56 Chapter 56
The Sun God Nika, unknown to him, was everyone's pride and joy. He was the beacon of hope and liberation who had stepped in the world of mortals to bring them ceaseless happiness. He was brighter than the sun which provided them warmth in it's tender care. His radiance knew no bounds and shone in the lives of the mortals with benevolent gaze which each and every creature was more and more greedy to acquire.
The Sun God Nika made friends everywhere he went. He was like the flower which attracted the little insects to his caring and careful warmth. Creatures flocked to him without a sense of dread on the planes where Nika sang with his own rhythm bringing joy and smiles on their faces with his gleeful peals of laughter.
Nika wasn't only generous but was also like the stars and the moon which dotted on the dark sky. He was the embodiment of everyone's wishes and love. Nika cherished everyone, freed them from their own agony and granted their wishes... and all it required for it was a simple word of help and a bowl of offering for Nika to give his all.
Nika never minded, even when he kept on sharing his vast otherworldly powers with his friends, creating new species altogether with his vast ceaseless imagination. Because he knew that would keep them safe when he wasn't there to protect them from other greedy creatures. He shared his flames, his powers, his fruits and what not the creatures asked of him, never even hesitant in the endeavor.
All because Nika knew he was lonely. If he could make anyone stay by giving away a part of him, he never would mind. The incessant eons of being lonely, all alone, with the rare visits of his 'Father' and calls of his mother, would never satisfy his heart.
The time to return to his usual duties came as he was gently reminded by his mother. He listened to her knowing completely well that he doesn't want a repeat of what happened several centuries ago.
"Lord, do you really need to go?" A giant, his friend, asked looking at Nika observing the red ethereal sky.
"We wanna play more!" A tiny creature held Nika's finger with his hands.
"When will you return again, my lord?" A creature with flames and white hair asked bowing to him.
"Sorry, but it seems I am needed," Nika conveyed, snuggling the little tontatta with his finger. "I will try to return soon." Nika sadly spoke knowing full well that it would take at least a year in the mortal realm for him to return once again. So was his life chained to the endless duties which bound his wild and free heart.
When Nika next returned hoping to find his usual friends who had swore to stick with him, he saw their blood sprawled mercilessly on the same place where he had left them.
Nika felt a tear roll down from his eyes, which was soon followed by many more.
"W-Why?" Nika's voice trembled, running to check over the bodies of his friends.
"Why would anyone..?" Nika asked unsurely, checking for even a little bit of life in the vicinity.
There was none.
He couldn't do anything for his friends.
"Why didn't you call me...?" Nika asked to the dead bodies. He would have rushed in a single call of theirs! So, why?! Why?!
"How pathetic for the Sun God to cry over measly mortals!" A cruel being laughed at his misery. How could they?!
Nika lashed out violently, glaring at the shadowy figure who was standing in a circle.
"Did you do this?!" Nika inquired, his omnipresence power trying to crush the demon- because he couldn't be anything more if he had murdered his friends in such a cold blood.
"Aww! You should have seen how they refused to call you," The demon cackled, not at all bothered by the scorching heat coming from the bearer of flames. "Something like you would be punished if they called-"
Nika didn't give the demon a chance to say further as he lunged on it, but before he knew all went dark.
.
"Can you pirates, possibly hope to fix that scar in his heart?"
Luffy was snapped to the reality. A heart which was broken by both creatures where Chopper should belong. A broken heart which he swears to fix it, even if he has to give his own for the sake, Luffy was ready.
He was about to voice it when the door to the room was thrown wide open by Chopper who was in his reindeer form.
"DOCTRINE! WAPOL IS BACK!"
Luffy titled his head in confusion of who this Walol was to make his new friend feel the frenzy of emotions.
"Who is Wamol?" Luffy voiced when no one responded.
"He was the ruler of this country before," Doctrine spoke as she stood up from her place. "Let's go, Chopper." Doctrine announced walking to the door, before turning backwards for a moment. "Don't let him leave the bed, his condition hasn't improved completely. Understand, boys?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Sanji immediately voiced whereas Zoro nodded his head.
"That's unfair!" Luffy whined, pouting to his friends. "I'm completely fine!"
"Stay in, Luffy," Sanji spoke tiredly after touching the forehead of the said teen. It was still a bit hot, and not at its normal temperature. "We will take care of the problem."
