"Any ideas on how we can beat him?" Hatchan asked.
"This might help," Law said, holding a wooden case that held a sea stone cuff. "I brought this along in case of emergency." He said nonchalantly.
Anchor nodded, while others grinned.
"You know… let's jump him," Yosaku suggested, putting back his shield, "Let's putt the bastard down."
The other looked at his and shrugged before all of them jumped on Jabra.
The first to hit was Anchor, punching with a thunderous force that caved Jabra's face in, as he was dropped to the floor. Destroying the ground with a crater before he brunched up, dazzled by the powerful blow.
Law came in next, stabbing his sword right into his heart, but when it couldn't fully go in, he muttered, "Fire!" as a small concentrated shockwave, blasted right through the zoan user's heart. Making him fall to the side.
Jabra's body flew right in towards Yosaku who punched his face stopping his momentum, before putting the sea cuff on his arms, draining his stamina. As Jabra started growing down in size Jabra punched him, sending him to the side where Franky appeared with his own punch sending him back. With that, the zoan user was sent back and forth.
Leaving no room for Jabra to even catch a break as Yosaku and Franky beat him through.
"I am Groot!" Groot came in with a roar as the little one planted both of his arms to the ground a massive wooden hammer slammed into his body sending him flying up. As the zoan user started falling Hatchan prepared with six swords, even though his injures hurt like shit.
Seeing his chance as the weakened Jabra fell from above, Hatchan mustered his remaining strength and leaped to deliver the finishing blow. Despite the pain burning through his battered body, the fish-man moved with practiced grace born from decades of swordsmanship.
With fluid skill, Hatchan's six arms drew the blades strapped across his broad back and waist. Gripping a cutlass in each hand, he crossed them before his chest as he dove towards Jabra's plummeting form.
At the last instant before impact, Hatchan tucked into a tight spin. The centrifugal force amplified the power of his swords as he called out "Six Swords Style: Six-Bladed Lotus!"
Hatchan became a whirling cyclone of razor-edged steel. His swords lashed out in a blinding spiral, every ounce of power channeled through their gleaming edges.
In the blink of an eye, Hatchan's six swords slashed across Jabra's body from all angles. Crimson gashes burst open across the wolf zoan's chest, arms, and legs as the blades found their marks.
Jabra let out an agonized howl as the force of the impacts slammed him brutally into the unforgiving ground. Dust billowed outward from the point of collision. Hatchan landed in a crouch a short distance away, hissing from the pain to the side. But at least the threat was down. But as the dust cleared, Jabra lay unmoving in a spreading pool of his own blood.
Hatchan grinned as he breathed heavily his crewmates grinning alongside him. However, that grin fell when all of them heard a loud explosion. It was coming from deeper inside the city of Enies Lobby.
——
A/N: The last part is me fixing the story pacing. With all of the fights going on, I kind of messed up the story pacing. And I wanted the end fight to be Usopp and Gin vs Onigumo. So I added that in. Nothing much changed. You guys don't need to read form here, if you already read 412, 413, and 414 when it was released.
I also didn't rewrite much, so you don't have to reread them. It's just me fixing the story pacing. Nothing new was added.
——
423
Back with Usopp,
"You can't hide forever!" Onigumo slammed his swords in wild fury, shattering stone and steel. The landscape became a maze of craters and fissures.
Usopp dragged Gin —who was in his human form, both of them being ant-sized— while dodging Onigumo's attack. They raced desperately through the forest of rubble while Onigumo rampaged after them. The Vice Admiral was beyond reason now, consumed by blind bloodlust.
And in time Usopp jumped with Gin on his back, while Onigumo chased through the air.
Sirens blared around the ravaged tower. Onigumo's rampage had carved a swath of destruction through Enies Lobby. They weren't on the Tower of Justice anymore, too much damage had already been done there. They were on the main island now.
And Usopp wanted to use his small size to throw off the observation haki user. With so many marines and world government agents being on the island surely he won't attack.
But the sniper was wrong.
Marines scrambled in panic as air blades mercilessly cut through their ranks. Killing and maiming anyone that was unfortunate enough to get in the way.
"Why is there a giant spider monster attacking us!"
"Run! Save your lives!"
"That's Vice Admiral Onigumo! The bastard had gone mad!"
High above, Onigumo threw in attacks. With no regard for his own men, the maddened Vice Admiral's rained sword strikes down on Usopp and Gin's location. Friend and foe alike were obliterated in his rage.
Usopp and Gin sprinted through the ravaged island, weaving between terrified marines fleeing Onigumo's onslaught. The Vice Admiral pursued from above, jumping from on rooftop to another, carving a trail of destruction across Enies Lobby. His brutal attacks decimated buildings and bisected people with ease.
"It doesn't matter who I kill, the end always justifies the means," The absolute justice deliver roared, chasing after his victim, leaving a trail of destruction in his path.
But soon Usopp was cornered and Onigumo came down stomping on Usopp's possible location, throwing the ant-sized pirate off as he returned to his original size. The sniper broke his nose as he face-faulted into a nearby wall, bleeding from his head.
