One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Friend or Foe? ❯ Part 2: A New Enemy ( Chapter 2 )

“Robin, where you going?” She turns her head to look at Sanji.

“I have a few more questions for Capt. Rox.” She opens the door and walks through to follow after Rox. Franky and Lucas get up to leave the room too. Nami looks at her captain, her friend as Luffy takes his straw-hat and brings it down to cover his eyes more. Nami gets up and turns to leave, not knowing what to say to her friend or whether he wants to be alone or needs consoling. As she gets up, she turns to look at Usopp, Chopper, Brook and Sanji. The four of them get up and follow Nami out of the room to leave their captain by himself to his own thoughts of what just happened. At the back of the ship, Robin slowly approaches Rox who is looking out at the sea, seeing nothing but still calm water. Rox's eyes turn to the sound of Robin's footsteps and then he turns his head to see Robin walking up behind him. He goes back to looking at the water as he keeps his back to Robin.

“To what do I owe this lovely pleasure Nico Robin?” Robin pulls her hair back behind her right ear as the wind gently blows. She smiles at Rox and leans against the railing of the ship.

“I've seen you before.” Rox turns his body around to look at Robin and walks up to her slowly. He bends down to get at eye level with her and he places his right hand on his chin and rubs it slowly as he grins.

“I know I've seen you.” Robin pulls her head back just to create some space. She looks at him questioningly as she looks into his eyes.

“Where have you seen me before?”

“At a beach with a fire lit sunset burning in the background where you stood by yourself holding a cup as I poured you the finest tea on our date. And I was captured by your beauty, staring into your eyes of chestnut and coals that burned my chest and set my heart aflame!” Rox spreads his arms out over his head. “PASSION! LOVE!” As he slowly brings his arms down to his side, he grins with a sly smirk. “And desire…” In a flash of a movement he disappears and stands in front of Robin and as she puts her arms out in front of her, Rox envelops her in an intimate hold. Robin stares up at Rox as he leans his head down centimeters from her face.

“Yes Nico Robin. I've met you somewhere before. But I'm afraid that is something that can't be shared at this moment in time. However, I can share with you my inner most desire to express my passion for you. I would love it if you joined me and came with me.”

“Man, that bastard Zoro. Probably got lost somewhere on this ship wandering around looking for our own ship to return to. Zoro! Are you back….here….?” At that moment, Sanji turned the corner and sees Rox embracing Robin as Rox turns his eyes to look at Sanji. He smiles with a huge grin and chuckles.

“This shamelessly isn't what it looks like.” Sanji drops the cigarette from his mouth as he combusts into flames from the pure anger. He goes into a fever pitched scream and dashes toward Rox. Rox smiles and turns his head to Robin and says something softly in her ear, causing her facial expression to change drastically from uneasy to shock. Rox then kisses her gently on the cheek. He slowly pulls away from her as she places her hand gently on her cheek and as he lets her go Sanji spins across the floor of the deck to set his leg on fire.

“Diable…jamble!” Sanji then thrusts his leg on fire towards Rox neck but Rox blocks the kick with his hand at the last second. In that moment, Sanji looks at him in total shock that his best move was stopped in the blink of an eye. “What?” Rox quickly side steps and while still holding Sanji's foot, takes his left hand and grips Sanji's face to slam him down to the floor of the ship.

“You're ruining my fun Sanji. Just a joke. You should learn to lighten up more.” Rox breaks out into laughter as he slowly takes his hands off Sanji and walks away leaving him on the floor bleeding from his head and nose. Robin looks with caution at Rox while he walks away towards the front of the ship. Meanwhile, at the front of the ship, Kazu sits on the railing with his feet touching the floor of the ship. He watches Zoro leave to go back to the Thousand Sunny and then minutes later sees Usopp, Chopper and Brook follow behind him. Sanji goes around towards the back of the ship as Nami sees Kazu and begins walking up to him.

“What do you want?”

“I want to know something! Why does your captain want to fight Luffy?” Nami looks at Kazu with a serious face as Kazu looks away from her and crosses his arms.

“How should I know? Ever since I joined this crew, my only focus has been preparing for the day I'd meet Zoro. I don't know why Rox wants to fight him so badly much less even care. But if I had to assume it's because he respects him.” Nami looks at him even more confused.

“Huh? He respects him? What kind of reason is that?” Kazu hops off the railing of the ship he's sitting on and leans against it.

“I can't describe it in words. It's like coming across someone you see as a rival. Someone that could push you to your limit and make you better each time you challenge one another. And because you understand that you make each other better, you respect the rival's ability and want to bring out more and more each time. I used to have a rival, a long time ago.” Nami inches closer to Kazu

“What about Zoro? Isn't he a rival?” Kazu's face abruptly shifts to a look of aggravated aggression.

“Zoro is not even WORTHY to be called anything but SCUM! I don't see him as my equal in anything. Not as a pirate and ESPECIALLY NOT A SWORDSMAN! I'll cut him down at dawn.” Kazu looks at Nami as she looks with a face of defiance to his declaration.

“You won't win. No one has ever beaten Zoro.” Kazu reaches behind him and slowly pulls out the sword on his back.

“I'm not `no one'.” Kazu then swings his sword at the water and the water springs upwards and creates a wave that kicks back towards the ship. As it tunnels towards the ship Nami stares in shock as she looks at the height and speed of the wave and starts running away but looks back to see Kazu standing firm and unwavering from the wave. As the wave comes towards the ship and gets ready to swallow it whole to overturn it Kazu takes the sword and places it parallel to the ship on his right side as if he was sheathing the sword. At the last second before the water touches Kazu, he swings his sword across his body and splits the water in half horizontally. The wave stops abruptly and falls back into the sea. Kazu slowly puts the sword back into the sheath on his back as Nami stares in shock at what he did. As Kazu stands utterly still looking at the water, Nami can only stare with her hand over her mouth. Suddenly a hand touches her shoulder which makes her jump with a high pitched scream.