With that, Zoro and Sanji headed outside, leaving a pouting Luffy.
But Luffy wasn't going to sit still, so as soon as Zoro and Sanji left him without supervision, he sneaked his way to the roof top to see what was going on.
On the other hand, Sanji and Zoro made their way outside to find three more unknown people and from the conversation which was going on it didn't look like those people had any good intentions.
"You know what," Zoro stated, his hands going to the hilt of his katana. "There is someone who needs rest and with your shouting, I don't think that idiot can contain his excitement." Zoro moved fast with his katana in his hands and Wado in his mouth. "So shut the hell up, you tin box!"
"Y-Y-Your majesty! He is that guy whom the Strawhat boy was carrying!" Chess, one of Wapol's Lackey stated in horror at the murderous aura the green haired man was emitting.
"WHA-" Wapol was not allowed to speak another word as he was slashed on his chest by the man and thrown on the snow.
"YOUR MAJESTY!" Chess and Kuromarimo, who were with Wapol shouted instantly.
"What in the world..?!" Dr. Kureha questioned at the strength of the swordsman, who without breaking a sweat had made Wapol lay flat on the ground. Even Chopper stood speechless at the action.
"Do we know these guys?" Sanji uttered smoking for the first time since the morning.
"Who cares? They are disturbing Luffy's rest," Zoro stated unclasping Wado from his mouth and turning his back to the tin man.
"How dare you treat the king with such brutality?!" Chess yelled at the green haired man.
"That's right! Don't you know you are in the presence of royalty?!" Kuromarimo shouted.
"King?" Zoro asked looking over his shoulder. "I don't care if you are a king or not. If Luffy comes out with your shouts, I swear I am gonna throw you three from the cliff."
"Does he have some bad blood with that guy?" Dr. Kureha asked Sanji, who shrugged.
"AGHHHHHHHH!!!" Wapol shouted getting up from the crimson snow which was painted with his own blood. "You bastard! You have rocked me off for a big time! You are gonna pay!"
"Keep your chitter chatter low," Sanji spoke not giving a shit to the king.
"You want round two or what?" Zoro asked with raised eyebrows.
"He is..." Chopper spoke but he couldn't speak as he stared at the swordsman with amazement.
"Yeah, I know," Sanji spoke from beside Chopper. "Zoro is a total monster in the flesh! But our captain is the biggest monster among us."
Chopper didn't reply to Sanji as he felt himself going through an internal turmoil.
"Dalton's corpse is below and here we have the rebel flag, as well as the Strawhat boy's friends! What a perfect chance to remove all the throns in a perfect swift!" Wapol mused as he stood up on his own legs.
"Indeed, Majesty! It will make a perfect rebirth for our Drum kingdom!" Chess agreed with the King. "Allow us to put these imbeciles to their grave!"
"I don't know what you were thinking, but you sure have some guts living in our Majesty's castle and you to attack him," Kuromarimo stated, getting spiky balls in his hands out of nowhere.
"I don't really care about this crumbling piece of heap you call castle," Doctrine chuckled folding her hands over her chest. "But my stubborn lil' friend here was insistent on making a grave for Hilluk here!" Doctrine stated seeing Chopper change his form to monster point, which made the lackeys jaws drop.
"Your Majesty! That's the monster which came that day!" Chess stated in horror.
"Yes, it's the same monster who came following Hilluk that day!" Kuromarimo confirmed, with wide eyes.
"Doc wanted to save this country and that's why I won't let you step a foot in this country!" Chopper stated, looking at the lackeys. "I WON'T LET THE LIKES OF YOU KNOCK DOWN DOC'S CONVICTION!"
Luffy who was seeing and listening all of it, whistled from the roof of the castle, sitting beside the pirate flag. His new nakama sure has guts, he will give him that!
"Excellent! All the people who I want to kill are right here!" Wapol cackled like a demon. "No need for mercy, Chess and Kuromarimo! Slaughter them all!"
"What are those jerks even doing?! I don't give a fuck about them!" Sanji chewed the butt of his cigarette. "Hey, granny? Are you gonna fight?"
"I'll lend you a hand if you can't," Doctrine stated, her eyes going to Chopper who looked ready to fight.
"Turning a holy castle into a grave for a quack doctor?!" Kuromarimo angrily stated. "I'll start by killing you Dr. Kureha!"
