With Sanji, Menchi, Benezia, Zoro, Jewel, and Chopper gone, only Luffy, Vivi, Nami, Usopp, Tereza, and Alex remain on the main floor of the tower.
It doesn't take long before Tereza hurries away with Nami and Vivi, wanting to talk with them in private.
Girls' talk, huh? Traitor. I might as well sleep then!
Meanwhile, Usopp has opened his bag and spread a lot of ingredients onto the ground as he sits in a corner.
"I need to prepare more… I'm not nervous… I'm not scared… I'm just prepared!" he mutters as he readies his ammunition, currently creating a new Tabasco Star, by pouring copious amounts into a special round bullet.
Meanwhile, Alex also sits down, trying to close his eyes to sleep a little.
However, after around half an hour, he feels a presence in front of him.
Slightly annoyed, he opens his eyes, only to see Luffy's face right above his own.
"What do you want, Luffy?" he asks.
"I've thought a lot about you and what you said," Luffy says. "I have something very important to ask you. I am a little excited...."
Really? No, that can't be. Luffy, who's actually using his brain? Is he gonna ask for more advice, or maybe my help? That's quite surprising.
"What is it?" Alex asks, now curious, slightly smiling as he stares up at Luffy while sitting on the ground, trying his best to relax.
"Your name is the Butcher, right… do you have meat for me?!" Luffy asks, his eyes shining bright, a flood of saliva dripping onto Alex's face.
Motherfucker!
"Fuck you!" Alex yells, activating Ren, focusing his aura onto his fist with Ko, and punching the Straw Hat in the stomach.
Like struck by a cannonball, Luffy flies against the wall, crashing into it.
You have dealt 31 damage to Luffy
To his utter shock, Luffy does not simply recover. He slowly sinks onto the ground, and a bit of blood runs down his mouth. He needs a few seconds to get up, yet he still stumbles forward, still shaken.
"You asshole! That hurt!" he yells, jumping into the air, stretching his arms towards the ceiling of the tall tower. "Gum Gum Bazooka!"
Fuck off! Ko.
As Luffy unleashes his terrifying attack from above—a double palm strike with a tremendous amount of force—Alex counters with his strongest punch, putting all of his Aura into it.
As Alex's fist crashes into Luffy's palms, he can feel the terrifying impact.
Unable to stay standing, Alex gets knocked back, flying towards the wall.
Ken!
Alex crashes into the wall, however his Aura protects him, causing him to remain relatively unhurt.
You have received 9 damage
You have dealt 6 damage to Luffy
At the same time, Luffy crashes into the ground, equally shaken, rubbing his hands in confusion.
"It hurts... why does it hurt?" He wonders. "This reminds me of Grandp—"
"YOU IDIOTS!" Nami yells, rushing down the tower, ready to stop Luffy.
"This is stupid!" Tereza adds, flying down towards Alex.
Quickly, the others arrive as well. Sanji and Menchi rush out of the kitchen, Zoro and Benezia appear from the cellar, and even Jewel and a now-freed Chopper head down.
"He punched me, that hurt so much! I'm even bleeding. It's not my fault!" Luffy justifies himself.
"Is that true?" Benezia asks, clearly baffled by Alex's actions.
"He fucking spat in my face!" Alex says. "I just… lost it. Also, I thought he was made out of rubber. I didn't think I could hurt him that easily."
"He is…" Nami notes, her face full of surprise. "How did you do it?!"
Isn't she doing it as well? I could swear she bonked him a few times, and he looked hurt.
"That is true," Sanji confirms. "How did you wound him? He is even bleeding."
"Well… I know a technique similar to Haki, which I mentioned previously," Alex explains. "Though it's somewhat inferior, it's apparently strong enough to cause at least some damage. No… inferior isn't the right term. It's fundamentally different. Anyway, it doesn't matter. This is a surprise for me as well."
So Aura… can damage Luffy? That means it might even be useful against other Devil Fruit users. Does it work… against Logia users?! It should work, as long as they're not transformed into their elements. This is a huge discovery!
I can just pretend that I can't harm them, but then do a surprise Ko attack with a sword and cut them in half in a single attack. That's really something else, I like it.
"Well, stop fighting and let's eat, the food is almost ready," Menchi says, returning to the cooking place in the back.
"Sorry about that," Alex says, approaching Luffy and offering a hand. "I'm a little on edge."
"It's fine, hehe," Luffy says, accepting Alex's hand. "You are pretty strong, and you don't even fight barefisted but use a sword, right? It's really cool, by the way! This reminds me of my childhood with Ace… so this is how it feels to get punched. It reminds me a little of Grandpa as well—he did the same to me. He also managed to hurt me despite my rubber body."
As Luffy stands, he suddenly laughs, pointing at him. "Hahaha. Zoro, what happened to you?"
What happened to him?
Alex looks at the swordsman and discovers a fresh cut on his left cheek—a thin but visible red line, clearly standing out, as Zoro, completely pale, walks into a corner and sits down.