“Whoa! Sorry if I startled you.” She looks up to see Rox with a smile on his face. “Are you okay Nami?” She takes a deep breath and regains her composure. She nods her head to acknowledge her condition. Rox pats her on the back and then begins walking over to Kazu. Nami watches him leave from around her and starts heading over to the Thousand Sunny as Luffy comes out of the room and follows her back to the ship. Rox approaches Kazu and stops behind him.

“What is it captain?”

“I felt the ship rock and noticed the water. You okay?”

“Fine. I'm just anxious. Dawn can't come fast enough.” Rox nods his head as he folds his arms across his chest.

“Believe me, I know what you mean. I can't wait to fight Luffy. Just knowing that tomorrow morning I'm gonna be face to face with the world's number one rookie pirate captain who's defeated two of the seven warlords…” Rox throws a punch to his right and the water kicks up sprouting even higher than when Kazu swung at the water. The water however doesn't turn into a tall wave but just falls back into the sea.

“They have no idea what awaits them tomorrow at the crack of dawn!” Rox shakes his head and chuckles at Kazu.

“You're right….they don't.” Meanwhile, over on the Thousand Sunny ship, the entire crew is sitting in their kitchen except for Zoro who is up in the lookout tower asleep. Sanji takes the lighter in his pocket and lights the cigarette in his mouth. After it's lit he takes a deep breath to inhale on the cigarette. As he places the lighter back into his pocket, he takes the cigarette out of his mouth and then exhales the smoke out of his mouth.

“So Luffy, we pretty much know that that Marimo bastard is gonna fight that Kazu guy. Are you going to fight Rox?”

“Of course. I'm not gonna run from a challenge. I just don't understand why he wants to fight us. He's not a bad person and I thought we were becoming friends. But none of that matters because if he wants to fight me, I'll beat him up!” Nami stands up grabbing everyone's attention.

“I'm highly against this! We should leave right now.” Robin slowly stands up beside Nami.

“I agree with Nami. We should leave. Those two are dangerous.” Usopp bangs on the table.

“Well I think they're nothing but cowards! They challenged Luffy and Zoro but they didn't want anything to do with us, especially someone as amazing as CAPTAIN USOPP!” Sanji lays his foot on top of Usopp's head to make him be quiet.

“Be quiet and let the ladies finish!” Nami steps forward.

“Luffy, I can't speak for Rox but Zoro's opponent isn't just some swordsman. The move I saw him do when we were on the ship wasn't him just simply cutting the water. He somehow created a current in the water to force the water to make a wave and then he used the motion of his sword to make the air split the water. He's not just some regular guy Luffy!” Robin interjected.

“She's right! When I was with Rox on the ship to talk to him, he told me how he knows me. How he knows everything about me and everyone on this ship. And the only way he could know that is by being incredible strong! We should leave before the morning comes Luffy and never look back.” Everyone turns to look at Luffy.

“Sorry guys…it may be selfish of me to say this but I want to stay. I want to know why Rox wants to fight me. And I don't want to run away from him and be known as a coward. There shouldn't be anything to worry about. He's not a bad guy and he isn't even interested in you guys, just Zoro and me. As long as you two stay away from it and don't interfere, there'll be nothing to worry about.” Nami sighs as Robin sits down slowly back into her chair while Sanji exhales another puff of smoke. He looks up at the ceiling of the room as the smoke rises up and slowly dissipates.

“For better or worse, the decision has been made. In the morning, we prepare to fight against Captain Rox and his crew.” The crew all come to an agreement at the captain's decision as they wonder what will the outcome be from the captain's decision. As the night continues, tension builds among both sides of the crew as the moon declines from its full bright view. Throughout the night, Rox and his crew help fix the damages done on the Thousand Sunny. As the sun peeks out over the sea's horizon illuminating the water and gleaming beams of light across the sky. It's color painting across the eternal blue bringing with it a breeze that blows steadily with exuberating force. The two ships Thousand Sunny and Steel Chest cast their sails and begin making their way out riding beside each other as if racing to their destination. Standing at the bow, Luffy and Zoro stare across at Kazu and Rox. The rest of both crews are standing outside on the ship directing the ships towards an island that they can see in the distance. Lucas screams across the ship.

“Island dead ahead Captain!” Rox keeps his focus on Luffy as he doesn't look away for a second.

“Make way steadfast! We are docking there!” The men cheer as they start turning the ship towards the island. Usopp runs up to Luffy.

“Luffy! Are we going to follow them?”

“Of course! Nami! LET'S GO!” Nami nods her head and begins directing Chopper and Sanji to steer the ship. As the two crews work on steering their ships, they continue to move until they arrive at the island and dock the ships. After they finish docking, Kazu and Rox jump down off the ship and drop down on the shore of the island. Luffy and Zoro walk off the ship as the rest of Luffy's crew walks behind them. Rox faces Luffy as Zoro walks around behind Luffy and walks towards Kazu. The four people face off as the rest of both crews stand to the side near the forest of the island. The tension between the four people is extremely thick. Luffy cuts through it with his voice as he looks up from his straw hat.

“Just tell me Rox, why do you want to fight me? Are we enemies?” Rox smiles as he folds his arms.

“It's nothing personal Luffy. I don't want to kill you or prevent you from achieving One Piece or the next Pirate King. I want to know how strong you really are. In a way, I want to test you to see if you truly have what it takes to become the Pirate King. You're fearless, confident, caring, and have accomplished a lot in such a short time on the Grand Line. I just want to fight you. So, do you accept my challenge?” Luffy takes his hat and stretches his hand out to Usopp. Usopp takes the hat and Luffy turns his head back to Rox as he brings his hand back to the side of his body. He cracks his knuckles as he smiles to himself and gets into a fighting stance.

“Yeah...I accept.” Rox grins as he bends his knees and unfolds his arms over his chest. Just then a huge explosion is heard over the island as everyone turns their attention to where it came from. They look over the trees and can see smoke rising in the distance. Rox looks over at Lucas as he motions his head towards the explosion.

“Go check it out Lucas. We'll be right behind you.” Lucas salutes and then runs ahead. Rox turns to look at Kazu who shakes his head.

“NO!” Rox looks at him in earnest desperation.

“Kazu…come on.”

“NO!” Kazu takes a deep breath through his nose as he looks at Zoro who has his arms crossed with his bandana still tied to his arm. As he looks back to Rox, his facial expression shifts to one of seriousness.