"Doctrine!" Chopper shouted as the man threw spiky balls towards his mentor, who wasn't even moving from her spot.
She didn't need to after all as Sanji stopped the ball with his kick.
"Now, now," Sanji called tilting his head and giving the man a deadly glare. "What kind of afro bro goes after a lady?"
Luffy grinned proudly as Sanji got praised by Doctrine. He wanted to join in the fight, but well he'll wait and see how much his friends have improved. He can't hog all the fight for himself after all.
"Gotcha!" Kuromarimo smirked, happy with this own work of getting his spiky balls stuck on the blonde haired teen's legs.
"W-wha?!" Sanji asked shaking his leg furiously but it was of no use as the balls refused to come off. "It won't come off! The hell's with this afro?!"
"Don't mess around, shitty cook!" Zoro shouted before catching the name of the said attack and turning to the man who has named his attack 'Electric Marimo'!' "And who the hell gave you right to call 'marimo'!"
"Now look who's getting all pissed off, Marimo!" Sanji pronounced the last word gleefully, giving a tick mark to Zoro.
"You wanna go, cook?!" Zoro asked unsheating his katanas.
"What are you kids playing around for?!" Dr. Kureha asked with a sweatdrop seeing those two banter and bicker off like old married couples while the enemy was taking the chance and kept throwing more and more marimo balls on them. Even Chopper was looking at them with confused eyes.
"Hmph! Talk about poor teamwork." Chess mused with a grin on his face readying his bow and arrow. "Let me tell you before hand those marimo afros might not be in the best taste but they sure do burn easily." He stated as his arrow caught fire.
"Knock it off you two!" Chopper tried to break the duo who were still fighting without a care of the world.
"What?!" Sanji and Zoro asked in unison noticing the flaming arrow for the first time.
Chopper having enough of it ran forward to Chess while the man shot his arrows at Zoro and Sanji who were trying to evade it.
"GET OUT OF THIS COUNTRY!" Chopper shouted going to hit Chess while he was concentrating but all of a sudden in place of Chess was Wapol with his mouth wide open, ready to eat Chopper whole.
"CRAP!" Sanji shouted.
"CHOPPER!" Dr. Kureha screamed with wide eyes.
"STOP!" Zoro yelled out loud.
"Tempest Kick!" Luffy called out accumulating enough pressure of wind near his leg to not kill the man right now, and sending the blast towards the piss poor excuse of king.
"AARGGGHHHHH!" Wapol shouted in agony, as he was fling back with a gash in his stomach.
"What was that?!" Zoro asked at the same time as Chess and Kuromarimo tended to their King. Zoro turning towards from where the attack came only to find Luffy grinning widely and enjoying the show while sitting on the rooftop. He really wanted to smack his face right now.
"What the hell are doing out, Luffy?!" Sanji shouted, seeing his captain with a playful smile and mischievous glint in his eyes.
"I can't miss the show, so I'm here!" Luffy announced getting the attention of Chopper and Doctrine.
"I told you to rest, didn't I kid?" Doctrine asked gritting her teeth, but the fact that it was the kid who had saved her Chopper was welcomed. She couldn't imagine what she would do if she lost him too.
"It was boring there! Also the sounds of fight made me to want to come!" Luffy announced not even minding the glares he was given. He could see the facade within Doctrine's words easily.
"Don't you dare still fight, understood kiddo?!" Doctrine shouted making Luffy pout and not promise anything.
"Why did you save me?" Chopper asked unsurely as he got up on his legs.
"Aren't we friends?" Luffy asked tilting his head cutely, making Zoro and Sanji's anger to vanish momentarily.
"You think so," Chopper whispered under his breath, but it was heard by Luffy nonetheless, who laughed his silly giddy laughter.
"Don't you have business to attend, Chopper?" Luffy asked with a smirk.
"I'll kill them! It's time for me to show them my Munch Munch factory!" Wapol glared as he sat up. "Let me show you the true power of the Munch Munch fruit."
"I'm glad I didn't end up killing him," Luffy mumbled wiping imaginary sweats off his brow.
"He can still stand up?" Zoro asked with raised eyebrows.
"Chess! List my meals since this morning," Wapol commanded wiping off the blood from his mouth and adjusting his body to remove the blood.
