The sounds of combat could be heard from anywhere on the island and the presence of the combatants was enough to cause the weakest of animals to black out or flee. A bruised and cut Itachi flew backwards out of the bushes, he back flipped and managed to right himself and land on his feet. After a few seconds catching his breath he began to weave hand seals faster than most could make out, holding the Tiger seal he took a deep breath.
"Fire Release: Grand Fireball" Itachi called before exhaling a fireball of gigantic proportions which burned through the trees separating him and his target, in the distance Itachi saw the explosion but didn't drop his guard.
"Gum-Gum: Jet Pistol!"
Narrowly dodging thanks to his Sharingan managing to track the figure darting around the clearing Itachi took the time to appreciate how much Luffy's Second Gear had improved but he still wasn't using all his potential.
Dodging a few more blows, Itachi countered by imbuing his forearms with Armament Haki and waited for Luffy to over extend a punch which he punished by pulling him in and chopping him on either side of his throat effectively cutting off his airways. With Luffy temporarily disorientated Itachi drove a Haki imbued knee into his gut which curled the young captain up, to finish up the combo Itachi rolled over Luffy's back and once his feet touched the ground he grabbed him by the scruff of the collar and threw him into a tree which snapped at the force of the impact.
Itachi not waiting for Luffy to get his bearings or recover began rolling through a string of hand seals. "Water Release: Water Bullet" Itachi called as he spat a medium sized ball of water at Luffy prompting the rubber man to dart to the side. Luffy landed and rolled until he was a decent distance from Itachi, Luffy was catching his breath and trying to come up with a plan.
'I can't beat him in a straight fist fight' Luffy thought sullenly 'I'll just have to try rushing him with speed then'. Luffy quickly re-entered Gear Second. His Gear Second state was activated now by using his arm as a pump instead of his legs which made it quicker to activate as well as generally safer to use since his body isn't starving itself of nutrients. As soon as steam began to leak out of his body Luffy darted straight at Itachi before utilising Shave to appear behind Itachi.
"Gum-Gum: Jet Bazooka"Luffy yelled as his arms smashed into Itachi's back driving him into the ground. Luffy grinned as he knew he'd finally won a spar against his stoic friend; however his joy turned to horror as the Itachi beneath him suddenly glowed.
'OH CRAP' Luffy thought as he was blown away by the force of Itachi's Exploding Clone. He flew backwards in a daze barely registering the fact his jacket and one of his sandals had been destroyed, Luffy eventually game to a halt when he hit a slow flowing river which snatched away his remaining sandal but washed some of the soot and dirt from his body. As Luffy re emerged from the river he stumbled his way to the bank until he dropped to his knees and spat out some water. Once he had caught his breath he looked up and was met with a brutal kick by Itachi to his chin which lifted the captain up by around a metre, while this may have looked painful it in fact did very little damage as he had forgone Haki to at least limit some of the damage he was causing his friend.
'Sorry Luffy-kun, you lose this time' Itachi thought as he activated his Susanoo's skeletal form and caught the rubber man as he shot upwards lifting him up to look face to face with Itachi.
"Surrender Luffy-kun I don't wish to have to hurt you, especially since this is just a spar" Itachi said while subtly applying a Genjutsu to the struggling Luffy more susceptible to suggestion. Unfortunately Luffy was used to the mind control powers of Itachi's eyes and managed to hold onto his will to fight.
"No" Luffy yells defiantly as he continues to struggle "I'm going to use my last technique and when I beat you Itachi you will join my crew!"Freeing one of his arms he imbued it with Haki and bit down on it blowing air into his muscles.
"Muscle Balloon" Luffy Yelled out as his arm began to expand massively. Seeing this Itachi knew what was coming 'He ignored Gear Third and went straight to Fourth. I didn't expect this to be such a serious fight' Itachi thought as his Susano'o proceeded to cover itself in more and more armour in preparation for what's to come. Seeing that Luffy had almost finished his preparations Itachi threw Luffy like he would a kunai simply to create distance, as soon as Luffy was a decent distance Itachi's Sharingan spun into his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan which was his old Mangekyo with the same pattern encompassing the space between the curves and Sasuke's Mangekyo in the middle.
