One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed Island of the Devil Fruit Gods ❯ A Father's Love ( Chapter 19 )

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

Ryuumaoh was down for the count but Luffy wasn't finished quite yet. Still aloft in the air, Luffy was preparing his finishing move, hovering high in the air above Ryuumaoh, his skin purple and his veins looking like they were thick snakes slithering under his skin. The pressure inside his body was literally ripping him apart from the inside but he was too addled to feel any pain. It was killing his nakama to watch that happening to him.
"How are we going to stop him before he kills himself? He's too strong to be stopped but if we don't do something soon he's going to keel over!" Nami was hyperventilating.
The others didn't know what to say to that; they were all sweating, their eyes focused on Luffy. "You better clear out...it looks like he's going all-out with this last attack. He's going to eradicate the entire village." Zoro said, motioning for them to back off.
"Aren't you coming?" Usopp asked him, noticing Zoro not moving.
"Someone has to stay..." Zoro shook his head.
"Oi...Marimo-head! Long-nose! Nami-swan! Robot! Emergency Food Supply!" Sanji called, rushing up with Chiyu in his arms.
"Who's that?" Franky pointed to the little girl.
"There's no time to explain! Everyone get out of the way!" Sanji tried to run past them, but was grabbed by Franky and Zoro.
"Are you crazy? Where do you think you're going?!" Zoro shouted.
"This little girl can save Luffy!" Sanji planted his foot into Zoro's chin. "Out of the way, before it's too late!"
But it was already too late. Luffy's arms were tensed and he was aiming straight down at Ryuumaoh with them. With what sounded like his last breath, Luffy snarled, "Gomu Gomu no PULSE STORM!"
Ryuumaoh was crushed beneath the devastating force of Luffy's fist slamming into the ground, shattering it into sand and silt, crumbling the mountains all around and shaking the entire island with the amount of power behind the attack. The entire village was wiped out, turned to rubble, the residents having just barely evacuated in time and rescued their soldiers like Sasori and Kamereon. Craters were being dug in an instant and then buried within even deeper craters.
"What's happening? This should not be possible!" Nami sobbed, holding onto Franky's metal arms for support as they all sunk to their knees from the shaking ground.
"I think it's over with..." Franky panted, watching Luffy falling out of the sky and crashing down into the last remaining pile of large rocks.
Zoro rushed over to dig him out but Luffy burst out looking even more deranged than ever. Luffy faced Zoro and stared into his eyes, not breathing. He balled up a fist but Zoro rushed in and grabbed his wrist. "Stop it, Luffy! That's enough!" Zoro growled.
Luffy opened his mouth but nothing came out. His eyes rolled back in his head and he fell backwards, completely wiped out. His skin was darkening even more, and all of his veins were beginning to tear and gush blood; but the blood was thick like clay...Luffy had indeed destroyed his innards and he had less than five minutes to live.
"Oh, my goodness..." Chiyu gasped as Sanji carried her over to Luffy. "He looks...what happened to him?"
"There's no time, little girl. Where's Chopper?" Zoro looked around impatiently.
Chopper, Nami, Usopp and Franky followed next. "But...but...I wouldn't even know where to begin saving him!" Chopper was sobbing. "I've...no doctor has ever had to treat a patient for something like this! I don't know what to do!"
"You mean-?" Usopp's eyes began streaming tears.
"No! No one else is going to die!" Chiyu struggle out of Sanji's arms and knelt beside Luffy. She put her arms on his chest and the white light flowed through Luffy's body. Luffy's veins spewed out the last of the bad blood and finally it came out a healthy, watery red again, before the wounds began to close up. His skin slowly lightened back to its original color. But then Chiyu's breathing began to intensify and she started coughing. "Ow..." she clutched her temples.
"What's wrong?" Sanji asked her.
"I've never had to heal such terrible wounds...it hurts! I can't do it anymore!" Chiyu cried softly.
"That's all right, honey." Nami smiled, hugging Chiyu. "He's still alive...and it looks like he's going to be okay."
Luffy began snoring loudly, indicating he was breathing comfortably, even though he was still unconscious.
