252 Akainu Incoming

Law saw the Thousand Sunny approaching Green Bit. It wasn't the plan, but he wasn't going to complain as the plan had gone completely down the drain. The most important thing was to get Caesar out of Doflamingo's reach.

The battle with himself and Cabernet versus Admiral Fujitora and Doflamingo has only lasted twenty minutes so far, but the beach they were on was all but destroyed and much of the nearby flower forest was decimated as well.

Cabernet had proven to be an annoying opponent for the Admiral and Shichibukai. Despite not using haki, her raw strength, durability, and flames kept them both on their toes; unable to ignore her, but also unable to finish her off.

Her presence had been a tremendous relief in what would have been a very difficult situation for Law. His primary weakness in any fight was his stamina, which his devil fruit swallowed up in large amounts like a greedy little pig. With Cabernet's help, though, he was able to focus his abilities with surgical precision, cutting down on his energy expenditure by a great deal.

They were still losing the fight, but there was a somewhat comfortable amount of wiggle room to make mistakes. Now with the Thousand Sunny headed their way, he only needed to get Caesar onto the ship and hold these two monsters off long enough for them to flee Dressrosa. A feat that will be easy with that 'Coup de Burst' thing they've got.

As for himself and the Straw Hats on the mainland, they will either have to escape with Cabernet or another ship that they can steal. Robin and Usopp, wherever they are, were on their own as well.

Something else drew Law's attention. On the distant horizon a plume of steam could be seen, with a swiftly approaching vessel directly beneath it. Unlike the Straw Hats on the Thousand Sunny, he recognised this immediately as the steam ship of the ex-admiral Akainu, now one of the head honchos of the Neo Marines.

Doflamingo frowned deeply, seeing the walking, talking volcano swiftly approaching their location on the tail of the Straw Hat ship. "You're more cunning than I've given you credit for, Law. To think you'd go so far as to lure him here as well."

"Am I missing something?" Fujitora asked, sensing the pause in the fight. Being a blind man, he had no way to notice the incoming disaster.

"Cabernet-ya, get Caesar to the Sunny and tell them to go to our next destination immediately! Don't come back for me and don't let Doflamingo take Caesar back, even if you have to kill him as a last resort!" Law ordered, not bothering to answer Fujitora's question.

Cabernet moved instantly to follow his directions. She was very used to following directions in her nature as a ship, unlike the many free spirited members of the Straw Hat pirates.

The clown scientist yelped as he was manhandled and dragged through the air over the water. The winged woman's hands dug into the flesh of his arms like vice grips, clearly paying no mind to his comfort in favor of ensuring he wouldn't escape her grasp without leaving his arms behind at the least.

Doflamingo didn't sit back quietly as his S.A.D. supplier was snatched away from him. He grasped forward at the air as if he were holding a rope before yanking himself into the air at great speed. Cabernet was fast, but Doflamingo was faster and had more experience in aerial combat. He reached her halfway to the Thousand Sunny and extended a thick whip-like string from his palm, intending to strike her down into the water.

Cabernet expanded into her figurehead form in an instant, a hatch opening in her back and firing a cannon point blank into Doflamingo's face. He was forced to change tactics to defend against the explosive projectile and the altered trajectory allowed Cabernet to roll to the side out of the way.

Doflamingo's whip extended far beyond its previous length and sliced clean through a multistory building in the town across the bridge. Before he could make another move, he was enveloped by Law's room and instantly found himself back on the beach again. Not only that, but Fujitora nearly cut him down with an attack that had been meant for Law. Luckily he deflected the sword at the last second by yanking Fujitora's arm aside with his strings.

"That's strike two, you old coot! Do that once more and I'll cut my losses and put you in the dirt where you belong!" Doflamingo sneered before launching himself into the air again.

"My bad." Fujitora said sheepishly, though he didn't feel that bad about it.

Law had already opened another Room and placed himself, Cabernet, and Caesar onto the deck of the Thousand Sunny. There he told them that they needed to get the hell out of dodge immediately and get to Zou as fast as possible.

"What about you?" Nami asked with concern.

"They still haven't contacted us to tell us that they've destroyed the factory, so I need to buy time for them. Get going! Oh, and I'll take this thing with me, it'll come in handy." Law said, grabbing Giolla by the scruff.

"Hey! Don't call me 'it', you philistine!" Giolla complained.

"Oh, yeah. Caesar, take this too." Law said, pulling his heart out of his chest and tossing it to Caesar, while he placed the heart he'd been threatening Caesar with back into his chest.

"You bastard, you had my heart in your chest the whole time?! That's both disgusting and fascinating!" Caesar complained, diving to catch his heart before it hit the ground.

"I will assist you." Jinbe stepped forward.

"Not against an admiral, Akainu, and a Shichibukai you won't. That's not a fight we can win by ourselves." Law said, then vanished from his place with Giolla in tow.

"Doflamingo is headed this way and that marine warship is flying towards us!" Chopper screamed in fright.

"Damn it! Hit the Coup de Burst, we don't have a choice in the matter!" Nami commanded.

"What about Luffy and the others?" Brook asked.

"Cabernet will take care of them, she just took flight a moment ago. Get your bony ass moving!" Nami ordered!

Sure enough, Cabernet was hurtling through the air and collided directly with a falling meteor, which promptly exploded into a million little bits of rock before it could get anywhere near the Thousand Sunny.

"Do it!" Nami shouted once again.

The familiar warbling sound of the soda engines kicking into gear could be heard before the Thousand Sunny disappeared over the horizon in mere seconds.

"Hmm, we won't catch up with them will we? Change course for the main island, I sense the battle will shift there soon." Fujitora said, casually slurping on some noodles.

"Sir, what about the lunarian woman?! She's right there!" His second in command pointed out?

"She is? Get to the mainland quicker, then! I can't stop her from tearing the ship apart, you know. *slurp*" Fujitora said, alarming them. It wasn't inconceivable given what she did to that meteor, which was far harder than their ship's hull.

Akainu's steam ship did not change direction however and barreled onwards towards the action. Doflamingo considered his options and didn't much like the odds of what he was about to do, but he still did it.

Law was waiting for him openly on the bridge with Giolla at sword point. Doflamingo landed and scowled at him for taking one of his officers hostage. He might be willing to sacrifice his people if necessary, but that was only if he had to. When he saw Cabernet flying in their direction, his scowl deepened.

"What's that fool doing?!" Law muttered to himself in frustration.

To both of their surprise, Cabernet sailed straight over their heads and kept going. Headed right for the steam ship.

"Fufufufufu! I guess it's just you and me, Law!" Doflamingo chuckled. "I do hope that lunarian can hold Akainu off long enough for me to gut you!"

Law did some calculations in his mind and decided to trust that Cabernet knew what she was doing. He couldn't change anything even if she was going to her death anyways, so he'd make the most of this chance she had given him.