"At once, Your Majesty!" Chess obeyed opening a small notebook. "One butter sauted cannon, one raw cannon, a cannonball and gunpowder salad and one grilled house from Village."
"Are those even edible?" Zoro asked with a sweatdrop.
"Calling him an omnivore would be the understatement of the decade!" Sanji agreed absent mindedly with Zoro.
"What's he planning to do?" Chopper asked while staying in his base form.
Without giving much information, Wapol used his fruit ability to turn into a house with cannon as his hands.
"Wapolhouse!" Wapol shouted out his attack name making Luffy whistled at the sheer imagination and creativity.
But the next thing which Wapol did made each and every one standing there hate him even more.
"He ate his followers?!" Chopper was the first one to shout out in shock.
"He's cannibalizing his friends!" Sanji shouted while Zoro stayed quiet like Luffy and when he turned to look at his captain who was wearing a jacket he had an expression on his face which clearly shouted that those two weren't dead or eaten. True to Zoro's inference from inside Wapol's house door came out those two as one.
"This form of ours is Drum Kingdom's strongest warrior 'Chessmarimo'!" The duo introduced themselves.
Luffy's eyes sparkled with glee only for him to pout a second later when Sanji stated they were just piggybacking each other.
"Don't let your guard down," Doctrine warned Zoro and Sanji. "If those fellows were weak this nation's citizens wouldn't have put with the ridiculous doctor banishment for so long."
"Article 1 in the constitution of Drum Kingdom 'Those who defy the King's will are to be executed.' This is the foundation of this country. Because I'm the state and the state is I. This castle and everything on this island is mine and mine alone!" Wapol stated glaring at the strawhatted teen. "So there's no way in hell I'm going to stand by while some quack doctor's flag is hanging on top of my castle! It's defiling my entire royal abode!"
And with that speech, Wapol targeted the pirate flag which was flying freely from the top of his castle.
"How dare you do that to Doc's flag?!" Chopper shouted seeing the smoke which now covered the beloved and cherished flag of his father figure. Without seeing the flag which was in the hands of Luffy right now, Chopper dashed towards Wapol in his monster form.
"Hurry up and kill these pathetic worms!" Wapol ordered happily, knowing that the annoying strawhat and Dalton were taken care of. He couldn't help but cackle at the thought that the strawhat couldn't even evade his cannonball and died at the spot.
Chopper evaded the hands of Chessmarimo as he pounced on Wapol with his arm reeling back.
"Why you?!" Chopper growled on the face of Wapol, climbing on him. "Doc even tried to save you before he died!"
"Don't hate humans... This country and its people are sick right now." Doctor Hilluk stated to Chopper who was bandaged.
'Why doctor?! How could you think a man as despicable as him is worth saving?!' Chopper wondered in his mind, glaring at Wapol whose head was as far as he could take.
"I won't hit you," Chopper stated finally. His inner turmoil, the words and reasons of his father figure guiding him. "But you better get out of this country this instant!"
"What kinda crap are even sprouting, Chopper?!" Doctrine yelled at her son while Sanji and Zoro stood there looking at the kind reindeer who was giving his enemy a chance which he was definitely not worth it.
"I know, but doctor-" Chopper was unable to say any further as he was shot down by a cannonball.
"CHOPPER!" Doctrine shouted with horror filled eyes as Chopper was thrown to the ground bleeding.
"Hey you with big fat mouth!" Luffy shouted, having enough of what was happening. The crushed cannonball in his hand which had turned into dust was a clear testament of his anger. The pirate flag which he was holding a symbol of his patience. But he was done now.
"How are you still alive, Strawhat?!" Wapol asked in shock. He was sure that the cannonball had hit the scrawny teen and finished him off.
"A lying loser like you who can only play pirates without even fully risking their life, could never understand the true meaning behind a pirate's flag!!!" Luffy shouted with a pissed off face.
"Luffy?!" Chopper asked in shock while Zoro and Sanji could only look in pity at Wapol now that he has pissed Luffy off. The last time someone had pissed him off, was laying dead under the grounds. They wondered where Wapol would end up now.
"The true meaning of the flag?!" Wapol asked laughing after his shock resided. How wrong he was for doing so! "As if there could be any meaning behind some stupid stuffs that pirate use as a decoration."
"That's exactly why you are a lying loser!" Luffy answered back, holding the flag, which didn't even have a single tear.