"GEAR FOURTH: BOUNCE MAN!"
The yell echoed over the island causing every animal within a mile radius fled towards the presence of Rayleigh in the hope he would protect them. Now Itachi may have been confident he could defend himself; not win but defend himself, 'I hope I don't have to use my newest technique I can't maintain it and if it fails I'm going to suffer for it' Itachi thought as his Susano'o drew the Yata Mirror and manifested a spear since he couldn't use the Totsuka Blade without sealing his friend.
Looking into the distance Itachi prepared himself for the oncoming storm that was Gear Fourth, He realised even though it wasn't his strong suit he would need to utilise his Haki on a large scale if he wanted to withstand Luffy's blows for a long period. Suddenly his instincts went haywire as he had a slight idea of what was coming; in response to this Itachi raised his Yata mirror and anchored his Susano'o with Chakra. This premonition was proven true as Luffy burst through the trees at a rocket pace, Luffy's Gear Fourth was borderline terrifying if Itachi was truthful since it towered over him clipping around ten foot and it was constantly emitting steam out of his body and mouth; his body was covered in Armament Haki and it formed a flame like pattern around his chest scar. To someone who was foolish or arrogant it might look funny as Luffy can't stay still and is forced to keep bouncing on the spot, luckily Itachi was neither of these things and honestly if someone could feel the Conquerors Haki leaking out subconsciously and still disregarded the threat before them then they deserved what they got.
Now in a normal situation where Itachi wasn't on the receiving end of a bombardment by Luffy he would have taken the time to appreciate a few things. Such as Luffy flying using the propulsion from his kicks or the fact Luffy was using Haki in conjunction with his Devil Fruit to keep all of the benefits but nullify the negatives, but as we all know this wasn't a normal situation and Itachi most certainly was on the receiving end of Luffy's bombardment.
"GUM-GUM: KONG GUN"Luffy roared as he compresses his fist into his forearm and unleashed a punch that Itachi could say without a single doubt that without the Yata Mirror he would have knocked him out. Itachi barely has time to regain his footing when Luffy vanishes, his limited Observation Haki was going haywire not able to truly lock onto the rubber mans location; suddenly the back of his Susano'o cracks and then shatters to pieces exposing Itachi to Luffy and Itachi simply tried to cover his spine in Haki.
"GUM GUM: RHINO SCHNEIDER" Luffy yells as he sends a pair of flying kicks out of compressed knees. Itachi cuts his losses and substitutes which causes the Susano'o to dissolve since no one was powering it, 'I can't fight Luffy in a one on one when he's in Gear Fourth so I'm going to have to use my new Tsukiyomi technique' Itachi thinks to himself as he prepares for the technique which will leave him unconscious and after realising he will need to make eye contact he prepares himself to take a blow from Luffy to accomplish this.
Itachi reappears in the centre of the clearing which at this point was a wasteland. 'Armament: Hardening' Itachi mentally calls out imbuing his torso and back with Haki. Sensing Luffy dashing straight at him his left Sharingan rotates into its complete Eternal Mangekyo Form, as soon as it is finished Luffy appears in front of him and makes eye contact but not before Luffy's Kong Gun makes contact
"Mangekyo Secret Technique: First circle of hell- Limbo"
"GUM GUM: KONG GUN"
As Itachi flies backwards the last thing he see's before the darkness washes over him is Luffy immobilised.
Itachi opened his eyes and quickly realised he only had vision in one, this wasn't that big of a shock to him however as his new techniques came with a price. Sitting up he looked around to see that he was inside a cave and there was a fire roaring in the centre, Itachi knew he was in the cave that Rayleigh, Luffy and himself were using as a home while on Rusakaina.
Inspecting himself over his torso was heavily wrapped in bandages and so was his left arm and right leg, the injuries were at this point mostly healed which caused Itachi to believe he had been out for more than a week. While Itachi was musing over his injuries Rayleigh walked into the room with a plate of food.
"Ah Itachi-kun I'm happy you're awake" Rayleigh says as he sets the plate in front of Itachi "how are you feeling?"
