One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed Island of the Devil Fruit Gods ❯ Heart of Stone ( Chapter 33 )

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

Sanji and Franky were sliding left and right as the ground shifted beneath them, as though the earth was the heaving waves of the ocean. "What the hell is going on?!" Sanji growled. "Shit...I'm so tense, I need a smoke!" he stomped the ground hard, creating a large crack, and the earth stopped moving.
"I think maybe you hurt him." Franky laughed.
"Too bad. I'd like to have hit him in the face again." Sanji spat, looking around for an ambush. Rikujou was tricky, and Sanji knew a surprise attack was coming.
"Come on! Show yourself, rock-head!" Franky challenged. Rikujou was still nowhere to be seen. "Where are you, bastard? Too afraid to fight like a man?"
"No..." Rikujou's voice echoed from everywhere at once. "I prefer to fight like a god." he cackled. The ground started to crack and split apart, and great chunks began to rise up into the air. "I'll bury the lot of you so deep not even hell will find you!"
The rocks that rose into the air began to rain down over Sanji and Franky. "Oi, robot! Throw me up there!" Sanji shouted, jumping up over Franky's head. Franky growled, hating taking orders and being called 'robot', but he didn't argue. He grabbed Sanji by the scruff of his neck and tossed him powerfully into the air. Sanji flipped upside-down and crossed his legs, beginning to twirl in the air. He could feel the icy breeze from the speed of his ascent, and rubbed the soles of his shoes together, creating a Diable Jambe flame. "Combining cold air with hot air...Nami-san isn't the only one who can manipulate wind." he grinned. "Let loose...Whirlwind Kick!" he thrust his legs apart and allowed his whole body to spin. The heat of his Diable Jambe and the cold air rushing past him as he flew through the air created a tornado effect that spread past his feet. The powerful winds he generated swept the rocks into the vortex, and soon the rocks were smashing together until nothing was left but pebbles. Sanji whistled loudly, and Franky ran forward, catching him as he fell. Sanji hadn't been wanting to break his legs yet again, not without Chiyu around to help.
"Not bad, cook." Franky grinned.
Rikujou apparently thought so as well, because he didn't say anything after witnessing Sanji's skill.
"Well, even I couldn't jump that fast or high enough on my own." Sanji shrugged.
"We make a good team, huh?" Franky teased him. He could tell Sanji didn't like having to cooperate with others when he fought.
"Shut up! Let's find that shit-head and kick his ass already." Sanji grumbled, turning away and squinting into the horizon. Rikujou wasn't attacking them directly and his remote attack had failed. What would he try next?
The answer to that question arrived moments later. Several cracks in the ground began to converge on one spot, and in the center, a large hand emerged from the earth. Rikujou crawled out, twice as tall and twice as thick as he was before, his skin now completely taking on the rocky texture of the earth from whence he emerged. It made him look something like a living tombstone, enough to give lesser opponents the shivers even on that warm, sunny day. "Let's see you try kicking my head off again." he prepared himself to counter their attacks.
Sanji frowned. "I was expecting something a little more." he said disappointedly.
"Yeah." Franky agreed. "Oh, this is going to hurt..." he moaned as his shoulders separated and two lumps appeared between his shoulder blades with the label "BF" on the right, and "36" on the left. A moderate-sized missile shot out of each of them and blasted Rikujou's new body to smoking bits.
"He's going to come back again." Sanji yawned.
"Yeah." Franky nodded, returning his body to normal.
"Any ideas on how to take him down for good?" Sanji asked.
"Nope. You've dealt with guys like him before, I haven't." Franky shook his head.
"Shit." Sanji groaned. "I really need a cigarette..."

"Gear 3!" Luffy powered himself up again to stop Kurotenshu. After Maboroshi's escape, every other islander under Kurotenshu's control flooded into the volcano, sacrificing themselves so he could assimilate their souls into his being and form a new body. Currently he was only a shadow, taking on the form of a dark lion, monstrous inside, but hollow. He needed to be able to absorb all of the souls at once before Luffy stopped him, so devouring them all with a gigantic mouth would be the only way.
"Gomu Gomu no Giant Pistol!" Luffy shot his enlarged fist at Kurotenshu. But the monstrous deity was clever, and turned his back to Luffy. He was still damaged by the attack, but he was free to let the first wave of souls flow into his mouth, and swallowed them. His body began to glow, but the rest of the souls all headed for the Thousand Sunny, safe from becoming part of Kurotenshu. It seemed liked once their bodies died, their souls regained their free will.
"Monster! I should have stopped you..." Luffy growled.
The monstrous form began to shrink down and reformat itself into something different. "This wasn't nearly enough...but after I destroy that ship I'll have all the souls I need to finish you..." Kurotenshu cackled.
"Over my dead body, Ossan!" Luffy maneuvered the air in his body to his leg and kicked upward, preparing to slam the still-formless Kurotenshu. "Gomu Gomu no Giant Axe!"
But instead he felt his foot impact with nothing. "What the?!" he felt the air flowing back into his torso, and expelled it through his mouth. He felt his body shrinking into chibi form, and looked around. If Kurotenshu needed to get him at a vulnerable moment, this was the chance, and Luffy knew it.
"Got you." Kurotenshu smiled. His shadow loomed over Luffy from behind as he grabbed Chibi Luffy by the head and lifted him up. "I was watching your fight with Daikyojin and I knew what would happen if you used your giant powers. I didn't really need to devour any of those souls, I just turned into that giant beast so you'd use that against me and I could attack you when you were helpless. You may be the bravest fighter I have ever met, boy, and that is saying something. But now I will end you. Farewell." he turned Luffy around so the boy could at least see who was going to be killing him. It was the same bald man, but younger, much younger, and yet somehow more evil as well.
"Leave him alone!" a snarling voice growled. One of the souls on board the ship attacked Kurotenshu, tackling him and causing him to drop Luffy. Luffy stared up in wonder at his savior, having never seen him before. Kurotenshu recovered his composure and slammed his attacker down in front of Luffy.
"Who the hell are you, to risk your soul's very existence for this pup?!" Kurotenshu demanded.
"I am Egetsunai!" the attacker growled, struggling against Kurotenshu's grip. "Straw Hat! Your comrade Sanji humbled me in battle...You and your nakama are the strongest people I have ever seen, I know you and your friends can free this island from its tyrant! Don't make my sacrifice in vain!" he groaned as Kurotenshu dug his fingers into the essence of his soul.
"Pitiful false hope." Kurotenshu lifted Egetsunai's soul body and with what appeared to be a snake-like jaw extension, swallowed him whole. "And now I'm stronger than before. He just made me a bigger threat to you, Straw Hat. This is what your friends do for you." he laughed.
Luffy was back to normal size, but he was shaking with rage. "I will make you pay...for destroying their souls..." he fumed.
"Oh, but that's the fun of it. If you destroy me, I can no longer keep their souls imprisoned within my being. They will escape and go on to the next world. It is only if I gather enough to reconstruct my true physical form that they will be forever lost." Kurotenshu laughed. "So come on, Straw Hat. You've got your chance, and you've got your reason to fight. What's stopping you?" he challenged.
"Not a thing." Luffy spat, cracking his knuckles. "I just want to know how you're doing all this."
"Ah. Tell you what...you weaken me again, and I'll tell you everything." Kurotenshu bargained.
"Sounds good to me." Luffy nodded. "Get ready!"


