One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed Island of the Devil Fruit Gods ❯ Black Legs Vs. Scorpion ( Chapter 16 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Sanji had engaged his opponent on the edge of the village, near the jungle. The scorpion man was bearing down on him, six pincer arms snapping at him and a stinger-tipped tail looming overhead, waiting for an opportunity to get near enough to Sanji to strike. Even Sanji knew that there was no easy way to gauge the weakness of this opponent, at least for Sanji's skill. Kicking with two legs was not a match for the sheer number of bludgeons his opponent had. "Shit..." Sanji muttered, sliding around, circling his foe as he looked for any opening he could. He feinted to the left quickly, catching the scorpion off-guard and moving into a baseball-style slide to the right, flipping up on his hands and striking out upward with his legs. "Menton!" he cried, aiming for the chin, but then down came the tail, and Sanji quickly spread his legs, narrowly avoiding being stabbed by the stinger. He fell on his head and quickly rolled away before he could be pinned down by the six pincer hands that were now counterattacking.
"You might as well be fighting seven opponents." the scorpion man scoffed. "No matter where you aim for me, there'll be at least six things to stop you, and at least one that can kill you. But you're welcome to keep trying." he grinned. "Sasori the Scorpion is my name, and a challenge is what I seek. You bested Egetsunai with such finesse I admit I was most anxious to fight you myself. But I see now that he was a fool, weak, and not worthy of being Lord Ryuumaoh's right-hand man. That should have been me. And I'll prove it to him by bringing your broken body to him and letting him kill you himself! So please, do try not to die." Sasori introduced himself and his intention.
"I have no intention of dying." Sanji snapped. "But I also have no intention of losing to a two-bit bum like you, either. I laid out your friend and I'll bury you right beside him. Normally I'd fry you up, but scorpions don't make very tasty appetizers. You're what they call inedible crap-food." Sanji sneered.
Sasori wasn't sure how to take that insult, so he didn't react with anger. Instead he beckoned Sanji forward, to try another attack. Sanji squinted, trying to find a weak spot, but no, there were indeed to many weapons at Sasori's disposal for any direct attack. "Time for an indirect attack..." Sanji muttered, cracking his neck and letting out a deep breath. Kicking his foot into the ground beneath his feet, he thrust upward next, kicking up a cloud of dust. Sasori watched carefully for his shadow and when he saw a large one up above, he struck with all seven limbs upward at Sanji, intending to finish him off at once. "You guessed wrong." Sanji's voice came from below him moments later.
Sasori felt a hard impact on his pincers and tail; Sanji had kicked a large rock up into the air along with the dust to fake Sasori out. Sasori's pincers and tail were now stuck in the rock he was holding up and Sanji had a clear shot at what he now realized was Sasori's weak spot; his legs. "Cuissse!" Sanji cried, striking hard against Sasori's left thigh. Sasori roared in pain and buckled to the side, balancing on one leg as the other crumpled beneath him. "Pedeste!" Sanji didn't stop, he next stomped down hard on Sasori's right foot, causing Sasori's right leg to now tremble and threaten to make him completely immobile.
"Bastard! Take this!" Sasori attempted to swing the rock he was stuck in at Sanji and deliver a forceful blow, but missed as Sanji ducked down to avoid it and prepare his next assault.
"Sune!" Sanji countered with a sweeping heel kick to Sasori's left shin, causing Sasori to drop to his left knee and squeal in pain.
Now lower to the ground thanks to his injury, Sasori attempted to bring the rock straight downward and crush Sanji, but missed yet again. The rock shattered against the ground, however, and freed up his limbs. "Now you're finished!"
But in the brief moment he took recovering, Sanji hit one more critical target. "Genou!" Sanji shouted, cracking Sasori's right knee and causing Sasori to fall forward onto his stomach, his legs now crippled.
Sasori was seething, his eyes watering with the pain, but he also had an angry grin on his face. "You think you've won, eh?" he spat. Using all six of his arms, he pushed himself up and began to hand-walk on four of them, using his front two to snap at Sanji, and his tail as a third method of attack.
"Shit...thought I'd found his weakness..." Sanji grunted, flipping backward to avoid the strikes.
"You did! Unfortunately for you I have a back-up for it!" Sasori cackled.
Sanji did notice that Sasori was moving much more slowly now, his four arms weren't very powerful, he guessed, since only his first two were natural. That gave him an idea. "Try this on for size!" Sanji flipped upside-down again for an attack. Sasori grabbed both of his arms in his pincers, not realizing he'd just fallen for Sanji's trick.
"You fool! You should have known this would happen!" Sasori laughed triumphantly, lifting Sanji up and readying his tail for a final strike.
"Who's a fool?" Sanji smirked, slowly beginning to rock himself back and forth. Once Sasori's tail came down, Sanji flipped up with his legs and grabbed onto it between his feet.