"I am fine Rayleigh-sensei" Itachi says as he begins to eat the food his body had been screaming for.
"Well that blow certainly didn't make you more talkative" Rayleigh mutters letting out a mirthful chuckle. "So you don't really seem too concerned about your lack of sight in your left eye Itachi-kun, why is that?"
Itachi responds by opening his left eye showing a Mangekyo Sharingan with a hugely dilated pupil and two tomoe on opposite sides which one disappears before Rayleigh's eyes; "my eyesight will return soon Sensei, this was simply a backlash from using a new technique" he says as he closes his left eye once more. Rayleigh watches as Itachi finishes his food and begins to quietly meditate but Rayleigh's curiosity got the better of him as he decided to ask a question which he had been curious about since Luffy's and Itachi's fight
"Itachi-kun what was the technique you used on Luffy? Since it robbed you of your eyesight and briefly made Luffy unresponsive until his Gear Fourth ran out" Rayleigh asks which causes Itachi to sigh and prepare his explanation. Itachi was just thankful Luffy wasn't in the room as he would have to dumb it down considerably and still explain it ten times.
"Well Rayleigh-sensei the technique was one of my new Mangekyo Abilities; There are nine in total and are named The Nine Circles of Hell, Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and finally Treachery. They are all derived from my usual Mangekyo Sharingan abilities - Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu" Itachi explained as Rayleigh listened unwilling to interrupt the young man. "The one I used on Luffy-kun was the First Circle: Limbo which when I made eye contact shut off his consciousness until a pre determined event takes place which in this case was his Gear Fourth running out" Itachi looks up to see if Rayleigh was following and a slight nod from the old man gave him his answer.
"So why did you lose sight in your left eye?" Rayleigh asked thoroughly intrigued by the ability which made Gear Fourth Luffy turn into a drooling mess.
"That is the cost of the technique however the reason I have been blinded for so long is because I couldn't charge it before I used it on Luffy-kun simply because he was putting so much pressure on me, should I have been able to charge the Genjutsu for enough time I most likely would of been blind for a day at most" Itachi finished.
Rayleigh noticed how Itachi used the word Genjutsu instead of illusions and realised Itachi was talking about something from the Elemental Nations. Itachi had explained and showed him his past using his Sharingan around three months into their training; while Rayleigh may have originally had doubts he began to believe the young man especially since he could do things such as walk on water and up trees yet still swim fine.
"How many of the Circles can you use effectively Itachi-kun?" Rayleigh asked as he was slightly concerned for the young man's health especially since the first one left him blind and bedridden for a week. Itachi pondered the question as not all of the Circles were battle oriented and had low risk.
"I believe I can use around five effectively, however I might be able to use more if I don't have to worry about the repercussions" the Uchiha said after pondering the question for a few moments. If Itachi was being honest he could use all of the Circles but many of them would leave him extremely vulnerable and therefore were for last resorts.
"I must say Itachi-kun; you have progressed incredibly well in the nine months we've been on this island. Your Observation Haki gives you near perfect ability to predict opponents, especially when used with your Sharingan. That being said your Armament Haki could use some work as you still struggle to mitigate the damage to internal organs as seen when Luffy's Kong Gun hit you" Rayleigh explained to Itachi who never looked saddened or irritated at being criticised
"I understand Rayleigh-Sensei, I will admit I am struggling when it comes to using Armament Haki defensively, I do not seem to be able to absorb damage to my organs like I can with my skin and muscles" Itachi admitted, he was still in pain from his battle with Luffy.
Rayleigh smiled at his second pupil, 'Itachi-kun is able to see his weaknesses and not lose any drive or confidence, honestly its amazing' he thought.
"Well Itachi that's why we're here for another year" Rayleigh said warmly before leaving Itachi to get some rest. After Rayleigh closed the makeshift door to the quarters Itachi leaned over and doused the light source but not before wondering about how the Fourth Shinobi War has gone and if Sasuke, Naruto and Konoha were okay.
