One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed Island of the Devil Fruit Gods ❯ Power of Extinction ( Chapter 17 )

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

Zoro's opponent was a very powerful man, built like a sumo wrestler, but all muscle in his size. He pushed Zoro back with every powerful blow of his two bloodstained swords. "I won these from two outsiders long ago and I've mastered them!" he bellowed, pushing Zoro back into the jungle.
"Damn it...he's fast and strong..." Zoro grunted, using all three swords to block the powerful blows.
"And that's not all...now die at the hands of Mitsurappa!" the large man identified himself.
"Mitsurappa...?" Zoro raised an eyebrow, now feeling like he'd heard a name like that before.
"DIE!" Mitsurappa roared, striking down with both swords at once, and thrusting his head forward at Zoro. Zoro suddenly remembered what Mitsurappa meant, and knew what was coming. He leaned backwards, narrowly avoiding being pierced by three long, sharp horns that sprouted from Mitsurappa's face. Mustering all his strength, Zoro broke free of Mitsurappa's pressure and rolled away. He was now staring at Mitsurappa's full Zoan form, a triceratops dinosaur.
"Haven't seen one of those since Little Garden..." Zoro snorted, stretching and preparing for the real battle now that Mitsurappa was no longer holding back. "I had thought you were using two swords...normally I don't have difficulty against that style but your strength is unusual. This will be a good fight." Zoro smirked.
"No, you misunderstood. Five-Sword Style, my own design. And one of the rarest Devil Fruits of all, the Kyouryuu no Mi. The unmatched strength of extinct beasts, second only to the mythical beasts that Lord Ryuumaoh possesses. But more than enough to handle an outsider like yourself." Mitsurappa bragged.
"Let's test that theory." Zoro accepted the challenge. He assumed a stance mimicking a rhinocerous with his swords, and slid one foot forward. "Try out my horns..." Zoro began to power up. "Rampage Skewer!" he announced, and performed an upward slash on Mitsurappa. Mitsurappa slid back a few feet but was otherwise unfazed. His thick hide and scales were slightly scratched but Zoro hadn't physically harmed him.
"Maybe you're not an outsider, maybe you're...an insect Zoan!" Mitsurappa taunted. "That was less than a mosquito bite! Is that all you've got?"
Zoro was stuck, he didn't know how to slash through something thicker than steel, especially when it was in so many layers. "This is going to be tough..." he thought to himself. Shishou's lessons weren't going to help. He had learned to cut what couldn't physically be cut, but something that could theoretically be cut and was just too strong, he couldn't understand.
"If you're not going to attack then I will!" Mitsurappa growled, lunging at Zoro with his head bowed down. Zoro jumped over him and slid down his back and tail.
"So he's only fast in attacking...after that he can't defend or counter..." Zoro smiled, finding an opening. "For something that's supposed to eat plants, you're sure predatory." he taunted.
Mitsurappa whirled around, fuming. "Don't get so confident! I may be slower than you, but you can't hurt me!" he snapped.
"Oh, I can hurt you. I just have to figure out how..." Zoro shook his finger at Mitsurappa.
"Not likely." Mitsurappa spat. "Let me show you my ultimate move."
Mitsurappa began to grunt like he was attempting to expel something from his body; but it wasn't what Zoro had been expecting. Mitsurappa's horns extended even further, gleaming in the sunlight with their sharpness. Bowing his head, he put both blades into the ground, and rushed forward. The ground split beneath his blades, kicking up earth and dust as he dashed forward and created a miniature whirlwind. "Stop this one! Five Horn Impaler!" he challenged Zoro.
Zoro stood there, not knowing how to block or counter this strike, there were too many targets and Mitsurappa's practical invulnerability to account for. Suddenly Zoro heard Shishou's voice in his head, and the world darkened around him, like he was standing in the blackness of space. Only he and Shishou were being illuminated in spotlights. Was this another dream? Or was Shishou never truly intending to let him go off on his own, burrowing into his subconscious to keep watch over him? "Still pathetic as always, Roronoa?" she giggled. "Even if you can't fight I at least expected you to listen. Remember what I told you? All swordsmen have to have a balance of skill, strength, and...?"