“You know we have to investigate it. Come on!” Kazu screams in anger and frustration as he drops to his knees. He turns his attention to Zoro.

“You better not go anywhere!” Zoro turns to look at Luffy who has already started running towards the explosion.

“LUFFY!” The rest of Luffy's crew begins to turn and notice that he's already run off and somehow had grabbed his hat from Usopp. Zoro takes off after Luffy as the rest of the crew chases after him. Kazu gets to his feet and walks slowly after everyone as Rox puts his arm around his shoulder and walks with him.

“Why do I follow you?”

“You know you have fun with me.” Kazu hits Rox on the side of the head with the side of his hand.

“Asshole.” Rox leans to the side away from Kazu. When he recovers he reaches into his pocket but doesn't pull anything out.

“Aw man…where's my den den mushi at?” Kazu turns to look at Rox.

“You idiot! You lost the marine den den mushi?”

“I didn't lose it…I think….” Kazu looks around and sees the den den mushi under Rox foot.

“Hey, Captain Stupid, you're standing on it.” Rox lifts up his foot and picks it up and walks with a fast pace past Kazu towards the explosion. As he walks past Kazu he hits him on the shoulder.

“I'm not stupid.” Kazu shakes his head and smacks his right hand into his forehead as he follows Rox. “Are you hitting yourself again? Shouldn't do that, I've heard it causes brain damage.” Kazu screams in frustration but says nothing. Further up ahead, Zoro is running after Luffy who he sees right in front of him. The rest of the crew manages to catch up to Zoro.

“Luffy! Where are you running to?” Zoro screams at Luffy as Luffy continues running.

“To find out where that explosion came from of course! Whoever did it interrupted my fight and I'm gonna find out who it is.” As Luffy and his crew arrive at a clearing in the forest they see Luffy drop as he falls off a cliff.

“That idiot!” Just then Usopp and the others catch up to Zoro.

“Hey, what happened to Luffy?” Zoro turns to look at Usopp and points down to the bottom of the cliff.

“He fell down there.” Before Usopp can respond, he and the rest of the crew hear noises coming from behind them.

“I think it's this way.”

“What do you mean you think? Is it this way or not? We're already behind!”

“Relax. It's not a big deal.”

“I WANT TO GET THIS OUT THE WAY SO I CAN KILL ZORO!” The two come through the forest and see the others.

“See? I told you to relax.” Kazu shakes his head as Rox walks ahead of him and then looks at everyone. “Where's Luffy? Did he fall?” Just then they hear a faint scream from below the cliff. They all look down and see Luffy running straight ahead away from the cliff towards a village. Kazu turns to Zoro as Zoro looks at him with a questioningly look.

“What you staring at?”

“I thought I had it bad.” Just then as Rox is looking over the edge losses his balance and falls down the cliff. Kazu stares in shock as Zoro laughs.

“You were saying?” Kazu stomps his foot and makes a fist at Zoro.

“Shut up!” Kazu takes a deep breath and walks over to Lucas and grabs him by the back of his collar. “Come on Lucas.”

“Hey-! Put me down fi-!” Kazu jumps off the cliff and then lands on top of a tree below and as he grips the branch, he swings himself around and then springs himself forward to the ground. Zoro, Sanji, Franky, Robin and Chopper immediately follow suit as Usopp watches them in a panic.

“Wait a minute! I can't jump down this high! Please guys, can't we just sit and talk about this? Luffy will be fine! He doesn't need us.” Just as Chopper jumps Usopp hurries and grabs onto him and holds on tightly as he screams while they leap off down the cliff wall from side to side. Once Chopper and Usopp get to the ground at the bottom of the cliff, they see everyone walking away towards the village. Usopp falls off and looks around as he holds his nose.

“Man, that hurts.” He takes a deep breath as Chopper hovers over him in his reindeer form.

“Come on Usopp, hurry up or we'll leave you behind.” Chopper begins walking away as Usopp turns to look at Chopper and holds his arm out in front of him as if reaching for Chopper.

“Hey! Wait up!” Usopp quickly gets up and dashes in front of Chopper and keeps going until he passes by Franky, Robin, Sanji, and Nami. He turns his back to what's in front of him as he continues back stepping in a jogging pace as he teases everyone behind him. “See how the table's turned? You guys just wait and let Luffy and me take care of everything.” Just then he bumps into Kazu and falls on top of him. Kazu grunts as he looks up to see Usopp.

“Get…OFF!” Usopp screams and gets off Kazu quickly. As Kazu starts getting up, Rox comes from everyone's left side.

“Hey guys, I found the place where the explosion came from. From the looks of the crater it was pretty big too.” Kazu dusts himself off and turns to look at Rox.

“Lead the way Captain.” They all follow Rox through a forest trail that winds around the village. When they all arrive at the end, they see a bunch of people near the opening of a cave. On the outside of the cave, are about twenty pirates keeping a lookout as a couple other men are with them. Kazu, Zoro, and Rox are on one knee in the bushes as Chopper has reverted back to his small kid size next to Usopp who is behind a tree with Sanji next to Rox on one knee and Franky, and Robin are standing in the shadows of the forest with Brook and Lucas.

“I wonder what's going on here?” Everyone looks at Usopp. Rox answers first.

“Have no clue. Look!” He points to the opening of the cave. “Looks like someone is coming out.” They all turn their attention to the cave and see a man that's tall with a height equal to Brook and is slim with long limbs. His hair is long and silver as if painted by the color of moonlight that is tied in a ponytail stopping just below his neck. His eyes are dark black with a piercing stare to the edges. His chin is chiseled and firm but his body is thin packed with muscles. He wears simply a grey shirt with the sleeves torn off and on one arm is the words `hopeless' tattooed and the other arm has the words `despair' tattooed on it. His pants are long and baggy with a dark color to them and black boots. He steps out of the cave with a look of disgust as he pulls on a chain and at the end of the chain is a woman tied up by her wrists and ankles. The pull forces her into the ground and he drags her along the ground, cutting up her skin from the rocks and pebbles. He lifts her up off the ground and as she dangles in mid-air, he slaps her across the face.