"But-Daddy! Where's my daddy?!" Chiyu suddenly looked around worriedly.
"Calm down, sweetie...who's your daddy?" Nami asked her softly.
Sanji whispered the answer in her ear and Nami couldn't help blurting it out loud for the rest of them. "You mean this cute little girl's father is that monster Ryuumaoh?!"
The others all fell over backwards in surprise. Come to think of it, they hadn't seen Ryuumaoh since Luffy's last attack.
Not knowing what to say, the crew fell silent. Had Ryuumaoh survived the assault? Unlikely. Could Chiyu bring him back to life if that was the case? None of these questions were something they wanted to ask out loud. "We don't know...he's probably in...there..." Sanji pointed to the practical desert where the village once stood.
Chopper ran out over the sands and sniffed around. "Over here!" he called.
Leaving Luffy in Nami's care, the others went over and dug and dug until Ryuumaoh's body could be extracted from the earth. Miraculously, he was still breathing, but was completely unconscious and he was no longer in his dragon form. In truth, Chiyu had never actually seen him outside of that form, and it was a bit of a shock for her. "That's...that's not my daddy. Where is he?"
Ryuumaoh was an old man, his hair was thinning and grey, his skin wrinkled and his breath raspy. "Chiyu, I know what it looks like, but...you have to understand things about your father that you may not like to hear about. But that can wait...you need to heal your father, he's fading fast." Sanji told her.
Chiyu hesitated for a moment but felt pity for the old man whether or not he was her father, and put her hands on his chest. He was far less damaged internally than Luffy, and his broken bones began to mend, while his wounds began to close.
"That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" Nami gasped. "She can heal those even at death's door..."
"So she's a better doctor than me?" Chopper began to frown.
Chiyu finished healing her father. "I can only heal injuries...I can't cure diseases. And I can only do a little bit at a time...I couldn't heal your friend all the way. He'll need to sleep for a while to fully recover." Chiyu explained.
"Well we need to get you away from here...this is no longer any kind of home for you." Franky spoke up.
"But I can't leave without my daddy..." she said sadly.
Ryuumaoh's hand reached out and grabbed Chiyu's arm. She screamed, and the rest of the crew drew their weapons, but then they heard it; Ryuumaoh was sobbing. "Chiyu...I'm so sorry. I've been such a fool." he apologized tearfully. Chiyu realized that he truly was her father, and hugged him.
"Oh, papa..." she cried as well.
"I never should have done any of this...keeping you in secret just because you weren't like the rest of us...your mother was right all along...And yet you wouldn't leave here without me even after all of that...I love you." he swept her into a warm hug. The crew let their guards down and smiled.
"What are you planning on doing now?" Usopp asked him.
Ryuumaoh surveyed the wreckage of the village. "There's nothing left here but bad memories and useless traditions. And you coming here and humbling us just proved we had no chance of defeating the other village. We will surrender to them and if they choose to accept that, hopefully we can live in peace together. If not...I pray you can forgive me and my brothers enough to help us bring this insight to them and see that this bickering is pointless. If not for my sake...then for Chiyu's." Ryuumaoh told them, with honesty in his eyes.
"Well, that would be up to our captain. But he's going to be out for a little while." Zoro pointed to Luffy's sleeping form.
"And the Paramecians are going to attack you tomorrow anyway. All you have to do is go hide in the jungle and you'll be able to avoid them. They'll get here and see that you're no longer living here. They'll have wasted their time. Maybe that'll give them time to think better of their decision." Franky added.
"Not a chance...that Daikyojin is even more stubborn than myself...and he doesn't have any children." Ryuumaoh sighed, stroking Chiyu's hair as she pressed against his chest. "We will not run...we've been doing nothing but fighting. Now we've got to take our punishment. That is the gods' will."
The whole crew began to grow upset hearing this. "So after all this enlightenment-after you realize how important your daughter is, you still believe that there are gods here watching over you or cursing you?" Sanji growled.
"But there are gods! They perform miracles and send their Shinigami messengers and bring outsiders here and keep them from escaping!" Ryuumaoh insisted. He was so much more humble now, it was disturbing. The crew were exchanging looks now-if Ryuumaoh, who had been such a beast, was so afraid of these gods, there had to be something to that.