Zoro remains silent, tightly clenching the sword hilt of his Wado Ichimonji, while everyone stares at him.
"…Nothing," he replies.
With his reply, the tower quiets down.
Benezia doesn't look hurt.
It doesn't take long before Menchi and Sanji prepare a large selection of dishes, everyone immediately gathering in a large circle, the food placed in the middle, and devouring the spread.
"Awssshhome!" Luffy yells as he gulps down a large piece of meat, food spraying out of his mouth as he greedily eats. "Sanshi, youu are the besht!"
Sanji sighs in annoyance, lighting another smoke. "That's not my dish. Just shut up and eat, will you?"
Finally, Chopper and Jewel return as well, taking a seat next to each other, Chopper briefly petting Jewel's body, looking sad.
Jewel... everything okay?
Yes Soulmate... Princess Jewel will have to fight hard to accomplish her goals. It's somewhat depressing to hear what this Peasant reindeer had to go through... and is still going through.
I'll help you! Don't look down, things will work out just fine... I promise.
❤️
Afterwards, both quietly eat the food.
Within a few minutes, everyone has quickly devoured the spread, Luffy's stomach now shaped like a balloon, his clothes actually no longer fitting properly.
"Sanji… I want more," Luffy says, looking dejected.
"The provided food shall suffice," Benezia states in an icy, cold voice, glaring at Luffy, causing him to shrink back, giving up his begging.
"Luffy is lucky… I want her to stare at me with that expression as well…" Sanji mutters, causing Nami to kick his back, making him buckle forward before he barely remains standing.
Am I… like Sanji…? No… I won't admit it! At worst, I'm just half as bad as he is—no, a quarter… at max.
"He is crazy… I'm shivering all over; that's the stuff of nightmares. Oy, Captain Butcher… no, Alex, sir, please do something about your crewmate. She is scaring me," Usopp yells.
"She's a serious person, do not confuse her business stare with hostility," Alex lies, trying to prevent the mood from worsening any further. "Anyway, as much as we enjoyed this, it's time to get serious. We have only around half a day remaining, and we still need to sleep. It will all end tomorrow. I think we should get a little serious now. We also told you what we know, so we'd appreciate any information you can offer us."
"Yes!" Vivi says, tensing up a little. "You told us about Mr. 2… Mr. 2 has impersonated my father to rouse the rebels. At least that's what we think. My father would never shoot or hurt civilians or use Dance Powder... it must all be a scheme! These rumors are everywhere... apparently there are countless witnesses, so everyone is believing them."
She continues, looking worried, "The Rebels will begin their attack on Alubarna tomorrow. They must have left Katorea by now and are marching towards the capital. We have Igaram and his wife—no, names are not important. We have allies in the palace. According to them, multiple Baroque Works agents have infiltrated both the rebel army and the kingdom's soldiers. A peaceful ending to this conflict appears to be impossible."
"It's difficult, but I can promise you, if we take down Crocodile, this will all end," Alex says, doing his best to give her some hope. "He's using Rain Powder to cause an artificial drought everywhere except his base of Rainbase. If we take him down, the drought will end, and the kingdom will probably return back to normal. Rain will take the fire out of the Rebellion."
I'm such a poet.
Princess Jewel agrees.
"It's called Dance Powder," Benezia corrects him. "Aside from that, your argument is persuasive."
Thanks for ruining my artistic description by correcting arbitrary mistakes.
"…Thanks," Alex says, sighing.
"This bastard!" Vivi says, clenching her fist. "Tomorrow, I will try my best to stop the war. I know the rebel leader, Koza. I tried to contact him, but he's surrounded by people who want the rebellion to succeed. It must be Baroque Works agents. If I could just explain...."
Could be… but it could also be.
"Not necessarily," Tereza interjects. "It could be Baroque Works or some even more dangerous people. Anyway, it doesn't matter who. We need to stop this conflict from escalating. We also have more bad news. Baroque Works will use a large bomb to blow up the city. However, we have some information about it. I'll do my best to prevent it from exploding, but I can't be sure the location won't change."
"A bomb?!" Vivi, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper yell in unison.
Benezia lifts her finger, urging them to remain silent. "Calm down, children. Didn't you listen to what she just said? We will prevent that from happening. You need to remain calm."
"I can't! This monster wants to destroy our kingdom," Vivi yells, her face now filled with panic and rage. "Anyway, I have some good news, maybe there is some hope. The Baroque Works Officer agents are not yet inside the city. They're meeting somewhere else and will arrive shortly. This gives us an opportunity to stop them from interfering. Aside from that, we're sure that Crocodile and his partner, Miss All Sunday, are aiming for the palace. We don't know their location, but since we know their goal, we can anticipate where they'll appear. But we don't know what we should do…"
Now it really matters—they need to accept our strategy... if they just eyeball it, we're in trouble.
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