“I didn't come to this farce of an island ON A WILD GOOSE CHASE! Now you said you had something to bargain all these good people's lives for, so I expect to see something pronto!” The girl looks away at the ground as tears slide down her face. The tears hit the rocks followed by a drop of blood from her lip.

“I don't know where it is if it's not there. I was told by my father that a treasure lied buried in the cave.” Just then a man comes out of the cave covered in dirt. The tall man holding the girl turns to look at him.

“You find anything?” The man shakes his head.

“No Captain Moose. We're better off just taking off with what we got.” Captain Moose screams and then swings the chains the girl is bound to around in the air and slams the girl on the ground. Everyone from Strawhat crew including Lucas, Rox and Kazu stare in shock. Sanji grits his teeth on his cigarette as he starts to jump out but Chopper quickly grabs him and pins him down.

“That bastard! I'll show him the proper way to treat a lady! Who does he think he is?” Kazu looks at Rox.

“Isn't that Captain B.J Moose?” Rox takes a deep breath as everyone looks at Kazu and Rox from one to the other.

“Yep…that's him alright. Didn't expect him to be way out here in these parts of the Grand Line though.” Sanji turns his attention to Kazu and Rox.

“You two know this bastard? Are you associated with him or something?” Kazu places his hands on his dagger behind his back as Zoro places his hand under the hilt of his sword and uses his thumb to tap the sword lose from its sheath. Rox immediately gets between everyone and places his hands out.

“Calm down Kazu!” Kazu takes his hand off the dagger and turns his back to everyone. Rox takes a deep breath and then turns to look at Sanji who is now slowly getting up. “We know of his reputation but we're certainly not associated with him nor have we ever had anything to do with him. He's a notorious pirate who only thinks about money and how to get his hands on it. He'll do anything from stealing and destroying villages and towns to slave trading to take percentages off the top for their market price. He's a highly wanted pirate with a bounty of at least two hundred million only because of the number of cities and towns he's destroyed and managing to escape the marines. On top of that, because of the human trafficking, Kazu hates him.” Kazu turns around to face the others.

“It's not just that. I made a promise to myself and my friends before that I would help put an end to all kinds of people like him. I had actually hunted him down and managed to corner him but he slipped through my grasp and managed to escape somehow. But he has no remorse or care for any life, especially those who he sees as beneath him.”

“So is he taking over this village to sell the people here?” Robin interjects. Kazu nods his head.

“Most likely.” Franky then steps up.

“Well what are we waiting around here for? Let's go destroy them and help those people.”

“It's not that simple Franky. He's actually stronger than most of us. If we do this it's gonna take all of us to defeat him. Let Rox and I go distract him to draw him in to fight us. While they focus on us, you guys work as a team to help free the slaves. Once they're free, we can take him out together without having to worry about him hurting innocent people.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Franky says as everyone smiles and nods their head in agreement. They turn to Captain Moose to see him still holding the shackled woman by her chains. He kicks one of his crew members and sends him flying into the cave. At that moment, someone comes falling through the air and lands on top of him. They all stare in shock as they see Luffy standing up and wiping himself from the dirt.

“Sorry about that. Are you okay?” Captain Moose turns his head to the nearest pirate near him.

“Kill him!” The pirate pulls out a gun and shoots at Luffy but the bullet bounces off his head and flies right into the shooter's leg. He falls to the ground holding his leg as everyone stares in shock. Captain Moose quickly gets up and ties the chains that imprison the girl to a rock. “What kind of devil fruit did this kid eat?” Luffy turns his head to the man and smiles.

“The rubber fruit.” Moose rubs his chin as he thinks to himself.

“Oh…rubber, huh?” Moose pulls out a long machete blade and raises it in the air. “Chop him to pieces boys!” They all scream as Rox and Kazu look to one another for an instant before Rox takes off towards Captain Moose.

“We better go. You two start freeing the slaves.” Kazu tells the others before he turns to run behind Rox. At this point, Luffy is tearing apart Captain Moose's men as he fights them head on.

“Gumo Gumo No…GAITLING GUN!” Luffy starts whipping his arms back and forth as he punches everyone in front of him and knocks them out after sending them flying a few feet. Someone manages to get behind him and swings for his neck but Luffy ducks his head forward below the swing and then twists his body so he can kick him in the side of the head with a round house kick. Next he stretches his hands way behind his back. “Gumo Gumo No….BAZOOKA!” He strikes his palms into the stomach of a pirate that gets sent flying into other people. Captain Moose looks in pure rage as he grits his teeth while watching his men get decimated.

“Stop playing around and KILL THIS MAGGOT!” Just then Rox fist slams straight into his jaw but his fist goes through him as his face falls apart and becomes runny like a liquid. Captain Moose's eyes turn to Rox. “Who are you?” Just then a sword cuts through his ribcage and takes his left arm and shoulder off his body but when it falls to the ground it turns to mud.

“Remember me?” Captain Moose turns his gaze to look at Kazu and stares in shock.

“You…I remember you! You're the punk who foiled my plans back on Costias Island. You won't get away from me this time!”

“That's exactly what I was thinking.” Kazu swings his sword and chops Captain Moose's head off but as it turns to mud and hits the ground, his body becomes runny and turns to mud.

“MUD WALL!” Just then the lump of mud that was Moose's body reshapes itself back to the body it was before with his arms raised above his head and suddenly a huge wall of mud raises up from the ground and completely covers Rox and Kazu inside it. He instantly hardens it and locks the two inside.

“Aw man…well this sucks! My nose itches!”

“Shut up captain stupid!”

“Hey, if I'm so stupid, then how did you get trapped in here too?”

“SHUT UP THE BOTH OF YOU!” Moose begins walking towards the wall of mud just as Luffy comes running straight at him.

“Hold on a second! GUMO GUMO NO….” Luffy twists his arm as he stretches it behind him. “…RIFLE!” He then thrusts the spinning punch towards Moose which hits him straight into his chest and makes his body burst into pieces from the force of his punch. As bits and pieces of mud fly everywhere, Luffy continues running towards Kazu and Rox. “Are you two okay?”

“Just get us out Luffy!” Kazu screams as Rox blinks his eyes.