"Speed." Zoro grinned, remembering her lesson. "But how will that help me? I can't cut him, his hide is too thick." he asked.
Shishou's voice sighed. "If you are trying to cut through another sword, just relying on strength, can you do it?" she responded.
"Yes, but it takes forever to wear it down!" Zoro answered, watching Mitsurappa draw nearer.
"And what do we do to keep it from taking forever?" she asked him again, impatiently.
"Do it...really fast?" he guessed. "Without getting impaled..."
"You can do it. His horns aren't made of metal, are they?" Shishou's voice whispered before fading away. The world brightened again. Zoro felt his heart jackhammering, his whole body vibrating like a hummingbird's wings. Things were moving slowly around him, even Mitsurappa began to appear as though he was moving in slow-motion. Shishou's voice echoed in his ears one last time. "Fear is not always bad...it is a tool, a weapon...use it to fuel your speed..."
Zoro grinned. He was afraid of Mitsurappa's attack before. And now it had helped him, via Shishou's lessons, to reach a new plateau of speed to match his strength and skill. "You're going down!" Zoro braced himself for the attack, dodging the horns as they flew past him, watching Mitsurappa finally crash into a tree.
Mitsurappa righted himself and snorted. "How did you avoid it?!" he rasped, coughing up a mouthful of dust.
"The master never reveals his secrets." Zoro taunted. He winced as a sharp tone resonated in his ear. Shishou again.
"Dare you call yourself a master until I deem you worthy?" she reminded him.
"Sorry..." he muttered, grinning. At least she wasn't his enemy in this battle, he thought. But Mitsurappa was going to learn a few lessons from Zoro, the hard way. "All right, Mitsurappa. I admit you've surprised me more than a few times. That is good as an opponent, keeping your foe guessing. But I've survived all of them. Now it's my turn. And you won't be surviving." Zoro declared.
Mitsurappa scoffed. "Show me." he dared Zoro.
Zoro nodded. Taking in a deep breath, he began to inflate his muscles, somewhat like he had done during his battle with Kaku of CP9, but this time the bulk-up took place around his entire body, not just his arms. And it made him look somewhat like a sumo wrestler himself; even his face was inflated. Mitsurappa laughed out loud. "Is that your strategy? Making me die laughing?" he cackled.
"Being stuck on this island, you are ignorant of much." Zoro shook his bulbous head. "The sumo wrestlers are known for their titanic power that shakes the ground..." Zoro took a step forward and created a slight tremor. "But catching their opponent off-guard with unheard of speed was a very special tactic they used. Allow me to demonstrate my version of the Hundred-Hands technique..." Zoro explained. Thrusting both swords out straight in front of him, he began to blur his movements as he forced his body to tremble. Mitsurappa rubbed his eyes, unsure of what he was seeing.
"What the hell are you doing?!" he cried, wondering if Zoro was about to spontaneously combust.
"Deadly Dance of a Thousand Blades...Infinite Bite of the Jaws of the Ultimate Predator..." Zoro began to weave his swords throughout the air, dust blowing upwards and taking the shape of six-armed Ashura, and a dragon-like Tyrannosaurus Rex with a much larger maw. "Hundred Blades!"
Mitsurappa shrieked as Zoro leapt forward, the ground splitting beneath his feet, moving at unimaginable speeds for someone of his swelled-up size, his arms looking as though they were gears in a windmill, spinning in a dizzying circle, and thrusting the swords forward like jackhammers. Mitsurappa's breath caught in his throat as the sheer speed of the swords wore down his thick hide in seconds and watched as Zoro tore into him like a drill. His eyes rolled back in his head and Zoro leapt back before the blood spurt could stain him. Zoro collapsed, the strain finally catching up to him, his heartbeat slowing until everything began to look as though it was moving much faster than he, even the clouds and insects floating above him. Shishou's voice once again rang in his ears.
"Not exactly what I had in mind, but you managed well enough. Next time I expect you to at least stay on your feet." she said airily. "Now get up. Or are you so feeble you couldn't handle your own attack?"