"What?!" Wapol asked getting pissed off.
"This flag isn't something you pretend-pirates can go around waving, even as a joke!" Luffy spoke seriously.
"Oh please, you think that a king like me plays pirates because I want to?" Wapol gritted out, getting irked as the second passed. "Get rid of that eyesore at once!"
Chopper looked at Luffy in awe and more respect than his animal senses told him to. Luffy... He is amazing!
"THIS IS MY COUNTRY AND I WON'T LET IT BE DEFILED BY A PIRATE FLAG!" Wapol shouted, pointing his cannon at the strawhat and the flag. "I WILL SHOT IT DOWN HOW MANY TIMES IT TAKES!"
"WATCHOUT!" Chopper shouted instantly, not noticing how Zoro and Sanji were relaxed. They were worried a bit but knew that Luffy's dodging skills were otherworldly. There was no way the teen would get hit or let the flag be hit.
"I will like to see you try, you jerk!" Luffy shouted out. "A pirate flag is a symbol of conviction!"
BOOM!
The cannon was fired, and to the shock of many except Zoro and Sanji, Luffy caught the cannonball easily with his other hand. Not even did he recoil from the force or let himself stumble!
"My grandpa throws better than you!" Luffy smirked holding the waving flag in his hand while tosssing the cannonball in his other.
"How dare you belittle me!" Wapol shouted instantly being compared to a feeble grandfather of the teen. But unknown to him, Zoro who knew about the teen's grandfather couldn't help but agree with Luffy's words.
"I don't know who this flag belong to but a flag blacked by a man's conviction and will, it's not something you can play around with!" Luffy declared tossing the cannonball back to its owner. "An idiot like you shouldn't even touch this flag!"
"ARGHHHHH!!! Wapol screamed in agony for the third time, as the canonball blasted inside his stomach as he had tried to eat it up.
"Your Majesty!" Chessmarimo shouted instantly.
In Chopper's eyes, respect for Luffy increased more and more with each of his actions and words.
"Hey Chopper!" Luffy called out to the reindeer and his newest nakama. "What are you going to do now?"
"If you want to protect that flag so much then so be it!" Wapol shouted composing himself and aiming his cannonballs at Luffy.
"That's enough of you!" Sanji shouted not reading the room like Doctrine and Zoro had done.
"You cook, stop there!" Zoro stated holding the collar of the said man saving him from getting mauled by Doctrine unknowingly.
"But Luffy-"
"He is up to something, can't you see?" Zoro asked with raised eyebrows looking at Luffy who was standing proudly with the flag in his hands and his eyes shadowed by this strawhat.
"He looks pissed," Sanji mumbled, taking out a cigarette from his pocket.
'What are you going to do now?' Luffy's words whirled in Chopper's mind as he cluthed his hooves tightly. What was he gonna do?! He looked straight ahead and saw Wapol about to shot Luffy once again.
What was he gonna do?!
He's gonna save the flag and Luffy!
With that in his mind, Chopper ran straight ahead to tackle Wapol but his punch got blocked by none other than Chessmarimo.
"Now we are talking! Get them Chopper!" Luffy yelled with an excited grin.
"Hehe! Looks like that kid of mine finally showed some spirit!" Doctrine mused with a big grin.
"Too bad for you, while we are here you can't lay a single hand on our Majesty!" Chessmarimo stated with a nasty grin. "What possible reason could a friendless monster like you have to save this kingdom?!"
"Shut up! I can fight even with nobody on my side as long as I have Doc's flag at my back!" Chopper shouted in determination, hiding the stab in his heart from the words of the said man.
"Who told he is friendless?" Luffy asked sitting beside the flag. "I'm his friend!"
"Us too!" Sanji stated pointing to himself and Zoro who was nodding.
Chopper's eyes shimmered with hope as he peeked a look at his... Friends.
"Don't worry, Chopper! I won't let the hippo interrupt your fight!" Luffy stated. "Think you can take the other two?"
"You are not fighting, Luffy!" Zoro stated in a deadpan voice.
"Yeah, you sit right there captain! We will handle the hippo here if he interrupts!" Sanji agreed with Zoro.
"That's mean!" Luffy whined feeling the unfairness.
"I won't hesitate anymore!" Chopper stated, looking straight at Chessmarimo and ignoring the little banter of his... Friends.