“Okay, hold on one second.” Luffy pushes on the wall of mud but just then Moose wraps up Luffy in a ball of Mud.

“What? What is this?” Moose springs up from the ground with a smirk.

“Mud…ball.” He immediately kicks Luffy trapped in a ball of mud, locking his limbs inside the ball, in to the cave. Luffy screams as he goes flying in to the cave. Moose turns his attention back to Kazu and Rox. “Now…what was I in the middle of doing? Oh yes, destroying the two of you.”

“Hissato Star!” Just then Moose back bursts into flames as he screams at the intense heat. He falls forward to his face as Chopper comes from behind Rox and Kazu and pushes the wall to let it smash to pieces on the ground. As soon as the two get free, they both jump back away from Moose.

“Oh yeah! It's time to beat…his…”

“Wait captain!” Kazu grabs Rox and pulls him to the side so the other Strawhat pirates can't overhear what is being said. “See if you can get the navy to come here to help arrest this guy. It'd make things a lot easier.” Rox smiles at Kazu.

“Not a bad idea.” Rox pulls out the navy den den mushi in his pocket and walks away from the fight as Kazu rushes in towards Moose. As Usopp, Brook, Zoro, Kazu and Chopper are attacking Moose, the others are moving in to the cave. Rox sneaks into the woods and makes the call to the navy.

“Hello?”

“Yeah, this is Lt. Brenan! I need to speak with a high ranking officer. I've made contact with Captain Moose and need assistance.”

“Oh, Lt. Brenan! I'm sorry but we're gathering most of our forces at HQ right now due to the public execution of Portgas D. Ace. We won't be able to send any marine forces to your current location at this point in time. Furthermore-(Click)!” Rox immediately closes the connection as he stuffs the den den mushi back into his pocket.

“Shit!” Rox looks up to see Moose release a wave of mud from his hand at Brook to push him into the wall and pin him down with a constant flow of mud. Brook struggles to get free from the constant pressure as both Kazu and Zoro continue to swing their swords at Moose but to no avail, the attacks just go through him.

“If I don't…get out…of this…mud….I'll drown…” Just then Rox punches the ground and the force of the punch travels along the ground and when it reaches Moose, makes him lose his balance and fall down. Brook then finally is set free from the constant flow of mud and falls to the ground. “Even though I can't drown due to being just bones. YOHOHOHOHOHO!” Suddenly a small rock falls on to Brook's head and makes him stop laughing. Kazu turns to look at Rox as everyone surrounds Moose.

“Please tell me you got reinforcements.” Kazu whispers in Rox's ear but Rox shakes his head side to side.

“We're on our own.”

“Damn!” Kazu tightens the grip on his sword as Zoro begins to rush in. Moose dodges the first sword and places his hands on the handle of the other two to stop their swing. Then he picks Zoro up and throws him into the air and immediately spits a bullet of mud at Zoro that hits him in the chest and knocks him down.

“I'm through with these childish games! TIDAL FLOOD!” Moose brings his hands together in front of his chest and once he extends them, releases a huge ball of mud that spreads outwards from his body which knocks everybody back several tens of feet away from him. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some business to finish.” He laughs confidently as he slowly walks away towards the cave. He unties the chained girl and picks her up by her hair and places her on his shoulder. “You will be with me to enjoy my company for all my travels throughout the seas!” His boisterous loud laugh echoes throughout the opening of the cave as it fades away to a silent muffle. Meanwhile, deep within the cave, Sanji, Lucas, Nami, Robin, and Franky are still making their way to the slaves. Elsewhere within the cave, Luffy has gotten himself stuck in a corner while still trapped inside the ball of mud. Luffy continues to struggle to get his arms and legs free from within the ball of mud as he grunts and moans.

“Damnit! I can't get free! Stupid Moose! I'll beat him up real good when I get out of here!” While Sanji and the others are walking, Sanji sees the cages and inside the cages are chains along the wall that have everyone tied to the wall together. He sees mostly a lot of women that have tattered clothes and are covered in dirt. Some are even bleeding or have dried blood on their faces.

“Hey! Wait just a minute! I'll get you out!” He sprints towards the cages as two pirates appear in front of him.

“Not so fast! You got to go through us first.” Sanji front flips and does a split in the air to wrap his feet around their necks and then spin them around and toss them into a wall so hard their heads break through the rock. Sanji lands on his feet and takes out a cigarette and lights it. As he blows the smoke out, he turns to look at his work.

“You two can shut up and die. There's a proper way to tread a lady and I'll beat every rule in to your body until you remember them.” Franky and Nami pass by Sanji as Lucas ushers Sanji to move.

“Come on Sanji.” Sanji turns and moves towards the people that are locked up and as he is running, at the last second he leaps forward and extends his foot to jump kick the steel door and knock it off its hinges to fall to the ground. Everyone looks up at Sanji but doesn't move.

“Come on everyone. Get up! We need to get you out of here.” Robin and Nami quickly move with Franky to break the chains and help them up but they all refuse to get up or move. One man speaks from the corner of the cage.

“We're not going. We are grateful for your help and really appreciate it but we don't want to risk getting killed by Captain Moose. Until you defeat him, we wish to stay here.” Nami gets in his face.

“But if you stay here you'll be sold to slavery where some person is just going to abuse you until you die!” The man looks at Nami unfazed.

“Little girl, we all die some day. If I have a choice to live past today, this moment, then I'll do that. As long as I choose to live then I always have a chance to get free. Like I said, if you can defeat Captain Moose then we'll leave but until he's gone we aren't going anywhere. You aren't aware of this but when he first came to our island days ago, he killed many of our friends and family. He took most of the women that same day and had his way with them until he grew bored or changed his mind. Later on he sold them to pirates. After he finished selling them to pirates, he left the healthiest of us here to sell to the Celestial Dragons. When he had setup everything to be done, Jewel tried to bargain him with a treasure of gold that her father told her about from the time she was young. It's supposedly buried somewhere here in this cave but they've been searching this cave for days and haven't found anything. We are sure to be sold unless someone can stop him. So please, if you truly wish to set us free, then defeat him. Defeat Captain Moose!” Just then the sounds of chains rattling can be heard echoing off the walls of the cave. “That's gotta be him now with Jewel. You gotta go!” Franky turns his head to the path as does everyone else.

