Chapter 25: Impending Storm

Here's a new chapter enjoy:)

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Akainu stormed down the corridor, barely giving the saluting Marines a glance as he made a beeline for Sengoku's office, a file clutched tightly in his hands.

Two Marines stood guard outside his door on each side, stiffening when they saw who was approaching.

One of them raised his arm hesitatingly, "Ad… Admiral Akainu… I'm sorry but you can't…"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Akainu roared, shoving the door open violently, the door hinges creaking loudly in protest.

The Admiral glared at the man sitting behind the mountain of paperwork at the only desk in the room, storming straight towards him.

"I swear if I need to replace another door because of that Straw Hat again…" Sengoku muttered under his breath as he put away his pen.

Akainu tossed the file he was holding in front of Sengoku with disdain, pointing his finger accusingly at it as though condemning a criminal.

"Explain this Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"

Sengoku calmly adjusted his glasses before picking up the file, unperturbed under Akainu's glare. He sighed when he read the content of the file.

'Strawhat again as expected… Not sure if he is a blight or a blessing right now…'

The file reports on Nico Robin being sheltered under the Straw Hat Marines' protection as a wrongfully accused individual, detailing the possibility of corruption and a traitor amongst the Marine ranks while requesting for a thorough investigation. There was a demand that amnesty to be granted to Nico Robin should the charges be found to be false and suitable compensation to be made to her afterwards.

"Yes, I am aware of this Sakazuki, what else do you want from me?" Sengoku glanced at the Admiral.

"We let a wanted criminal into our ranks! We all know about this Nico Robin and yet we allow this?! How can Luffy do such a thing?!"

"What would you think he would have done? It's not like you don't know him, Sakazuki."

"He should've just turned her in! That's what we are supposed to do! He is too soft for his own damn good!" Akainu spat.

Sengoku pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again, "He wouldn't do that while knowing that the party was innocent. His values are different from yours after all."

Akainu seethed, "This isn't about values, this is about Justice! Does he even know about her capabilities?"

"Seeing as how he was part of CP9 and also Kuzan's apprentice, I would say yes."

"THEN WHY ARE WE ALLOWING THIS?!" Akainu slammed the table with a fist, scattering documents all over the floor.

Sengoku sighed for the third time after seeing the mess. He pulled open a drawer on his right and tossed an official looking document on the table.

"It's not like I don't want to, but we can't touch them."

Akainu picked up the document in confusion, eyes widening at the contents.

"What? How? How did this even…"

The document officiated the forming of the Straw Hat Marines, dictating it to be a department under the Marines while remaining completely independent from it. It allowed them to operate independently as its leader saw fit without being influenced by the Marine's chain of command and its crew members and associates were not to be subjected to Marine incarceration and answer only to its leader. There were several other information about promotion and duties that Akainu glossed over but the main thing that shocked him was that the document was signed by Kong himself.

"At least your reaction was worth it… All I know was he came for inspection and somehow Luffy got to meet him and they had a talk. Witnesses say that he was quite passionate and convincing in his views..."

"This isn't something that he would do… What did Luffy tell him?"

"It isn't, which is why I was just as shocked as you are when I received it. As for what Luffy told the Commander, I haven't the faintest idea. No one else was close enough to hear when they were having their… Discussion..."

Akainu crossed his arms, "I do not think Luffy is capable of doing this. Someone else must be behind it!"

Sengoku shrugged, "I heard his performance in CP9 was quite extraordinary, not to mention that both Kuzan and Borsalino were much more productive when he was under their wing. I was tempted to get the boy to teach me how to get those two off their lazy asses for even a day."

"That's beside the point! Isn't this just basically allowing him to build his own private army? What's so different compared to those damn Warlords?! He's basically out of our control! What was he thinking allowing this?!"

Sengoku rolled his eyes at the outburst, pointedly refraining to point out the men at G-5 were not any better anyway.

"Apparently Kong didn't see it that way. We can only hope that our dear boy doesn't have that ambition. Then again, judging by his accomplishments so far, I doubt he would. He has been very compliant with us so far and I wouldn't want to change that... Do look at the bigger picture won't you?"

Akainu narrowed his eyes, "What are you suggesting?"