"You think you can beat me?! Ha! Stop joking you animal!" Chessmarimo stated teasingly.
"My name's Tony Tony Chopper! The World''s greatest doctor gave me that name!" Chopper stated without any hesitation. "EVEN IF DOCTOR WOULD FORGIVE YOU BRUTES! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR MOCKING HIM!"
"The one begging for forgiveness will be you, you dumb monster!" Chessmarimo spoke in unison. "Get ready to die!"
"Rumble ball!" Chopper brought out the little drug ball from his pockets. "My rumble ball lasts for three minutes and I'll beat you up in that time!"
"3 minutes??!!! Muhahhaha!!!" Chessmarimo laughed. "You won't even be able to touch me by that time!"
"That's cool! I'd love to see that!" Luffy smiled wide, already looking forward for the fight.
"Hey, you two," Doctrine spoke looking at Zoro and Sanji. "Don't start bickering. I don't wanna miss the show."
"Yeah, yeah!" Zoro waved off, already taking a seat nearby to lean on.
"Rumble!" Chopper stated crunching the rumble ball in his mouth.
"Marimo snow melting arrows!"
"Walk point!"
They both simultaneously called out their attacks. The enemy shot the flaming arrows while Chopper turned into an original reindeer dodging the fire arrows easily.
"Huh! So you can transform now? That must mean you're also a devil fruit user! A zoan type fruit like Dalton! You're a reindeer human!" Chessmarimo concluded his observation.
"Heavy point!" Chopper turned into a bulky reindeer darting forward. "No, I'm a human reindeer!"
"Whats the difference?! The important thing here is that I've already memorized the three forms of your zoan fruit!" Chessmarimo stated preparing their marimo balls with hammers in it. "Marimo's super surprise quatto hammers!"
At this point, Zoro didn't know if he should feel insulted or not by the use of the name. Specially when it was only Sanji who would call that stupid name for him. A side glance at Sanji showed his smirk, which made Zoro huff with a bit of embarrassment.
"You've already shown me all these of your forms. You're a power fighter just like Dalton." Chessmarimo exclaimed with a wild look in his eyes, his mind showing the three forms of the said reindeer before him.
"Jump-point!" Chopper quickly jumped above Chessmarimo, dodging all of his attacks easily.
The spectators were amused at the new form which he produced.
"What?! You have four forms?!" Chessmarimo exclaimed with wide eyes. As much as he knows Dalton had only three forms.
"Guard point!" Chopper called shifting to his other form. "My rumble ball is a drug that specifically alters the wavelength emitted by each form. After five years of research, I've discovered four additional transformation points!"
Luffy counted the total forms, which equalled to seven! With wide, starry eyes, Luffy cheered, "Seven freaking forms?! He's the world's coolest reindeer!"
"Arm point!" Chopper called out his another form, choosing to stash the praise in the back of his mind.
"Even if you have seven forms, all you are doing is dodging my attacks. At this rate you can't even defeat me!" Chessmarimo cackled evilly, his master or his Majesty looked proud at his confidence.
"Brain point!" Chopper called out taking a good distance from his opponent and ignoring his words. "Scope!"
"T-that pose..!" Luffy exclaimed with wide eyes and vibrating with excitement. "It's gotta be a beam! He's gonna shot out a beam for real!"
"You got a brain damage, kid?" Doctrine asked with a sweatdrop seeing the teen vibrate at his place. She wondered if he would fall due to it.
"Don't mind his idiotic rubber brain," Sanji chuckled while Zoro smirked, both happy to see Luffy's usual goofiness.
"That's the chin!" Chopper stated with confidence. "I found your weak point!"
Chessmarimo's eyes widened at the statement. "Haha!" He nervously laughed. "You still can't beat me!"
Oh, how wrong he was. 'Cause the next instant he was the one who was eating dirt after the reindeer disappeared from his view to slash him with an uppercut and make him fall to the abyss of consciousness.
"Three minutes!" Chopper stated turning into his cute base form.
"You idiots!" Wapol growled at the same time as Chessmarimo fell on the ground with a thud.
.
"Some of the villagers found it by chance," A villager exclaimed as he led them to the ropeway.
"Didn't expect a ropeway to be set up from a place like this... Isn't this Dr. Kureha's old home?" Another villager questioned, as they filtered into the carriage with the others.