“We aren't going anywhere old man. We're gonna defeat this guy!” As Moose appears in front of them he stops in his tracks.

“What's going on here? You trying to damage my merchandise?” Sanji scoffs as he runs in.

“COLLIER!” Sanji thrusts his foot towards Moose neck which knocks his head off and into the wall. As it collides with the wall, it turns to mud and falls apart. Sanji and everyone look in shock as they see Moose body become runny and wet as it starts changing to mud and falls to the ground to make a puddle. The girl looks in shock as she falls to the ground shaking her head.

“No! No! NOT AGAIN!” Just then the puddle of mud rises from the ground and attaches itself to Sanji wrapping itself around him to keep his limbs held in place.

“What is he doing?” Just then the mud turns into a huge hand and launches Sanji into the wall hard to make the front of his body leave an imprint in the wall. Everyone turns to look at Sanji fall to the ground and not move.

“Sanji!” Nami looks at Sanji's still body and starts running over to him. A laughter begins creeping through the cave as everyone looks at the source coming from the huge hand which has a face appear in the palm.

“Mud….hand.” Suddenly a gunshot goes off and where the face was is blown off to leave a huge hole in the palm of the mud hand. Everyone turns their heads to see where the shot came from and see Lucas with a huge long range gun that has some kind of scope on top of it. Franky does a thumbs up at Lucas and smiles.

“Franky! Do it now!” Franky nods his head at Lucas.

“I understand. FRESH….FIRE!” Franky takes a deep breath and then blows out a huge flame that hits Moose and leaves him screaming in pain. Lucas takes off past Moose and stops in front of the girl. He turns to Nami over by Sanji.

“Grab him Nami! We're getting out of here before we cause a cave in and hurt these people!”

“Okay, I got him. Lead the way Lucas.” As Lucas picks up the girl and carries her away, the others begin running past Lucas towards the exit of the cave. Lucas looks down at the girl who is shivering in his arms.

“Miss, are you okay? What's your name?” She nods her head and looks away shyly.

“My name is Jewel Hatchet…” Lucas smiles at her as she looks away.

“You'll be safe with us.”

“You promise?” Lucas nods his head.

“On the honor of my captain.” She smiles and looks ahead as the light from the cave exit begins to shine and light the cave. Meanwhile, back at the cages, Moose is slowly getting up in his human form. He slams his fist into the ground and looks in the direction everyone left in.

“They…WILL NOT ESCAPE MY WRATH!” He turns to mud and slides along the ground as he begins to try and gain ground to catch up to Lucas and the others. Elsewhere, Luffy remains trapped in a corner of the cave with his head poking out of the mud ball that is wedged in between the ceiling and floor. Luffy continues to struggle but can't move. He finally exhales a deep breath.

“Enough of this…I've got to help my crew. GUMO GUMO NO…” Luffy takes a deep breath and holds it. “…FUUSEN!” He stretches his chest and stomach to expand himself and break through the hard mud. Once he's free he looks around and sees a path to his right and left. He breaks to the left and runs as fast as he can. As he runs down the walkway, he screams out loud and continues traveling through the cave making turns in a random order. He eventually sees a cage up ahead on his right. He stops in front of the cage and sees people inside. “Hey, are you people okay?” The old man in the cage looks to see Luffy and squints his eyes.

“Are you a friend of those people that came here earlier?” Luffy looks at him with eagerness as he places his hands on the cage bars.

“Old man, you know my friends?” He rubs his chin as he thinks about the people that were just there.

“Well I don't know if they were your friends…? But they were fighting with the man that imprisoned us Captain Moose. They just left that way to head outside of the cave.” The old man points to the path that Lucas and the others left from.

“Thanks old man! By the way, why are you locked inside here?” The old man takes a deep breath and begins telling Luffy what he told Nami earlier. As Luffy hears this, his face changes from one of surprise to a serious look with a tint of anger and he takes his straw hat and adjusts it. “Old man..I'll defeat him for you.” The old man smiles as he looks at Luffy slowly turn around to face the path that leads out of the cave.

“I know you're friends with those people now. They promised the same thing.”

“Okay…” Luffy then bends his knees and places his right hand on the ground in the shape of a fist with his left hand on his left knee. “GEAR…SECOND!” Just then his legs turn to pumps and they pump three times until his skin turns red and steam emits from his body. The old man looks at Luffy in shock as everyone looks at Luffy wondering what he's doing. Luffy then looks up straight ahead and takes off running towards the exit of the cave. Meanwhile, Lucas and the others are running out of the cave and see Rox, Kazu, Zoro, Usopp, Chopper and Brook on the ground but slowly starting to get up. Lucas runs with Jewel towards Rox and Kazu as Robin and Franky run with Nami holding Sanji up towards Zoro and the others. Rox looks at Lucas and smiles but then looks questioningly at Jewel.

“Lucas, who is she?” Rox pokes his head over Lucas arms to look at Jewel who shyly turns her head away and looks up Lucas. “Hey, relax, I'm not gonna hurt you. Can you tell me your name?” Lucas nods his head and lets her down out of his arms and she stands on her feet.

“My name's Jewel Hatchet.” Rox bends down to one knee and places his hand gently on her head and rubs it gently.

“You can call me Rox. It's a pleasure to meet you.” Kazu steps past Rox and Jewel and walks towards Lucas.

“Enough with the warm and fuzzies! Where's Moose Lucas? And what happened to getting the slaves out?” Lucas turns his attention to Kazu as he sighs.

“Moose should be coming out of the cave right behind us any second now. As for the slaves, they chose to stay there until we took care of mud man first. So we subdued him just enough to get out so to not cause a cave in and end up hurting them.”

“Fine. We'll destroy him when he comes out.” Kazu turns to look at Nami and the others. “You guys ready?” They all stand facing the cave with a serious look as they say in unison, `yeah'. “Let's get serious.” Just then Captain Moose bursts from the entrance of the cave as a huge mass of mud at twenty feet in height and eleven feet in width. His head pokes out at the top with his mouth open and screaming down at the others.