"Placing them 'under' Garp was the first step, I kept this one here and publicized the one he is currently carrying to gloss over the fact that they were not subjected to our jurisdiction. Then working towards giving him an Admiral position will keep him closer to us. They do say keep your friends close and your enemies closer after all."

"All of this still does not address Nico Robin."

Sengoku gritted his teeth, "What can I do? Kong himself told us not to touch him so who am I to do it? All I can do is keep a close eye on him."

"I will talk to him and get him to retract it!"

"You think I haven't tried? I appealed to him when I first received it and he sent me away telling me to trust in the boy. Now with all his accomplishments piling up, I have fewer and fewer reasons to bring this up again. He has been achieving much more in this short time than what most veteran Marines have in their lives."

"The Gorosei could do something."

Sengoku narrowed his eyes, "you're not one to rely on them so eagerly, what would you have them do?"

"Anything. I will seek them out myself and get some sense into them."

"You can't just… Hmm… Be careful, Sakazuki… Luffy is a powerful ally, but allies can still become enemies."

"I do not need you to remind me… I will do things my way now, even Kong won't be able to do anything if it's the Gorosei who decide on that Devil Child's fate."

Akainu tossed the document back on the desk before storming back out the room, leaving Sengoku to clean up the mess that he had made.

"Monkey D. Luffy… Sometimes I wonder if things would have been easier if you were not a Marine but a pirate instead…"

"WHAT?!" the Straw Hats yelled out in unison.

"Arrested?! For what?!" Nami exclaimed, already feeling the headaches she was going to get very soon.

"That… Well… I am not entirely sure myself… I was only told by the White Berets that he had committed a serious crime and he had to be taken in…" Pagaya scratched his head, a little taken aback by the Straw Hats' reactions.

"White Berets? The local law enforcement huh?" Usopp frowned, recalling seeing them patrolling in the city while he was shopping.

Chopper clutched his head while panicking, "What do we do now? What can we do?"

Before the Straw Hats could start discussing on what their next course of action was, a loud ringing was heard from the front door bell.

"Forgive me, I'll go see who it is…" Pagaya apologised before exiting the room.

Zoro watched the Skypiean leave before turning to face the rest of the crew, his face dead serious, "We break him out of here."

Sanji slapped him on the head almost immediately, "We're not some damn criminals! We don't do break outs!"

"Well then what do you suppose we do, dart-brow?! Let him rot in a cell here while we continue on our merry way into the sunset?"

"Even so, we can't just break him out of prison you stupid marimo! We're Marines! We're supposed to be doing the opposite of that!"

"Why you pervert cook, you want to go?!"

"You think I'm scared of you?!"

"Enough!" Nami slapped the two of them on the head.

The navigator huffed as she crossed her arms while glaring at the two men, "now is not the time. Besides, Sanji is right, Luffy would not want us to resort to criminal acts either. We can find out what exactly he has done and appeal to these White Berets to release him in some way. Not everything is about brute force you know?"

Zoro snorted, "I doubt they would release him so easily with the 'serious crime' he committed."

Nami shrugged, "no harm trying."

"I don't suppose we can trust Luffy to solve his predicament on his own?" Usopp suggested timidly.

"""No!""" Nami, Zoro and Chopper voiced out at the same time.

"We're his friends! We need to save a friend from trouble no matter what!" Chopper thumped his chest proudly.

"He's still the Rear Admiral of this crew, if we can't protect our head, what use is of us as his subordinates?" Zoro grunted.

Nami sighed dejectedly, "and also with how he is, he'll definitely cause more trouble for us on his own and the bail money would increase too! We need to get him out before that happens!"

'Figured it was about money…' The other Straw Hats sweat dropped at Nami's answer.

A knock was heard on the door as Pagaya entered the room with his daughter and a man with a light-blue coat and a distinctive white beret on his head. The crew noted that there was a slight swelling of his left cheek.

Pagaya gestured to the man, "I'm sorry to intrude but… Allow me to introduce the captain of the White Berets, Mr. Mckinley."

"Greetings citizens of the Blue Sea. I'm sorry that we had to meet under such circumstances but I am here to inform you that your... friend... has committed a heinous crime and must be punished for his actions."

