One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed Island of the Devil Fruit Gods ❯ Hail to the King ( Chapter 31 )

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

"OSSAN!" Luffy's roar echoed through the jungle as he dashed to the volcano. Whoever the man in the volcano was, he was the leader of the Shinigami and Luffy viewed the situation simply; kick his ass and the rest would fall. But the evil king inside the volcano was not about to let Luffy threaten him again, not when he was so close to being able to fulfill his plan, and sacrifice enough souls to construct his new body and allow him to escape the island to wreak terror across the land once again.
The smoke emanating from the volcano began to concentrate, becoming long, thick strings of noxious gas and swirling about, slithering through the sky like ghostly snakes, until they settled into a pattern, imitating a giant humanoid form, from the waist up. "Impudent child!" Luffy recognized the old man's voice as he thundered throughout the entire island. "You dare not only throw my generous offer back in my face, but you raise your fist against me, the great Kurotenshu?! You shall suffer!" the evil king finally revealed his name.
"Bring it on, stupid volcano Ossan!" Luffy wound up his shoulder, preparing to shoot his arm at the smoky form, until a great rumbling got his attention. He looked around for the source, as the shaking ground grew more intense, and he saw what was happening.
Every person on the island who had gotten a Devil Fruit from the Great Tree, with the exception of the Shinigami, were all pounding up the side of the volcano after Luffy, their eyes emanating a mysterious blue glow. It was as though Kurotenshu had control over their minds, a result of their Devil Fruit powers coming from him.
"Hear me, pathetic mortals! Destroy this bastard, leave not one shred of bloody flesh behind! And if you fail, cast yourselves into the volcano, and become my new flesh!" Kurotenshu ordered them, and although some of them were moving more slowly than others, as if resisting his control, they were all still moving at Luffy.
Luffy gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "Ossan...you went too far. Now you've really started to piss me off!" Luffy shouted. He couldn't let them sacrifice themselves, or kill him, so he decided to put them all down first before dealing with Kurotenshu. "Gomu Gomu no..." he shot his leg up into the air. "Axe!" his leg slammed into the upper part of the volcano and sent and avalanche of rocks cascading down the mountain, knocking the islanders out or forcing them back down the mountain, incapacitating them and making it impossible for them to keep climbing the steep mountain. Those that weren't forced back, which were still very many, continued, though they looked shaken. "If that won't stop you..." Luffy began to twist himself up. "Gomu Gomu no Firework!" he shot out his arms and legs in all directions, slamming them into the jaws, stomachs and noses of the approaching villagers, knocking them all unconscious. Finally there were none left standing for him to have to worry about. "Is that all you got, Ossan? I hope so because I don't want you to hurt anymore people!" Luffy growled.