'Please be okay Sasuke, you're the future of our clan and with Naruto's help you'll lead the Elemental Nations into a new age'
One year, three months later - Sabaody Archipelago
The day of the Straw Hat's reunion had arrived and two figures could be seen walking slowly through one of the many shopping groves. Both of the men were wearing cloaks but in different styles, one was a simply hooded fur cape which slightly covered his arms, he was also shorter in stature then his companion however he was carrying a backpack which was twice his size. The other man was wearing a black full body cloak which was adorned in red clouds as well as wearing a conical straw hat with two sheets of cloth covering his face.
As they proceed to walk through the grove the sound of a gunshot echoes out and as they turn to look at the source of the sound they see a young woman hit the ground with a small pool of blood forming around her shoulder.
"Don't get involved, her injuries aren't serious and simple medical attention will suffice" the taller one said to his friend and proceeded to walk on slipping through the crowd with ease. The second man tried following his friends example however his backpack knocked someone to ground, unfortunately the person that was knocked to the ground was the assailant of the woman who was interrupted as he tried to shoot the boyfriend of the woman who was shot.
The taller man looked back, lifting his hat showing a pair of red eyes with three black tomoe surrounding the pupil and sighed at the commotion his friend was causing.
'Luffy, what are you doing...' Itachi thought
As Itachi began making his way towards Luffy he hears a gunshot and not long after watches as the four people surrounding Luffy collapse to the ground. Itachi grabs Luffy and drags him by his cloak; "Luffy-kun we need to leave the area, I understand that you didn't start that fight but Marines surely heard the gunshots" Itachi explained as they hurried through the crowd.
"Hey Itachi, that guy has a four hundred million Berry bounty" Luffy said completely lost in thought which wasn't as rare since he met Itachi, "He must of been pretty weak since he passed out from a weak blast of my Haki, most of the animals on the island would of ignored it" Luffy finished with a frown. The two of them continue onwards further into the grove.
A few hours later there was a gathering of pirates in a clearing between two groves, the atmosphere was tense with all the rookies who had made it to the end of the first half of the Grand Line known as 'Paradise'. There were a few individuals who stood out from the rest of the rabble but all of them were relatively weak in comparison to Luffy and Itachi so they paid little notice to them; naturally all the rookies gathered in one place unsurprisingly drew the attention of the Marines. It didn't escape Itachi's notice that the person who Luffy knocked out was killed by the leader of the marines who used the flat end of his axe to fracture his skull. "YOU'RE NOT STRAW HAT LUFFY, YOU SCUMBAG!" yelled the Marine; "PX-5 who is this imposter" he asked looking at the Pacifista
A giant of a man stepped forward and began staring at the downed man before speaking in a soft but cold robotic voice "Scan complete. Target identified as 'Triple Tongue' Demaro Black, Twenty three million Berry bounty". This revelation caused an uproar among the pirates who realised they had been tricked by someone with a miniscule bounty.
Luffy and Itachi were preparing to flee the area when two lasers hit the ground at the feet forcing them to leap away, "Hey I have lots of lunches in this backpack you jerk" Luffy yelled glaring at a large marine, Luffy's cloak had flew off in the blast along with Itachi's hat which revealed both of them to the crowd of people.
"THATS THE REAL STRAWHAT LUFFY!" all the pirates in attendance yelled in utter shock.
"Captain Sentomaru" one of the Marines said while shaking uncontrollably "that's Straw Hat Luffy, how are we meant to beat him? He fought in the War of The Best!" the Marine cried out with many nodding their heads and backing away.
"Don't worry men we were prepared to capture the real Straw Hats anyway" yells a marine which boosted morale which was only intensified when Sentomaru decided to initiate the attack.
"PX-5, PX-9 ATTACK STRAW HAT AND HIS FRIEND, HE MUST BE A NEW MEMBER SO DON'T LET EITHER OF THEM ESCAPE!"
Beams of light were fired at Luffy by one of the Pacifista's which prompted him to simply move his head slightly in the opposite direction.
"Too slow" Luffy remarks as he raises his arm and the skin forms a pump with compresses quickly into his body, "Gear Second" Luffy says as he vanishes from the spot he was once occupying and reappears above the Pacifista.
"Gum-Gum: Jet Pistol!"