"Don't you think there's too many people riding this thing at once?" Usopp questioned in fear as the ropeway creaked.
"We can't just leave out Hero Dalton especially when he's injured!" A villager agrued instantly.
"We'll fight too!" The others chorused at once.
"Fine! Fine! But this thing is barely moving as it is right now," Usopp grumbled at how slow it was moving. Though he wasn't complaining knowing that once they reach the top they would be facing the King of the kingdom.
"Please, don't push yourself, Dalton," Vivi pleaded as she saw Dalton trying to move.
Dalton panted in response as he leaned back on the space where he was laid.
"C' mon! Put some more power into the peddling!" Usopp encouraged the villagers who were making the ropeway move.
"Yeah! You can do it!" Nami joined Usopp.
.
"Good work, Chopper!" Luffy praised Chopper seeing Wapol seethe in anger and about to attack Chopper for defeating his men.
"Wanna see some cool moves?" Luffy asked cracking his knuckles.
"Wai-" Zoro and Sanji's words laid in the forgotten realms as Luffy swung his leg back and then an invisible pressure attacked Wapol who coughed out blood in an instant.
"That was Tempest Kick!" Luffy answered. "It is basically accumulating air pressure and releasing it in a go like SWOOSH and then BOOM!"
Luffy grinned at the shocked faces of his spectators. Without giving them further warning he jumped off the roof.
"LUFFY!" Zoro and Sanji shouted instantly, but stood frozen like the others once they saw Luffy walking in the air.
"And this one is sky walk!" Luffy answered walking at his pace towards Wapol who was seething in anger and pain. "I don't know how to do this though. You gotta ask Sabo or Ace about it." Luffy informed stepping on the snowy ground, turning his back to Wapol to face his friends.
"WATCHOUT!" Chopper yelled instantly seeing Wapol get up and try to attack Luffy taking the chance.
Keyword: try.
"This is Paper art!" Luffy answered, getting himself as thin as paper to evade the attack done by Wapol by his axe. "It's basically turning as thin as paper."
"STAY PUT YOU BRAT!!!!" Wapol shouted in fury as he kept his onslaught going with his sluggish and pale body.
"And this is iron body!" Luffy grinned staying as still as he could.
"Hey watchout, you idiot!" Doctrine shouted seeing the axe connecting the body of the mysterious teen... Only for it to break in pieces.
"This allows me to harden by body like steel! It's similar to Armanent Haki!" Luffy answered as he smiled sheepishly at the god smacked faces of his friends.
"Who are y-you?" Wapol quivered when his tooth broke when it came in contact with the Strawhat teen's shoulders but Wapol wasn't given any answer as the devil in form of the strawhatted teen turned towards him with an evil grin on his face.
"And this is Finger pistol!" Luffy announced, using his fingers to make holes in Wapol and hence making him throw out more blood.
"Those were the cool moves you were gonna show us?" Sanji asked with wide excited eyes. A part of him pities Wapol for getting mauled and not even given the chance to speak by Luffy but the guy got what he had sown.
"Heh! Those were interesting! Can't wait to learn!" Zoro spoke with interest gleaming in his eyes.
"One is still left," Luffy answered with a pout but before that, he turned his attention back at the poor man who was gasping and begging for his mercy inwardly but yet not vocalizing it.
"You will never come back here," Luffy warned picking up the man's chin with his leg and making him look at his eyes. All the while Luffy's hands were in his pockets. "Do you understand me?"
Wapol gritted his teeth, feeling pain throughout his whole body. He wanted to leave but his home island...
"I-i got i-it!" Wapol stammered and lied through his teeth.
Luffy turned back from the pathetic excuse of man, only for the coward king to try to attack him.
"Some humans never learn," Luffy sighed as he punched the man, making him fly through the skies.
"That was-" Chopper was lost for words but didn't need to say anything as in the blink of his eye Luffy was standing before him.
"This last move is called Soru. It allows users to travel in high speeds." Luffy recounted looking at his friends and then turning to Chopper with his signature smile.
Picking up the little reindeer who didn't even struggle in his arms as his eyes were fixed in the others, Luffy asked once again.
"Join my crew! Come travel the seas with us! It will be fun!" Luffy offered with the most warming smile on his face.
Chopper's lips wobbled, eyes gaining a shiny sheen as he looked at the pirate before him.