Kurotenshu's smoky form withdrew back into the volcano, his voice less booming now, as if only wanting Luffy to hear it. "Come and get me if you dare. This time you will fight me in a realm of my own creation. I am the surpreme ruler of the island as it is...but inside here, I am god." he challenged Luffy.
Luffy cracked his knuckles and neck. "I've beat up a god before." he answered, remembering Eneru in Skypiea. He bravely ran forward and jumped headlong into the volcano, falling into the darkness, back to where he'd gone just shortly before. He was used to it already, having been there once, and his body was feeling less resistance from the strange atmosphere of Kurotenshu's sanctuary. "Oi! Ossan! Show yourself!" Luffy demanded, finally feeling his feet land on something solid, although there was nothing but darkness all around.
"You are brave, and that is commendable. How I lament being unable to persuade you to serve me. But enough of that. Let me show you exactly why you're going to die here, Straw Hat boy." Kurotenshu snapped his fingers and illuminated the darkness. It wasn't exactly perfect illumination, it was more like turning on several tiny lights all around them. Luffy looked around, and gasped in amazement. It looked as though they were floating in outer space and their battlefield was being lit up by stars, the sun, the moon, and distant planets.
"Sugoi! I can't believe how cool this is! I'm still pissed off at you for being a baka, Ossan, but thanks for letting us fight in this cool place!" Luffy laughed.
"That is what I admire about you, you can laugh even when you're about to die. I think I'll keep your head as a trophy, on second thought, instead of destroying you utterly." Kurotenshu chuckled. In the dim illumination, he was dressed like an armored sorcerer, his lower half clad in obsidian-like armor, his upper half covered in a blood-red robe and his arms sporting a coiled covering tipped with spikes, extending around his knuckles and connected to his fingers, with claws. His skin was pale, what little was showing, the rest was covered in what looked like black ink, but no darker than a twisted beard hanging from his chin. His eyes were bloodshot, with glowing yellow irises, and his bald head was covered in various archaic runes, which would move around on his head as though they were fish in a fishbowl.
"Ew! You're even uglier than I thought, Ossan! You're uglier than fat Alvida and Buggy!" Luffy stuck out his tongue. Luffy felt something slash his cheek, and a spurt of blood. "Ack! That hurt!" he glared at Kurotenshu. "How'd you do that, Ossan? I didn't even see you move!" he growled.
The Kurotenshu in front of him vanished, but his voice rang from behind. "I told you...this is my realm. I can do whatever I wish here, make you see what I want you to see, hear what I want you to hear. I considered you a worthy opponent so I thought I would destroy you in this beautiful imagery. An honorable death here will be satisfying, won't it? But I'm growing a bit tired of your cheeky tongue. Fight me with everything you've got, I'm interested to see how rusty I've become over the last millenia." he grinned.
Luffy's arm swung backward, catching Kurotenshu on the side, and knocking him back. Luffy whirled around followed up with a Gomu Gomu no Whip, but Kurotenshu leapt over it and fired the spikes from his knuckles at Luffy, who barely dodged them after his leg snapped back. The spikes regrew, ready to be fired again, and Luffy had to rethink how to get in close without getting slashed, if taking him out from a distance and dodging those wasn't going to work. "Don't think that you can fool me in here, Straw Hat. Kicking up a dust storm by slamming your leg into the ground won't work here." Kurotenshu laughed, when he saw Luffy's leg raise up slightly. Luffy put his leg back down, panting. "I can see your moves before you make them, well, most of them. Don't forget, I've been watching you this whole time, observing and studying. I can see how you are captain of your crew of misfits, you are clearly the strongest. But your stubborn, foolish refusal to be able to serve others will be your undoing." he praised and criticized Luffy at the same time. "But I'm already bored, so let's try something new." he suggested, taking off his arm coils and channeling a dark aura into them. They went from being metallic to more pliable, and he snapped one at Luffy like a spiked whip, and spun the other, throwing it like a helicopter-blade-sized shuriken. Luffy's arm took a hit from the whip, but he managed to evade the spinning projectile, twice, as it boomeranged back into Kurotenshu's hand. "Well? No smart comeback this time? I thought not. But if you don't start entertaining me more, I will kill you sooner than later. I'd prefer to wait, of course, until all your friends are dead, just so I can see the look on your face. That's the look I want when I take your head as a prize." he cackled.
Luffy panted again, a desperate look on his face. He put his hands on his knees, and pressed down hard. "Gear...Second..." he breathed.

Tashigi was making her way through the jungle as quickly as she could, following Anu's wake, but she wasn't making much progress. Her doubts and fears were holding her back. What if she got there only to see that Zoro had already been killed? If Zoro didn't stand a chance against Kagemaru, how could she? His level was beyond her, much as she hated to admit it. But she wouldn't give up without a fight. She pressed on, slashing what foliage remained in her way. She heard screaming, crashing, even explosions from all sides, and she wondered if the Straw Hats and Smoker were managing to survive their battles with the Shinigami.
"I'm too cute to die!" Nami's voice rang out from the distance.
Tashigi would have laughed if circumstances had been different, but they were all on the same side now fighting a common enemy. "Smoker-san..." she sighed as she climbed over a rock and continued on. But as she began running again, she tripped over a tree root and rolled down a hill, landing face-first in the dirt. She struggled to her feet, ignoring the pain in her foot. "Great..." she grumbled. "Now I have a handicap if I fight." And on top of that, she observed, the left lens in her glasses had cracked. But she couldn't give up now. She had to view this as a test...if she could just make it there, if she could be there to help Zoro before it was too late, then maybe, just maybe, they would stand a ghost of a chance.

Nami, Chopper and Usopp made their way into Jigyousho's jungle battlefield, and once they entered, found themselves fenced in by huge wooden spikes that jutted out of the ground behind them. "I'm getting out of here!" Usopp shrieked, attempting to scale one of them, but it sprouted thorns and he fell off, suffering from minor scratches. More damaging was Nami stomping on his face for trying to abandon them.
"We're in this together, stupid! If I die, you two are dying with me!" Nami growled.
Usopp and Chopper both huddled together, momentarily more afraid of Nami than of Jigyousho.
"Don't just stand there." Jigyousho's voice was coming at them from all directions. "Come further in, it won't be any fun if I have you cornered." he cackled.
Nami prepped her Clima Tact and began spinning one of the pieces.
"Do you have a plan, Nami?" Usopp asked, wiping the nervous sweat from his brow, a serious look on his face.
"Maybe. What about you?" she shot back at him. Usopp usually did have a lot of good strategies during his battles.
"Sort of. This is a big jungle, though. I don't know if I can burn enough of it to bring him out of hiding." Usopp responded.
"That was your plan?!" Nami bashed him over the head with her Clima Tact. "If you try to burn the forest we'll get burned up too!"
"But I could get us out of here with my Jumping Point." Chopper chimed in. Nami's expression eased slightly. Usopp continued explaining his plan.
"If I had my Kabuto, things would be different. It's powered by Dials, I could use it as much as I needed if that was the case. But all I have is my slingshot and a few Flame Stars, since Kabuto was in my room on the ship..." Usopp lamented. "Plants burn easily, but I don't have enough to burn more than a few trees, and that's if he can't use any of his powers to put out the flames. But what was your plan, Nami?" he changed the subject.
"Well I grew up on a tangerine farm, I know a thing or two about horticulture. And I know plants hate the cold!" Nami said confidently. "I am going to need you two to distract him while I power up my Clima Tact enough. I haven't tried to create snow yet, I'm pretty sure it'll take longer than rain. Now get running through those trees! If you die, I promise to spend my hard-earned money on memorials for you both!" she said, hoping that was enough of an incentive for them.
"You really are a heartless witch..." Usopp bawled, following Chopper into the jungle to face whatever awaited them.