Usopp gulped, "What… What's going to happen to him?"

Mckinley pursed his lips, "he will be sacrificed to our God."

"Sacrifice?" Sanji raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of place sacrifice their criminals?! What crime did he even commit?!" Nami demanded.

"He committed sacrilege, a taboo to our God. Unless we wish to suffer the God's wrath, we have to offer him up as a sacrifice."

"For such a place like this to believe in God's wrath… Is it really that serious?" Robin inquired.

Mckinley nodded, "It might seem absurd to outsiders like you, but believe us when we tell you that it is real."

Nami grimaced, "What could Luffy possibly do to commit a sacrilege? Wait… On second thought, actually a lot of things… But what did he do this time?"

Mckinley averted his eyes, sighing, "It was not what he did… It was what he could do…"

Flashback

"Nice to meet you Mr. Luffy, I am Mckinley, captain of the White Berets."

The two law enforcement officers shook hands with warm smiles. Both of them were standing in the corridor outside Mckinley's office, the White Beret having agreed to give Luffy a tour of the building.

"Shishishi! I am Monkey D. Luffy of the Marines, nice to meet you!"

Mckinley gestured down the corridor for Luffy to follow him, leaving Pagaya to wait for his guest at his office. Luffy eagerly followed the White Beret as he led him towards the armoury.

"I understand from Mr. Pagaya that you are akin to a high ranking officer in the Blue Sea, I hope your stay with us on Skypiea so far has been enjoyable thus far?"

"Yeah! This place is so awesome! There's so many interesting stuff! Everyone is so nice too! Shishishi!"

Mckinley smiled a little at Luffy's praise, "I'm happy to hear that, we White Berets do our best to ensure law and order in our lands. If you see anything that needs improvement, please do not hesitate to tell me."

Mckinley opened a door and ushered Luffy into the armoury, Luffy marvelled at the various equipment found in the room. The room was filled with a variety of bows, arrows, dials and other sorts of dial equipment.

"Wow! What are these?!" Luffy yelled in excitement, holding up a pair of boots with skates and dials on them.

"Those are our Jet Skis, we use them to travel on Sea Clouds on foot." Mckinley explained.

"Cool! I wish we had such cool things in the Marines!" Luffy's eyes sparkled.

"If you don't mind me asking, Mr. Luffy, but what sort of weapons do you use?"

"Oh me? I use my fists!" Luffy beamed proudly, showing his fists to him.

Mckinley raised an eyebrow at the proclamation, "Isn't… Isn't that a little dangerous? You'll have to get really close to the criminals who may be using ranged equipment against you?"

"Shishishi! No problem, I can just avoid those bullets!"

The Skypeian's eyes widened, "avoid… Bullets? I'm sorry but how do you do that?"

"Oh that's simple! I just predict where the bullets are going with my senses and avoid them!"

"Predict?! You mean you can use Mantra?!"

"Mantra? What's that?"

"You… You can see or sense the presence of others, and glimpse a little to the future?"

Luffy scratched his head "Oh, er… Something like that I guess?"

"Sac… SACRILEGE! Only God and God's priests should be able to use Mantra! MEN!"

Four White Berets bursts into the room almost immediately, as though they were waiting for the signal all this time.

"Arrest him! Take him to be judged by God's priests!" Mckinley ordered, pointing an accusatory finger at Luffy.

"Hey! What did I do?" Luffy protested as the four guards rushed towards him.

He sidestepped the lead guard while sticking out his foot, tripping him to crash face first into the wall behind. Another tried to grab Luffy but had his outreached hand grabbed by the Marine and tossed over his shoulder to slam the White Beret on the ground. The last two guards came at him from both sides but Luffy took a step back and slammed the two guards together, leaving them unconscious on the ground.

"Why would you do this?" Luffy demanded, glaring at Mckinley.

Mckinley did not respond but roared angrily, charging at the Rear Admiral.

Not intent on hurting him, Luffy slapped Mckinley across the face with an open palm. The White Beret fell onto the floor with a loud thud, his face starting to swell at where he was slapped.

Mckinley clutched at his face while glaring at Luffy, "You… You've done it now! Assaulting us White Berets is a class two crime! You will have to be taken to undergo the Ordeals by the priests!"