"Where the fuck, is the other one! No matter! I will kill you first!" Onigumo said, taking up his sword to slash at Usopp.
But before that…
"Oi, take your own medicine for once!" Gin called out from the side, his smaller form enlarging right as he aimed a dial at Onigumo. Unleashing a devastating air blade, that made the Vice Admiral cross his blades, digging his feet into the ground, before throwing them above.
The attack was powered by Axe-dial, capable enough to take sword-based attacks and store them, before releasing them. And due to the onslaught of air blades attack earlier, they stocked quite a bit of them. Essentially using Onigumo's own attacks against him.
The Vice Admiral gritted his teeth, before using his spider legs to dig into the ground and throw the attack towards the sky. He snarled, "Using my own attack against me! That won't work."
Gin gave a helpless smile, his arms shaking from the recoil of the axe dial. "Oh, I know! But I was just the distraction!"
Realization struck Onigumo an instant too late.
"My captain sends his regards! Reject Leo Gun!" Usopp roared. He thrust his palms forward, unleashing the dial's apocalyptic powerpoint blank.
A colossal beam of azure energy erupted forth with a thunderous boom. The air itself ignited as the resounding shockwave flattened buildings for miles around.
The release of the Leo Gun was like the unleashing of a contained star. The azure energy erupted forward, not just a projectile but a maw of annihilation that devoured everything in its path. It tore through the air with a sound that was less a roar and more a rending of reality itself. Anything it touched was not just hit; it was obliterated, disintegrated into nothingness by the overwhelming power.
Onigumo raised his swords in a futile attempt to defend against the oncoming oblivion. The beam enveloped him, shattering his blades and tearing his flesh from bones, as he tried and failed to escape the attack.
The Vice Admiral's agonized screams were swallowed by the hellish din. When the blinding light faded, nothing remained but a smoking furrow gouged deep into the earth.
The unleashing of the Leo Gun came at a terrible price. Though Usopp had angled the blast skyward, its apocalyptic recoil slammed into him with crushing force. The ground ruptured as he was driven eight feet deep into solid stone. Jagged rocks pinned his mangled body, shattered arm bones grating together in white-hot agony.
Usopp screamed soundlessly, the pain beyond anything he had ever experienced. But rather than crying in pain, Usopp laughed, "hahaha… *cough *cough… hahaha… we did it… We finally did it."
Even with the waves of pain tearing into him Usopp laughed in joy as tears streamed down his face. That was terrifying, life-ending and… brave.
That could have killed him. Only his rigorous training allowed him to survive the Leo Gun's backlash at all. He teetered on the edge of oblivion, nearly welcoming the relief of death.
But the warrior within refused to fall. It was not his time. With excruciating effort, Usopp dragged himself back from the darkness through sheer force of will. He would not fail his crew. His vision started to get blurry, but he refused to close his eyes. Because he knew if he did… he might not wake up.
The Reject dial was like the Impact dial, but it magnified the force by tenfold. Usopp had once experimented and tried to store one of Luffy's powerful attacks during training sessions. At first, they weren't able to keep his Leo Gun attack, due to it being so powerful.
Even Jack, the ancient Mammoth zoan was useless against that attack, so Usopp needed to upgrade the dial in some ways. Using metals and other things to make a Reject dial that could keep Luffy's attack for emergency use. And he did it without anyone's help.
After Anchor had helped Usopp with the creation of new and improved impact dials, the long-nosed sniper had compared the previous version with the newer one. Finding out what made it work. And with a little bit of dial engineering, he was able to make it work. So the last attack was purely based on his efforts alone. And in some way, Usopp took pride in it.
Suddenly, a massive hand closed around his wrist, hauling him bodily from the rubble. Gin set Usopp down gently near a wall, Usopp winched, gasped, and shuddered. The ancient zoan took in his friend's mangled form, guilt sweeping his rugged features.
"Usopp… I'm sorry," Gin rumbled. "I should have ended that fight long before you had to use such power."
Usopp managed a weak chuckle. "We won…that's all that matters."
Gin shook his head, "You did most of the heavy lifting…" he said, before dropping down near him, his own wounds not spearing him any mercy. "You really are a scary trick star, you know that…"
Usopp just chuckled, "You know I don't have any energy to move…"
Gin smiled, "Me neither…" He said, "But hopefully the others in the crew noticed our fight and they send help before the marines get here… my helmet is broken… so it's best that I don't get spotted."
Right then a nearby piece of rubble shifted as Law appeared in his 'doctor' disguise. He also seemed to a bit roughed up, it seemed even he had to join the fight, "What kind of power was that… are you guys, okay?" Both of them gave him blank stares making the doctor winch, "Okay, stupid question… I heard from Groot and Franky that you guys needed help… where is he?"
Before Usopp can answer, Gin did. Gin grinned, pointing at a certain direction, where blood stains were visible, "Over there, over there, up there, a little bit there… as you can see he's all over the place."
Usopp shook his head as he laughed, ignoring the pain as Law looked on dumbfounded. "Never change… Gin. Never change."
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