“YOU WILL ALL BE DESTROYED!” Everyone stands firm as Kazu steps forward.

“You ready captain?” Rox looks away from Jewel at Moose.

“Yeah. Stay with Lucas Jewel. I'll be right back once I finish beating this guy up!” Rox gets off the ground and stands up beside Kazu. “Oh yeah! Almost forgot!” Rox reaches into his pocket and pulls out a key. “Hey Lucas!” Rox tosses the key to Lucas who catches it. “If things get hectic, free yourself from those shackles of yours.” Lucas smiles and puts the key into his pocket.

“Okay Captain.” Lucas begins to immediately usher Jewel away and take her into the forest as the others make a united front against Captain Moose. Kazu takes the sword wrapped around his waist and then sticks it into the ground and slowly keeps walking towards Moose who is still tall and a lump of mud. Zoro sees him drop the sword and looks from the sword to him.

“Hey, you forgot the sword.”

“Don't need it…” Just then Captain Moose shoots out of his mouth a huge mud ball aimed straight at Kazu. Kazu looks at the oncoming attack and grins. He slowly extends his hand out front and the second the mud ball touches his fingers a quick gust of wind bursts forth from his hand to make it stop completely. “Air…tunnel!” The huge mud ball whips backwards and hits Moose in the face which sends him reeling. As his balance shakes Kazu gets into an attack stance as if he was a bare knuckle fighter and yells as a huge force of wind comes out of his body. Kazu throws a punch in front of him and releases the air with a snap. The air travels at a high speed towards Moose and once it hits him in the chest, a loud thunderous clap is heard. The force of the attack makes Moose fall down to the ground and become a huge puddle of mud. “Thunder punch.” Everyone from Luffy's crew looks at Kazu in shock, especially Usopp and Chopper.

“That's amazing! How did you do that Kazu?” Kazu turns to look at Chopper.

“I ate the air fruit. So I'm made up entirely of air.” Zoro looks at him questioningly.

“How come you didn't use that power before?” Kazu looks over at Zoro.

“I'll explain all of that later. Now isn't exactly the best time!” Just then Moose springs up from the ground like a geyser and as some of the mud drops to the ground, his body reshapes into multiple clones.

“Now, prepare to face my mud clone army! Continue fighting until you have nothing left and then I'll tear you apart one at a time. MUAHAHAHAHA!” Rox slams his hand onto the ground and suddenly the ground begins to shake. As the ground shakes, Moose turns to look at him.

“What are you doing?” Rox smirks as vines burst out the earth and wrap around all of the clones as thorns spring from them and pierce all of the clones.

“WATER VINEYARD!” Immediately the clones begin drying up and turn from mud to dry dirt. Once they've changed to dirt, Kazu extends his hand and blows a strong gust of wind to blow the dirt clones away. Moose's body rises from the ground as he looks with anger at Kazu and Rox. Kazu crosses his arms as Rox stands straight up looking directly at Moose.

“You're finished Moose! Your reign of human trafficking ends today.” The ground shakes and Moose sprouts up from the ground with a roar of anger as his bellowing voice shakes with the ground and cracks along the air. His body forms out of the mud into the shape of a giant. He raises his hand up into the air to strike at everyone on the ground. As his hand comes towards the ground, something smashes into the back of Moose with enough force to cause him to pause and look behind him.

“GUMO GUMO NO…JET GATLING GUN!” Suddenly a barrage of blows strike through the chest of Moose causing mud to fling in every direction. As the mud goes flying in different directions, Moose drops in size. Once the huge giant legs have been taken out, he turns his body and drops on Luffy. Luffy struggles against the mud as it ties him down to the ground and keeps his legs tied. At that moment, the red skin fades away and the steam is gone as the effects of the second gear wear off.

“Luffy!” Nami screams out towards her captain as she pulls out her staff with rounded ends and waves it around until a section breaks off and starts spinning around in a circle. Nami begins running towards Luffy but suddenly, a piece of the mud that broke off from Moose body starts rising up and forms into the shape of a beast with four legs, spikes down its spine and a wide jaw with sharp teeth. As Nami sees the beast, she looks around to see all the rest of the giant mud puddles form into the creature and begin attacking her crewmates. Usopp runs away from one as Chopper transforms to his human form and begins knocking them back with his fists. Robin uses her devil fruit power to grab the beasts with hands that sprout from the ground to throw them into one another as the rest of Luffy's crew is attacking them. But as the mud creatures fall apart, they reform back into what they were. Nami dodges the beast that lunges at her and swings her pole that shoots out a bolt of lightning that turns the mud beast into a pile of ash. Luffy stares at his feet which are locked to the ground as a cage made of mud springs up around him and traps him inside. He places his hands on the mud bars and screams as he looks at his crew.

“Nami! Everyone!” A soft chuckle emits from the ground below Luffy as he looks down to see Moose face appear below him.

“Scream all you want Strawhat Luffy. You won't escape from this cage and your friends will succumb to my Mud Hellhouds.” Luffy punches Moose face immediately.

“Shut up! My friends are way stronger than those things! Now let me out of here!” Just then a mud spike shoots up from the ground and stabs Luffy into the back hard enough to lift him off the ground and to cough up blood. His entire crew looks in shock as they see their captain go limp. Zoro takes his swords and spins around.

“SANTOURYUU TATSUMAKI!” Zoro's tornado blows away several of the mud beasts around him. Once he clears a path, he begins immediately making his way towards his captain. As Zoro starts dashing towards Luffy and the cage, Sanji follows beside him, kicking the mud beasts that block the way while Usopp charges behind them with Franky. Usopp and Franky then take the front as they both get ready to attack a huge group of mud beasts. “HISSATO STAR!”

“FRESH FIRE!” The two launch fire at the mud beasts which burns them up to turn them to ash and clears a path to Luffy. Suddenly arms wrap around Luffy's body and imprison him inside as the fire spreads to the cage and encompass it. As the mud is burnt off, Robin's arms throws Luffy to Chopper who catches him and runs towards the forest. The rest of the crew including Brook stands tall in front of Moose who is standing at his normal height. Just then Kazu and Rox approach Moose from the side of him. Kazu looks at Zoro for a second.