Luffy fumed, crossing his arms, "You guys attacked me first without reason, you think I will just quietly allow you to arrest me for no reason?"

"Being able to use Mantra while not a priest… This will anger God and he would bring down his wrath down on us if we allowed you to roam free!"

"There's plenty of other people in the Marines who can use this skill too, is your God going to visit them too?"

Mckinley faltered a little at what he said but recovered quickly, "It… It still does not change the fact that you have assaulted us White Berets! This crime is unforgivable! You must be arrested!"

Luffy grinned, settling into a combat stance, "Take me if you can then, I'll beat down all of you."

"If… If you continue to resist, your companions will also be labelled as criminals too! They will also be arrested and-"

Luffy's figure disappeared from Mckinley's sight, reappearing right in front of him with his fist implanted at the side of the Skypiean's face, punching through the wall he was leaning against.

"Bring my friends into this, and I will make sure everyone here will never be seen again."

Mckinley paled a little at the Marine's threat, realizing his eyes had gone deathly serious. He gulped, trying to suppress his shivering.

"I… I… God will… God will still punish all of us if we do not do our duty…"

Luffy pulls back his fist, leaving a fist shaped hole in the wall, "God this, God that, so this God is behind all this then?"

"What… What do you want?"

"Fine, I'll take your lousy Ordeal. Take me to see this God of yours," Luffy grinned.

"Mantra huh…" Zoro noted.

"That's his Observation haki isn't it?" Sanji asked.

Zoro nodded in response.

"What's going to happen to Luffy?" Chopper cried, holding onto the seams of Usopp's pants.

Mckinley pointed towards the window overlooking the beach. The Straw Hats moved quickly towards it, just in time to see Luffy board Merry before a Super-Express Speedy Shrimp emerged from below, carrying the ship with its claws and speeding off into the distance.

"What the hell was that?!" Usopp exclaimed.

"It's God's Super-Express Speedy Shrimp, it carries criminals to the sacrificial altar to be sacrificed." Mckinley explained.

"Oh no! Luffy's really going to be sacrificed! What should we do?!" Chopper started running around in a panic.

"What's your call Usopp? You're supposed to be the lead today." Sanji remarked.

Everyone turned to look at the sniper who was currently shivering in his shoes. He swallowed the saliva in his mouth, doing his best to put on a smile of confidence.

"I… I say we wait for him here! We should… trust our superior to solve this on his own! As his subordinates we should have full trust in our leader after all!"

Zoro scowled at his answer, "If no one wants to go save him, I will."

The swordsman turned to leave but Sanji stretches out an arm to bar his way.

"Did we all not agree to obey the squad leader's decisions? We all listened to you when you were in charge."

"Then we would all rather just sit here and abandon him to his fate?"

"If that's what Usopp has decided on, yes. If you do not agree, wait until your turn to decide."

Zoro unclasped his sword, "that would be something I cannot agree on. I'm going even if no one else does."

Sanji narrowed his eyes, "What you're doing will undo everything we have been trying to achieve so far."

"It would not matter if our real leader isn't here anymore."

"If… If I may interrupt…" Pagaya raised a hand timidly. "Even though Mr. Luffy has been chosen as a sacrifice, the rest of you can undergo the priest's trial of Ordeal to save him…"

"Trial of Ordeal? What are we supposed to do?" Robin asked.

"You will need to make your way to the sacrificial altar by a dial boat, passing through the priest's judgement by completing their trials. If you manage to make it to Mr. Luffy, he will be declared innocent and released."

"Oh, isn't that simple then?" Nami clapped her hands happily.

"So far in our history… No one has passed through successfully and everyone convicted dies at the priest's hands."

"Luffyyyyyyyy…. Why must you involve us like this…" Nami crouched in a corner and began sobbing.

Usopp laughed nervously, "I guess we better stay here after all!"

Zoro glared at Sanji who still barred his way, "Move."

"If you don't mind me asking, mr. swordsman, why are you so bent on helping him? Knowing Mr. Rear Admiral's strength, we would be more of a burden than a help."

"I KNOW!" Zoro yelled, startling everyone in the room.