"What are you doing?! Let go!" Sasori snarled, trying to pull his tail out from between Sanji's feet, but to no avail.
"Getting tired?" Sanji chuckled. He looked down and saw that Sasori's four other arms were trembling, struggling to keep him up. Once they wore out, he'd be completely immobile.
"Let go, damn you!" Sasori shouted, panting, showing visible strain everywhere now.
"Almost. Be patient. A good cook knows the value of waiting." Sanji taunted. Finally, Sasori's arms gave out and he collapsed to the ground, letting go of Sanji's arms in the process. Sanji flipped around and grabbed Sasori's tail, landing on his back and pulling back his leg for a stomping strike. "Queue!" he shouted, cracking the tailbone at the base so Sasori wouldn't be able to control it.
With no other alternative, Sasori reached back with his two front pincers and snapped at Sanji, trying to get him off of his back, but Sanji kicked them both away. "Armet!" he announced, before leaping over Sasori's head and landing in front of him. "You're helpless now. You need to learn to anticipate your opponents' moves in advance. You can't just count on them not seeing your weaknesses." Sanji said coldly. "Fracasser de Scorpion!" he leapt high into the air, spinning, and stomped down on Sasori, pushing him several feet down into the dirt. "Like I said...I buried you, just like your shit-headed snake friend. I always keep my promises. Especially to the ladies." Sanji said, walking away to find the others.

Robin was wondering how her friends were doing. They hadn't yet come for her-were they dealing with the Zoans right now? Were they lost again? Had they even managed to find one another? The Paramecians didn't seem to be talking about it so they must not have found them with their hunters, for which she was grateful. Daikyojin was resting that day, preparing for the battle that would come the next morning. It would take them half a day to march across the jungle and still be in battle-ready condition so really, they had until just before sunset to start the fight with the Zoans that would decide everything. Unfortunately they would never get the chance.
"Shinigami!" someone cried out. "Summon Lord Daikyojin, it's a Shinigami!"
Robin gasped. A Death God? What did that mean? She stood up from where she was sitting and followed the villagers who were rushing towards this Shinigami. Even Daikyojin immediately emerged from his resting place. "What do the gods' messengers want?" he shouted, taking Robin's hand and rushing with her towards the crowd, which parted to let them through.
Robin saw a man who looked like a statue-but he was moving. Like a living, breathing thing carved from rock was now standing in the middle of the circle of villagers, speaking and waving to them. She stared curiously but suspiciously at this man, but everyone else, including Daikyojin, were looking at him happily and expectantly. "Good Messenger Rikujou! How wonderful to see you again! Have the gods sent you to deliver us a message or do you demand more sacrifices?" Daikyojin asked, bowing before this supposed Shinigami, which apparently delivered messages and warnings from their gods.
Rikujou smiled. As he spoke, his voice, unbeknownst to Robin, was the same as the one who was speaking with Kagemaru atop the mountain. "Rejoice, my friends, as the gods have indeed smiled upon you as you had hoped. Your loyal service and good fortune of finding this woman...your queen..." Rikujou looked with a hint of malice at Robin, though the whole crowd was now bowing and did not see it, "was only the beginning. The gods have mercifully granted you their favor in your plans to do battle tomorrow. You will surely succeed if you continue to loyally serve them, and sacrifice the wounded survivors, from both sides, to the volcano. This will ensure that only the strongest of you will survive to breed the next generation." he declared.
Robin was indeed suspect of his motives; she began to wonder if this messenger was no more than a mere Devil Fruit user himself. But she could not say or do anything without jeopardizing her own safety, Daikyojin had already warned her about betrayal.
"Oh, Great Rikujou, our deepest thanks from the bottom of our hearts!" Daikyojin praised him. "As many sacrifices and more will be given for our victory!" he promised.
"Go with the gods smiling upon you." Rikujou bowed slightly, before sinking into the ground as though it were quicksand, and vanishing.
Robin gasped. He had to be a Devil Fruit user-how many times had she seen Crocodile do the same sort of thing? Had these islanders never heard of the Logia model of Devil Fruit? That had to be it. These gods, the phenomena, it was all a ruse being manipulated by this Rikujou, or, more than likely, a group of them. But that still didn't explain the volcano. Or the freak weather storm. Or where their ship went. Was there still more to this than she thought? She had to tell Tashigi. The village began to cheer and set up for festivities, but she excused herself, claiming she wanted to go for a walk by herself. Promising Daikyojin she would be back shortly, she descended down into the jungle to find Tashigi in her hiding place. But after half an hour of searching and calling, the marine swordswoman was nowhere to be found. "Where could she have gone?" Robin wondered. Then her foot rubbed against something unusual-Tashigi's glasses. "She would never leave these behind...oh god..." she gasped, realizing something must have happened to Tashigi.