Robin and Smoker faced each other. "Nico Robin." he said gruffly. "I never thought you'd have joined the Straw Hats after all the trouble you caused in Alabasta. That boy is much more dangerous than I thought, picking up someone like you to join his crew."
"Should that really matter right now? And you know nothing anyway." she turned her back to him. She was still remembering telling her friends why she was such a threat to the World Government, that it wasn't her powers that were dangerous, it was what she knew. "If I have to, I'll fight Tomoshibi alone." she said defiantly.
"I can't let you do that. You may have grown up from being the demon child, but you are a woman. I let Tashigi go off on her own even though I know she hasn't reached Roronoa Zoro's level yet. Your bounty is still below Crocodile's, and Tomoshibi's power is like his. I know without me you won't stand a chance. Just stay behind me, I can block most damage." he took charge, and led the attack. Robin followed reluctantly. She would much rather have had any combination BUT herself and Smoker to fight Tomoshibi.
They reached her cleared-out section of jungle, and she was channeling her powers to make herself intangible. "Isn't it lovely?" Tomoshibi pointed to the sun in the sky. "I never get tired of seeing it. It feeds me, strengthens me, makes me invincible." she giggled. "But you can try to hurt me. Just remember, I'll be trying to hurt you back."
Smoker didn't respond, he resorted directly to transforming his arms and lower body into smoke and advanced on her.
"Oh, I'm ever so scared!" Tomoshibi swooned sarcastically, before putting up her hand and conjuring a flash so bright that even closing his eyelids wouldn't keep Smoker from going temporarily blind. He fell back and groaned in pain on the ground, cursing out loud and blinking rapidly to try and regain his sight.
"Fool..." Nico Robin muttered. "Seis Fleur!" she crossed her arms. She tried to grab Tomoshibi's feet and trip her, but Tomoshibi was completely invulnerable, she didn't just wait until she was attacked to defend herself.
"Naughty girl, playing a sneaky trick." Tomoshibi waggled her finger at Robin. "I'll have to punish you!" she leapt at Robin, extending her hand and focusing light into it. She was amazingly fast, Robin couldn't avoid her in time. "Sunburn Slap!"
"Look out!" Smoker cried. He may not have been able to see, but he could still hear, and he felt his way over to Robin while she was trying to attack Tomoshibi. He launched himself in front of her and took Tomoshibi's attack.
Robin didn't know how a light elemental could actually attack, but once she saw a burning, swollen handprint all over the right side of Smoker's face, she understood. Tomoshibi's attack caused an instant, painful sunburn on Smoker's face that throbbed and swelled, even giving off a bit of steam as it hissed. Smoker didn't make a sound, he gritted his teeth and sucked it up. He could see again, at least. "I don't know why I did that." Smoker glared at Robin. "Be more careful next time." he told her, pulling the seastone staff from his back. Robin nodded appreciatively, turning back to Tomoshibi, who was laughing at Smoker's chivalrous defense of her.

"I didn't ask for your help, robot pervert!" Sanji snapped at Franky.
"Up yours, cook! I'm not leaving until I fight one of these bastards!" Franky growled.
"Whoever gets there first, then, ready?" Sanji challenged.
"You're on!" Franky spat.
They raced each other to where Rikujou was waiting for them, each sending kicks and punches to slow each other down, but in the end it resulted in a tie. "Shit..." Sanji grumbled.
"Quit complainin'. I know we're strong but it's going to take everything we've got to take him down. We have to work together, dammit!" Franky shouted.
Rikujou's back was turned to them. "You're bickering amongst yourselves? It's a wonder you stayed alive this long. Well, that won't keep happening five minutes from now. That's all I'll need." he bragged, turning towards them. "I'm made of solid bedrock, you don't stand a chance."
"Collier!" Sanji rushed forward and promptly kicked Rikujou's head off. It went flying into the air and crashed back down to the ground, shattering. Rikujou's body crumbled and turned to dust.
Sanji and Franky stared at each other. "Um...that was easy. What a punk..." Sanji snorted.
The ground began to rumble powerfully beneath their feet, telling them that it wasn't quite over with yet.