"I know his strength! I know full well how he's still far out of my reach after my loss with Mihawk! Perhaps even in Luffy's eyes I'm not even worth fighting!"

The swordsman turned and glared at everyone in the room, his left hand gripping tightly on one of his katanas.

"Luffy came to me looking for crew mates and I told him I wanted to be the best swordsman in the world at that time without knowing what true strength was. If I could go back in time I would have given myself a slap in the face to wake up! Who did I think I was to be so arrogant when I haven't even seen what the rest of the world was capable of?!"

Robin raised her eyebrow slightly, she never actually considered how the crew actually came together since everyone of them has such different ambitions. The swordsman wanted to be the best swordsman in the world, the cook wanted to find the mythical All Blue, the navigator wanted to map the world, the sniper wanted to be a brave warrior and the doctor wanted to cure all ailments as the best doctor in the world. How did Luffy actually got all of them with such different personalities to become Marines?

"Why… Why do you have so much faith in me? Why, Luffy?"

"You think too little of yourself Zoro. That girl you helped back then? You willingly subjected yourself to that torture to save her even if it meant you might lose your chance to attain your dream. Not many can do that unless you have the will to live through every obstacle that life throws at you to protect your dream. You are much stronger than you think."

"Luffy knew Mihawk's strength, but he did not laugh at my dream. He told me I could do it, trusted that I could fulfill my dream. He said he would bring Mihawk to me if I joined and he fulfilled that promise but I embarrassed him with my defeat. There are definitely plenty of stronger swordsmen out there right now but he picked me and never abandoned me as he easily could have because he believed me. How can I forgive myself if I am forever walking in Luffy's shadow then?! He supported my dream so why am I not doing my best to support his?!"

The Straw Hats were rather taken aback by this, they never thought Zoro still had such strong feelings after his defeat at Mihawk's hands. Luffy had picked them all up when they told him their dreams, and he has never laughed at any of them.

Sanji looked out the window, watching the sea outside.

"Hey Sanji! Your dream is to find the All Blue right?"

"Yeah, don't suppose you know where to find it Captain?"

"Nope! But let's find it together so you can cook more delicious food! Shishishi!"

"It's not always about food you shitty Captain!"

"But your food is always delicious!"

Usopp glanced down at his hands, remembering not so long ago that he was still known as the village's liar.

"I'm going to be a brave warrior of the sea!"

"THAT'S SO COOL!"

"And I'll visit Elbaf one day to see the village of giants!"

"Yeah! Let's go together Usopp! It's going to be awesome!"

Nami scratched at her tattoo idly, her eyes distant.

"You made my navigator cry Arlong!"

"Nami! You're my navigator now! Got it?"

"You want to draw a map of the whole world?! We have a lot of places to go then! It's going to be fun!"

Chopper sniffed back the tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes.

"Shishishi, you don't look like a monster to me!"

"You're a doctor too? THAT'S SO COOL!"

Zoro gritted his teeth, "To become a Marine Admiral with the strongest crew to protect everything... He's counting on us to do that with him."

Zoro turned to walk towards the door again, "If you want to stop me, it'll have to be over my dead body."

"Wait!" Usopp yelled.

All the Straw Hats turned to him. Usopp clenched his fists, a look of determination in his eyes.

"All members, gear up and prepare to set out to rescue our Rear Admiral! We will prove his innocence and overcome the trials they have set for us without fail! MOVE!"

"Aye, aye!"

Robin marvelled at how close the crew were before joining them in their preparations.

"I'm sorry to ask, but how do we get there? We have a map here but we don't know where the altar is." Nami asked, handing the map that Luffy found to Pagaya.

"Oh, this is a rather old map but this seems quite accurate," Pagaya received the map and drew out a route for them to follow.

"I will lead you to the harbour, you can use my dial boat to get there to save your friend." Conis offered, gesturing towards the door.

"Please do Conis chaaan!" Sanji pirouetted after her.

Mckinley followed closely behind while Pagaya opted to stay to clean up the house. Walking through the streets of the city, the crew noted that the city's atmosphere was much more muted than it was compared to before.

"They're avoiding us…" Sanji noted.

Zoro snorted, "Huh, we're a criminal's associates, of course they wouldn't want to get close to us now."