Angrily, Zoro sat up and groaned as several muscles popped and he felt blood seeping past cuts in his skin; the air around him moving so fast had torn up his flesh in small places, making him feel somewhat like Luffy during his battle with Crocodile when he became Water Luffy and had sprung leaks. Falling back down, he panted, groaning. He'd rather feel the pain during battle and let it fuel his desire to win. Afterwards didn't do him any good at all. He grabbed his swords and used them to hoist himself up to his knees. Where was everyone else? He heard Ryuumaoh's cries coming back from the center of the village, and realized that if nothing else, there remained an enemy to defeat there. He staggered to his feet and began to trek back along the broken ground to the village.

"Sanji!" Usopp called to Sanji, seeing him walking back from his fight. Franky waved, following Usopp.
"Have you seen the others?" Franky asked him once they were all together.
"What?! You mean you two shitheads don't know where Nami-san is?!" Sanji roared.
But a roar from Ryuumaoh signaled the direction where Luffy and the others would undoubtedly be at. The trio ran full-pelt towards the danger, or at least, Franky and Sanji had; Usopp was being dragged along by Franky since he was unwilling to go in the direction of the blood-chilling noises they were nearing.
"Nami-swaaaaan!" Sanji sighed as he saw Nami alive and well, and with much less clothing than she'd had on before. He of course didn't say anything about her being so dirty.
"You guys are all okay! Did you win your fights?" Nami asked them, looking suspiciously at Usopp.
"We sure did! But wait-where is Zoro?" Franky asked, looking around.
"He's probably still fighting...he wouldn't lose!" Chopper said.
"What about Luffy?" Sanji asked.
His question was answered seconds later when Luffy slammed into the ground in front of him. Luffy crawled up out of the crater he had just made and panted. He was now in chibi form. "Nami...I told you...Gear 3 didn't work..." he panted, slowly returning to normal size. "He was too fast and it wore off too quickly." he shook his head. "We have to try it."
"But that's suicide! We don't even know if it will work at all, all we know is that you'd never survive something like that!" she protested.
"Oi, what are you talking about?!" Sanji demanded, frightened at such serious talk.
"Luffy wants to try a different version of his gears! It's too dangerous, though!" Chopper tried to explain. "I don't really understand it...but as a doctor I know there'd be no way to heal from the damage it would cause to his body if he lived through it!"
"Luffy, just what are you planning to do?!" Usopp gasped.
"Nami. Do it. Now. He's coming." Luffy told her, seeing Ryuumaoh's large shadow looming overhead.
"What's going on?" Zoro finally made it back.
Everyone gave a relieved sigh. "Zoro, stop him! Luffy's going to try something crazy!" Chopper begged.
Zoro never listened to Chopper before and wasn't about to start now. "Let him. How many times has doing something crazy won him the battle?" Zoro smirked.
"Thanks, Zoro." Luffy gave him the thumbs-up. Ryuumaoh landed in front of all of them, so quickly they all gasped and backed off.
"I could easily turn you all to ash right now..." Ryuumaoh chuckled. "But I would prefer to destroy you all one-by-one, starting with your leader." he pointed at Luffy. "I think I'll bite off your head." he scratched his chin.
"Just give me a second." Luffy shook his finger at Ryuumaoh. "Nami, come on." Luffy motioned for her to proceed.
"What are you doing? Trying some more of your foolishness? By all means, go ahead. It's futile but I'll humor you." Ryuumaoh yawned.
Nami reluctantly moved her Clima Tact up to Luffy's back like a straw, and pushed it into the center wound on his back, into his spine. Luffy's face contorted with pain but he made no sound. Nami blew into it, and bubbles of air could be seen entering into Luffy's spinal cord and spreading throughout his body. She blew until she had no air left in her lungs and collapsed, the Clima Tact falling out and rolling back over to her fallen form.
Luffy stood still for a few moments. "Well?" Ryuumaoh tapped his foot impatiently.
"Gear...4." Luffy hissed, in a harsh, raspy voice.