"All right...well, we've done what we came here to do. We've stopped you from doing something foolish. But we need to find our ship and get off this island." Nami said, walking over to them from where she had been looking over Luffy.
"I'll do everything I can to help. If the gods have cursed us to lose this battle then they clearly are against us. I can't think of them doing anything worse to us for helping you escape if we've already somehow earned their scorn." Ryuumaoh stood up, still holding Chiyu.
At that moment, however, it was as though his words had triggered something. The sun in the sky was brightening to such an intense degree that they all felt it even with their eyelids closed, all over them having to completely cover their eyes with their hands. "Lord Ryuumaoh...such a shame that you feel that way. Had you not thought to consult us Shinigami before such a rash decision?" a woman's voice scolded. Zoro knew immediately that it was not Shishou, though it did sound eerily similar to hers.
Ryuumaoh opened his eyes, now realizing who it was; the light had dissipated, it was merely the way this particular Shinigami introduced itself. "The Shinigami...I should have realized..." he trembled. Unlike Rikujou, who had visited the Paramecian village, this was a female, cloaked in what looked like an aura of solidified light. Her hair was a pearl-liked blonde, falling all the way down her back to her ankles in many braids of varying thicknesses. Her face was angelic and gorgeous and Sanji was on the floor drooling. But the look on her face was angry, and unpleasant.
"You are a fool. This battle was a test of your loyalty...that is the only reason these powerful outsiders were here. If you begged the gods for help, truly begged, then they would have come to your aid and slain them. But it is too late...you lost your chance and now you've declared your intentions to turn against the gods. You will suffer...and good riddance. If you want mercy, have all of your villagers throw themselves into the volcano. That will ensure their lives are not ended in vain and spent in suffering." she declared.
"But, Lady Tomoshibi..." Ryuumaoh begged, only to find it falling on deaf ears.
"These outsiders have outlived their purpose. They will meet their end soon. We have already done away with one of them." Tomoshibi smiled evilly.
No one knew who she had meant, but they were certain it had to be either Smoker, Robin or Tashigi. "Who are you talking about, witch?" Zoro growled, drawing his swords.
"Now, now, sticks and stones and swords and all that jazz..." Tomoshibi laughed, flashing a blast of intense light from her hands, and temporarily blinding Zoro, who fell to his knees, clutching his eyes.
"Just get out of here! We're getting off this island if we have to fight these gods themselves!" Nami shouted.
"Oh, we can't have that...we need more sacrifices. The gods are very hungry." Tomoshibi vanished in another intense barrage of light. "Though personally, I don't care for you all at all. I think I'd much rather just watch you all die." her voice rang through the air.
"What did she mean by that?" Usopp gulped.
"We have to evacuate now! Move further inland!" Ryuumaoh gasped.
"What? Why?" Sanji asked, looking back toward the jungle where Tomoshibi had gone. "Why would we want to follow that hot babe back where she went? She's dangerous!" For Sanji to be saying that about a woman made it that much more ominous.
"The entire village is situated on a cliff just above the ocean! After our fight the ground became unstable as it is, if the Shinigami see fit they'll tear the cliff from the island altogether!" Ryuumaoh explained.
"Shit!" Sanji cried. At that moment, Ryuumaoh's prediction came true, and the ground began to shake and sink beneath their feet.
"Run!" Nami gasped, taking up the lead as they all beat feet against the shaking, collapsing, crumbling rock. "Someone get Luffy!" She reminded them. They were all running straight at their unconscious captain but the rocks swallowed his body up. They were never going to make it, Nami realized, and tears streamed down her eyes. "Why?! We were only trying to help!" she shrieked.
The rocks finally fell down past them, leaving them plummeting down into the white, bubbling ocean below, full of jagged rocks and unknown species of Sea Kings if the impact alone wouldn't kill them. They all closed their eyes and began to say their prayers. And then a shadow moved over the sun above them, bathing them in darkness. "Now what?" Zoro grunted, wanting this mysterious series of events to end.