"I want to clear Luffy's name fast so I can go look at more of the city…" Chopper sighed.

Robin took note that some of the Skypiean that she had talked to before were intentionally averting their eyes away from her, as though they were guilty of something. Remembering Nami's words, she watched Conis as she guided them towards the harbour.

They arrived at the harbour before long, dial boats of various shapes and sizes were secured to the jetty.

"Wow! Chopper look at that one! It looks like a house!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Sky Island is so interesting!" Chopper marvelled with sparkles in his eyes.

"We're not here on holiday now…" Nami sighed.

Conis stopped in from of a crow shaped gondola before gesturing towards it, "It's called Karasumaru, it's rather small but I used it before I learnt how to use the waver, so please feel free to use it."

"A crow… It's not even a sea bird…" Sanji sweat dropped.

"We'll just have to make do with it," Zoro grunted, already preparing to board it.

"Is it really alright for us to use this?" Nami asked.

Conis smiled at the question, "Of course! No need to worry about it."

"But will you be fine helping people like us? Everyone else seemed reluctant to even get close after all. You know, you may also be convicted as a criminal for helping us." Nami eyed the girl seriously.

Conis's smile faltered at the question.

"Besides, you seemed to be shaking ever since we left the house, what are you hiding?" Robin asked.

Conis was acutely aware of the sweat trailing down her forehead. She stuttered as she found the rest of the crew looking at her, the men with care and concern on their faces while the women had already begun suspecting her.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Conis suddenly fell to her knees.

Mckinley flustered over her, "What's gotten into you?"

"I can't lie to such people… They… Please, won't you all just run away?"

"Do not say unnecessary things!" Mckinley yelled.

"Don't you think it's strange? Having some weird reason to brand someone as a criminal to be sacrificed? Then explaining everything simply to their companions then guiding them here… It's as though we want you to go there…"

"Don't say anymore!" The surrounding Skypieans yelled.

"The priests ordered to have all of you incriminated for their entertainment… And if we do not obey we'll all be killed! I'm sorry!"

"Enough! Do you want to receive God's Judgement?!" Mckinley grabbed her shoulder trying stop Conis.

Nami gasped,"If you had no choice but to do this…"

"WHY DID YOU TELL US?!" The Straw Hats yelled.

"Now you'll be targeted too!"Sanji exclaimed.

"No! It's too late!" Mckinley scrambled to get out of the harbour, trying to pull Conis out to safety as well.

The distinct smell of ozone filled the air and the Straw Hats noticed their hair beginning to stand.

One of the Skypiean screamed, "God's Judgement is coming!"

The Straw Hat's could only stare in mute horror as a pillar of lightning struck at where Conis and Mckinley had been.

"Conis chaaaaan!" Sanji tried to dash towards the lightning but Zoro pulled him back before he could disintegrate himself.

The pillar soon dissipated to reveal an empty hole at where the two once stood, even the cloud below had disintegrated.

"Worry not! The two are safe with me!" A voice shouted merrily above them.

The crew looked up to see Gan Fall on his giant bird holding on to the two Skypieans.

"I will temporarily protect the girl, no harm will befall upon her under my watch." While saying such things, he unceremoniously dumped Mckinley back on the harbour since he was not in danger of the Judgement anymore.

The knight turned to regard the Straw Hats, "Now you know the true face of this country, will you continue to move forward?"

"This is all a game to this so called God and his lackeys…" Sanji clenched his fists in anger.

"This still won't change a thing, we're still taking Luffy back!" Usopp yelled confidently.

"Maybe even kick God's butt while we're at it?" Zoro chuckled.

"Huh, I see. Then good luck to you all, perhaps our paths will cross again."

With a flourish of his lance, Gan Fall flew into the horizon, disappearing from view.

"Alright! Come on! Let's go before another one of those things come down on us!" Nami yelled, pushing everyone onto the boat.

"Let's go rescue Luffy!" Chopper pumped his fist in the air.

Deep within the forest of Upper Yard, Merry sat grounded on top of a sacrificial altar made of stone. A lone Marine stood patting the mast, a heavy set of chains lay broken at his feet.

"Ah Merry… Sorry you have to go through all of these damages for us… We'll get you fixed up real soon so bear with me."

