mumbled, disoriented. He saw Reina advancing on Zoro. "Hey… you… leave him alone…" He tried to get to his feet, but his legs were unsteady.

Usopp, covered in dust and splinters but miraculously alive thanks to Richie (who was now a whimpering, oversized furball of terror), crawled out from under a pile of debris. He saw Zoro and Sanji down, Nami helpless, and Reina, the white-clad angel of death, about to finish them off. His entire body trembled. He was going to die. They were all going to die.

But then, something inside him, that tiny, stubborn spark of courage he usually kept well hidden, flickered to life. Luffy wouldn't give up. Nami hadn't given up. He couldn't either.

He shakily raised his slingshot, tears and rain blurring his vision. He loaded a "Kurobana Boshi" (Black Smoke Star), his fingers clumsy. "S-stay away… from my friends!" he yelled, his voice cracking. He fired.

The smoke star arced through the air and burst near Reina's feet, enveloping her in a thick, black cloud.

"Usopp!" Nami cried, a surge of desperate hope.

For a moment, Reina was obscured. Zoro used the distraction to finally grab Wado Ichimonji, his fingers closing around its familiar hilt. Sanji managed to stagger to his feet, swaying precariously.

Then, with a contemptuous wave of her hand, Reina dispersed the smoke as if it were a mere cobweb. She hadn't moved an inch. Usopp's smoke star hadn't even made her flinch. Her white coat remained pristine.

"A child's toy," she said, her voice cold. She looked at Zoro, then at Sanji, then at Usopp. "You all call that an attack? Weaklings. Tell me, why are you all persisting in protecting Straw Hat Luffy? He has abandoned you to your fate. Bring me to him, and I will let you all go."

Zoro grit his teeth, using Wado as a crutch to try and push himself up further, his broken legs screaming in protest. "Go to hell."

Sanji swayed, but his eyes, though unfocused, blazed with defiance. "We'd rather die… than sell out our captain… you crazy beautiful… ice queen!"

Usopp, despite his terror, reloaded another pellet. "B-because… because he's our friend! And… and he's gonna be King of the Pirates!"

Reina let out a sound that might have been a sigh, or perhaps the faintest exhalation of disappointment. "Friendship. Dreams. Such fleeting, fragile things." She began to walk towards Zoro again, her sheathed katana held loosely at her side. "If you will not be reasoned with, then you will simply be removed."

Zoro, despite his injuries, prepared to meet her, his single sword held in a desperate, shaky guard. Sanji stumbled forward, trying to position himself to intercept, his body screaming in protest. Usopp fired another pellet, this one a simple lead ball, which Reina casually deflected with a flick of her fingers, sending it ricocheting harmlessly off a nearby wall.

Nami watched, helpless, tears streaming down her face. This was it. They were going to die here, in this ruined plaza, at the hands of this impossibly powerful woman. All her training, all her newfound strength, it had meant nothing against someone like Reina.

Luffy… she thought, her consciousness starting to fade from blood loss and despair. I'm sorry… I couldn't…

[WARNING! HOST VITAL SIGNS CRITICAL! SYSTEM ENTERING EMERGENCY HIBERNATION PROTOCOL TO PRESERVE CORE FUNCTIONS! GP CONVERSION TO BIO-REGENERATIVE NANITES INITIATED… INSUFFICIENT GP FOR FULL REPAIR… PARTIAL STABILIZATION ONLY…]

The System's voice was fading, becoming distorted, as if from a great distance. Nami's vision tunneled.

Just as Reina reached Zoro, her hand raising to deliver what would undoubtedly be a finishing blow, a new sound cut through the air – the distant, frantic ringing of a Den Den Mushi, and then, closer, the unmistakable sound of hundreds of running, booted feet.

A new contingent of Marines, much larger than the previous ones, poured into the plaza, led by a flustered-looking Vice Admiral who paled visibly when he saw Reina.

"Lady Reina!" the Vice Admiral stammered, saluting hastily. "We… we received reports of a major disturbance… and… and that Straw Hat Luffy had been… apprehended by Captain Smoker near the old shipyards!"

Reina paused, her hand inches from Zoro's defiant face. Her ice-blue eyes shifted, a flicker of something unreadable within them. "Smoker has him?" she asked, her voice dangerously soft.

"Y-yes, Supreme Justice!" the Vice Admiral confirmed, sweating profusely. "He… he just made contact. He's requesting immediate backup. Says Straw Hat is… surprisingly resilient. And there's some sort of… localized weather phenomenon still active in that area."

Reina stood motionless for a long moment, the wind tugging at her white coat. The remaining Straw Hats – Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and a rapidly fading Nami – could only watch, their fates hanging by a thread.

Then, Reina slowly lowered her hand. She turned away from Zoro, her gaze sweeping over the devastated plaza, the injured pirates, the terrified Marines.

"Secure these three," she commanded, gesturing towards Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp. "The girl," she added, her eyes briefly flicking to Nami's still form, "is inconsequential for now. My priority has shifted."

She began to walk towards the edge of the plaza, in the direction of the old shipyards, her movements as fluid and purposeful as ever. The Vice Admiral and his men scrambled to obey, some moving to apprehend the battered Straw Hats, others looking nervously at Reina's retreating back.

Nami, her consciousness flickering like a dying candle, heard Reina's last words before darkness finally claimed her.

"Smoker… let us see if your brand of justice… is any more effective than this charade."

Fifteen kilometers away, near the derelict shipyards on the outskirts of Loguetown, the air was thick with smoke and the smell of ozone. A localized, miniature version of the earlier unnatural storm still seemed to cling to this area, with rogue winds and an oppressive atmosphere.

Monkey D. Luffy, covered in soot, his clothes singed, his body aching from the lightning strike and the subsequent high-velocity landing (which had involved crashing through the roof of a very surprised fishmonger's warehouse), was grinning. He was bruised, battered, and slightly dazed, but very much alive.

"Shishishi! That was a crazy ride!" he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Wonder where everyone else is?" He looked around, then his stomach rumbled. "Man, I'm hungry!"

"You won't be hungry for long, Straw Hat."

Luffy turned. Captain Smoker, Jitte held ready, his body wreathed in dense white smoke, stood before him, his expression grim. The ground around them was scarred with the evidence of a recent, brief, and very one-sided skirmish where Smoker had easily subdued the disoriented Luffy. But Luffy, being Luffy, had already bounced back.

"Oh! It's you, Smokey!" Luffy said cheerfully. "Where'd Nami and the others go? Did you see that crazy lightning? It was awesome!"

Smoker just scowled, tightening his grip on his Jitte. "You're a menace, Straw Hat Luffy. And your luck just ran out." He lunged. "White Blow!"