Tashigi continued to race through the jungle, tripping over upturned roots and being taunted by monkeys. There were more fallen trees than she had remembered, but that was probably Anu's doing. She was finally in what she thought was a clear stretch of jungle with nothing in her way, when the ground began to shake. She couldn't stay on her feet, and the ground suddenly cracked and opened up beneath her feet, threatening to swallow her up. She barely managed to grab the edge and hold on, but she didn't have the strength to pull herself up. "Smoker-san...I'm such a failure..." she began to sob.
"Don't say that, Tashigi." a familiar, friendly voice reached her ears.
"Y-you...?" she gasped, looking up.
Standing over her, reaching out a hand, was Shishou. But she was different; wearing a beautiful, glowing white gown and with a radiance to her skin, all she would have needed was a pair of wings and halo and Tashigi could have called her an angel.
"I don't have much time. You must help Zoro, he will be doomed without you." Shishou explained.
"B-but...I can't even help myself. How can I help him? Why not you, you're so much stronger..." Tashigi protested, still hanging on for dear life.
"It's too late for me. I know I have sinned...I have tried to atone but in the end...maybe I was more afraid than I was willing to admit. This will be my final atonement, but I cannot do it without you, Tashigi. Please...be brave. For me. And for Zoro." Shishou explained.
Tashigi didn't know what she meant, but understood that she had to stop wallowing in self-pity. She reached up and took Shishou's hand. But she felt nothing...as if it was just a hallucination and she was reaching out to thin air. "W-what?" she gasped in surprised and nearly lost her grip, but held on. "Don't leave me...not again..." she whimpered.
"I will always be here with you...when you need me." Shishou said soothingly. But it was from within Tashigi's own head. "You have the strength, Tashigi. Now use it!" she said more sternly.
Tashigi felt a surge of energy, and pulled herself up over the edge quickly. "She's..." she didn't finish saying the rest. She didn't want to think of it that way. "I won't let you down...I promise." she picked her sword back up and continued running along the trail.
"That's a good girl. Only you can help Zoro defeat my brother...he'll never understand how otherwise." Shishou sighed, though her voice sounded like it was getting weaker.

Sanji and Franky waited for something to happen. Apparently Rikujou was having a hard time figuring out how to face them without being pummeled. "I don't get it. If he can just keep coming back over and over, why doesn't he show himself?" Franky tapped his foot impatiently.
"I wonder..." Sanji observed the cracks in the ground. There weren't many large rocks, just smaller ones that weren't big enough to form into any of Rikujou's body parts.
"Time's up!" Rikujou's voice rang out, from above this time. "I've toyed with you two long enough."
"That's what you call toying? I thought it was called getting your ass kicked." Sanji smirked.
"Shut up!" Rikujou growled. "Anyway, none of your smart-ass comments will matter in a minute. You'll be buried alive in my own personal graveyard."
"Quit talking nonsense and fight!" Franky shouted.
"The fight is ended. Let me put the nails in your coffin." Rikujou cackled.
Sanji and Franky weren't prepared for what happened next. The cliff face next to them began to rumble. The turned and faced it, expecting a giant Rikujou golem to step out from it, but instead, the entire top of the cliff, a ten-foot slab that was a quarter-mile in diameter, began to move towards them, like a pizza off a paddle.
"Oh..." Franky gulped.
"Shit." Sanji gasped.
The slab fell one hundred feet down, engulfing the entire battlefield as it crashed on top of the two fighters. The whole island trembled slightly, but nowhere near as severely as it had on Rikujou's territory. The ground was cracked and split everywhere, there were almost no flat or even patches left to stand straight up on. "How's that, huh? You like that? You think that's funny? Now who got their ass kicked!" Rikujou started bragging. "Crushed to death and buried, all in one stroke! No messy clean up for me, 'cause I'm the best Shingami!" he began to dance a little. "What's that I hear?" he put his hand to his ear. "Oh, yeah, that's what I thought, nothing, 'cause you're both deader than your stupid little friends!" he blew a raspberry.
He didn't notice one particularly tall mound of upturned rock starting to quiver just ever so slightly...