He turned back to regard the forest with a critical eye.

"'Stay here and wait to die?' No thanks, I'll come and find you instead." Luffy grinned.

The Rear Admiral leapt off the altar, landing within the forest.

Luffy brushed off the dirt from his cloak, grinning at the bushes, "You don't need to hide, I know you guys are here."

Fifteen figures leapt out from the bushes, surrounding Luffy. All of them had goat-like faces with two horns on their head while wearing white robes on their body.

"Sacrilegious criminal! We are God's Divine Soldiers, here to make sure you do not leave your altar and obediently wait for your trial! Now return at once to the altar or we will kill you right here and now in the name of the great God Enel! Repent at once-"

The soldier's speech was interrupted as he was sent flying away and crashed into a nearby tree.

"You all will do for a warmup," Luffy smiled.

"Insolent little-"

"Soru"

Luffy appeared in front of the soldier and kicked him across the head, sending him to join his unconscious companion.

"Rankyaku"

Kicking his leg in an arc, the blade sliced the three soldiers who were pouncing on him, blasting them back and into the sea.

"Take this! Axe dial!"

"Soru"

Luffy disappeared right before one of the soldiers smashed his palm towards Luffy, releasing an air blade that cut through where the Rear Admiral had been. The soldier only had time to feel a gust of wind above him before he was smashed into the ground by Luffy dropping from above.

"Soru"

Luffy appeared in the middle of three soldiers still recovering from their shock. His left fist found its way into the abdomen of one while he spun to roundhouse kick a second one across the face. The last one only had time to fumble with his dial before he too, was punched in his gut and sent flying.

"Got you!"

"Kami-e"

The palm with the axe dial strapped to it sailed past Luffy, delivering its deadly air blade into empty air. Grasping the outstretched arm under his armpit, Luffy circled his hand to rest on the soldier's shoulder. The soldier's eyes widened when he realised what the Marine was going to do and tried to pull his arm back in a panic.

A resounding crack echoed through the forest as Luffy pulled his arm and leaned his weight forward, breaking the soldier's arm and silencing his screams with a swift kick to the head.

The remaining five Divine Soldiers took an unconscious step back, more than half of their numbers were taken within a blink of an eye.

"YAAAAA!" One of them yelled, leaping towards Luffy's exposed back with his palm poised to strike.

Luffy leaped into the air, spinning in a circle. His left foot kicked away the arm just as the air blade left the dial, redirecting it towards another of the soldiers. The soldier didn't have time to scream as the air blade struck him across his chest, blasting him deep into the forest.

The soldier who had tried to use the axe dial paled when he saw what he had done before a swift kick from Luffy's other leg to the head robbed him of his consciousness.

"Three left," Luffy muttered, eyeing the last three soldiers.

He dashed straight towards them, sending his right fist straight into the chin of the middle soldier and sending him airborne. The soldier on the left decided it was in his best interest to flee while the last one launched his axe dial at Luffy.

"Rankyaku"

Luffy kicked his leg upwards and the two air blades collided, with Luffy's overpowering and disintegrating the axe dial's before impacting against the soldier, sending him to crash against a tree.

"Soru"

Luffy caught up to the fleeing soldier from above, delivering a swift blow to the head and face planting him into the forest floor. The previously airborne soldier crashed nearby, the soldier already unconscious the moment he was hit.

The Rear Admiral dusted his hands with a grin, "Now… God Enel was it? It'll be your turn soon."

Luffy sprinted into the forest, not looking back.

Meanwhile in a village hidden in the sea of clouds, a muscular warrior with tribal tattoos on his side and face was gathering a crowd of warriors.

"Everyone get ready to move! This is the best chance we are ever going to get! We have to attack now! Today is the day we restore the flame of Shandora!"

The warriors punched their fists in the air and yelled in agreement as they hurried their preparations. Nearby, a woman was busy comforting a small girl wearing a fur cap. The little girl was holding both ears tightly as though trying to block out any sound she could hear with her hands.

"So… So many voices… Disappearing so fast… So many… So fast..."

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And cut. so that is it for this chapter hope you guys enjoyed and see you in the next chapter.bye

chapter 26: Sky War