“Is your captain gonna be okay?”

“Of course he'll be fine. Don't worry about him.” Moose raises a mud clone from the ground and splits into two different directions. Zoro rushes the one headed towards him. “SANTOURYUU…108 POUND CANNON!” He swings his two swords which cut the air and as the slice approaches Moose he looks in shock before it hits him and splits his chest in half diagonally. Moose stops immediately as Brook walks past him and sheaths his sword.

“ARROW NOTCH STRIKE!” Then Moose's head is severed off the body at the neck which creates the opening for Usopp to shoot.

“TRIPLE HISSATO STAR!” Usopp fires three fireballs which hit Moose in the body and the flames spread out rapidly covering his body in the fire. Moose reels back and forth from the intense heat as he looks to his left and sees Sanji coming through the air with his leg on fire.

“DIABLE…JAMBLE…COSSIER!” Sanji's leg shoots straight through Moose chest to create a big gaping hole to make the entire mud clone crumble to the ground. Meanwhile, Kazu fades away to nothing as Rox jumps in between where Kazu stood and Moose. Rox's eyes change before he punches Moose body hard into the chest which stops him from moving and hurts him deeply. Moose looks in shock at Rox as he stumbles backwards with the mud off of him and a bruise on his rib cage from the punch.

“Ha…ha…haki…?” Rox punches him hard across the jaw to send him flying and instantly Kazu reappears behind Moose.

“TWISTING BLADES!” A whirlwind stirs up from the ground around Moose and hurls him into the air towards the sky. As he is forced higher into the air, he spins with the whirlwind being cut up constantly. After he is shot out of the whirlwind, Rox jumps towards him and kicks him square in the face to make him hit the ground hard. As he slowly stands up, blood escapes past his lips and drips from his neck. Everyone closes around him as Moose looks at them in disgust.

“It's over B.J Moose.” Moose looks at Rox as Rox folds his arms with a focused stare that looks intently at B.J Moose for any hint of movement. Without saying a word Moose lifts his body off the ground as a geyser of mud springs from underneath him. He stands on top of the gushing mud and looks down at everyone.

“Fine! If you want to free those worthless people so bad then you can have them! AFTER I DROWN THEM ALL!” He laughs outloud as everyone begins looking with a panicked expression. Moose raises his arm and points at the cave entrance as the geyser of mud begins moving towards the cave. Everyone begins running after him but aren't able to keep up. Suddenly an explosion bursts right in front of Moose and drops him to the ground with smoke coming from his body. Everyone looks around as Kazu and Rox smile at each other. The two of them turn to the forest and smile.

“What took you so long, Lucas?” Luffy's crew gasps as they see Lucas standing by a tree smiling. He yawns and stretches his arms out as everyone notices the chains are off his wrists and ankles.

“Sorry, running all the way back to the ship to get that girl Jewel to safety was tiring. I took a nap on the way back.” Kazu immediately gets in Lucas face.

“Now isn't the time to be taking naps Lucas!” Lucas puts his hands out in front of Kazu as he smiles and kindly pushes Kazu off of him.

“It isn't really the time for debates either. I'm here now.” Rox gravitates to being beside Lucas.

“He's right you know. We are in the middle of something. Saving lines, beating up Moose, helping Luffy's crew….”

“I'M AWARE OF THE SITUATION!” Kazu screams as Usopp and Nami stare at Kazu, Rox, and Lucas with Franky, Brook, Sanji, Robin, and Zoro.

“Are they really a crew?” Usopp says as he looks at Nami.

“I guess…probably.” Nami answers as she looks at Zoro while Robin nods her head in agreement.

“Best to stay out of it.” Moose begins to slowly get up as everyone turns their attention back to Moose. Lucas grins as he steps around Kazu.

“How'd you like my `Pocket Bomb'?” Moose moans from the pain of the blast. His head swivels side to side as he tries to focus on the people in front of him. As he starts to stand up, he loses his sense of balance and catches himself with his left hand. His breathing becomes rough and heavy. Just as Moose finally makes it to his feet, a sound can be heard in the distance. Everyone looks around but doesn't see anything until a tree in the forest falls to the ground followed by two more trees. Luffy then emerges from out of the forest and screams as he runs towards Moose with Chopper behind him.

“Wait Luffy! You aren't fully healed yet!” Luffy screams as he blazes towards Moose. Moose staggers as he sees him coming. He shakes his head side to side and then places his hand on the ground. The ground shakes and trembles. Luffy cocks back his right fist and immediately sends it flying.

“GUMO GUMO NO…PISTOL!” Luffy's fist stops just short of Moose's face as a huge mud wall rises up out the ground in front of Moose to prevent the attack from hitting him. Then the mud wall turns into the shape of a tidal wave and begins hurling towards Luffy. Luffy jumps into the air and bites his thumb. “GEAR….THIRD!” Luffy blows on his thumb hard and creates a huge blown up arm. The air in the arm travels to his body and then goes to his left arm directly into his fist. “GUMO GUMO NO…GIGANTE PISTOL!” Moose smiles as he looks at the oncoming attack.

“Your attack won't work on me Luffy! I'll destroy you the second it's over!” Just then Moose feels something and looks down to see a tiny flower touching his feet. The petals suddenly break off and blow away as more and more petals flow through the air. Rox chuckles and begins laughing out loud as Moose stares at him with a questioning look.

“Death…sap.” Luffy's fist then comes down on top of Moose to create a huge crater in the ground. When Luffy's fist deflates and his body becomes really small like a midget, everyone sees Moose out cold on the ground. As Luffy tries to catch his breath, everyone begins to relax as they see Moose not moving. Kazu sheaths his sword as does Zoro while Sanji takes a cigarette and lights it. Rox slowly walks over to Moose and looks at him with a smile. Kazu fades away and reappears beside Rox. The two of them look down at the unconscious Moose as Lucas slowly walks up on the other side of Rox. “One of yall take him back to the ship and make sure you lock him down tight.” Lucas turns to look at Kazu who isn't there any longer. He looks in shock at how fast he disappeared to go over to Zoro.