The Pacifista's head smashes into the ground from Luffy's Haki infused punch causing a crater of around twenty metres to form. During this fight no one noticed Itachi vanish from sight and reappear behind the PX-9 sent to attack him, Itachi's eyes spun until they formed his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
'Susano'o' Itachi thought as a ribcage made of an ethereal orange substance formed around Itachi which seemed pointless until a giant arm sprouted out of it which impaled the Pacifista and proceeded to tear it in half.
"LUFFY!" two separate shouts echoed in the clearing and once Luffy saw the people who the voices belonged to he began to grin uncontrollably and laugh, "ZORO, SANJI IT'S BEEN SO LONG" Luffy yelled.
"Let's get out of here Luffy everyone's waiting at the ship for you" Sanji said as he stood in front of his captain.
"By the way you're ninth" Zoro said as Sanji yells at him for repeatedly bringing it up. Luffy was so happy to see his friend he almost forgot about the situation they were in. As he looked around and saw that they were practically surrounded.
"Luffy-kun" Itachi called out as he formed from a flock of crows that appeared in the space between the Marines and the newly reunited monster trio "go on ahead I will hold them off"
"Itachi you better hurry up and catch up or else I'm going to kick your ass" Luffy yelled as he span and ran with Zoro and Sanji at his sides
"Luffy who was that?" Zoro asked as he looked back at the man facing around a hundred marines who were all of competent levels
"That's the newest crewmate ShiShiShiShiShi" Luffy chuckles as they sprint off toward the grove hiding the Sunny. Luffy didn't even bother looking behind because he knew that Itachi would be right behind them.
With Itachi
As soon as Itachi knew that his captain and new crewmates were out of the vicinity he released a breath and began gathering Chakra in his left Sharingan, Itachi was happy he hadn't used any Chakra heavy moves and had decided to remain out of combat for as long as he had as the technique he was preparing would incapacitate him if he had three quarters or less of his Chakra reserves.
"You must be very brave to sacrifice yourself like this" Sentomaru said with a hint of respect however it disappeared quickly when he sneered "Then again you have no reputation... Itachi was it? So I suppose Straw Hat decided you were the weak link and let you take the fall"
Itachi for his part ignored the remarks as they were trying to provoke him so he made mistakes and simply focused more Chakra into his left eye; 'Just a small amount left' Itachi thought as Sentomaru continued his mocking of what he thought was a low rank member of the Straw Hats.
"I don't suppose you will make it to the New World with your crew... If anything I'm doing you a favour since someone like you would be dead within five minutes" Sentomaru chuckled while locking eyes with Itachi as he picked up his axe and began to stride towards the young man in front of him only to stop after a few steps.
The Marines were confused by this naturally and began to crack some jokes now that the 'bigger threats' had left and all that was in front of them was a low level grunt who would crack after a few seconds in combat; unfortunately their jokes were cut short when blood erupted from Sentomaru's mouth and Itachi was no longer standing ten metres away but was directly in front of him with a Haki imbued elbow in his gut.
As Sentomaru dropped to the ground unconscious the remaining battalion of Marines all stare at Itachi as he looks up and opens his left eye releasing a small wave of energy which was similar to Conquerors Haki but not as dominant.
"Mangekyo Secret Technique- Fifth Circle of Hell: Anger"
As soon as the words left his mouth violence erupted, a Marine turned and shot his comrade next to him in the head but was then knocked to the ground by another who brutally beat him to death by using his rifle as a club.
Left and right Marines turned on each other and murdered each other brutally even attacking some of the captured pirates. Itachi collapsed to one knee as his eye blurred and burned, suddenly a hand found his shoulder and he looked up to see Rayleigh smiling down at him.
" I understand what you mean now when you said some Circles leave you vulnerable Itachi-kun" Rayleigh says as he slings Itachi's arm around his neck and vanish utilising Shave to cover distance between them and the Sunny.
Meanwhile on the Thousand Sunny
"Who are we waiting for Luffy?" Nami asked as she grew increasingly concerned about the cannon balls which were flying overhead and being deflected by different crew members.
"We need to wait for someone Nami" Luffy explains as his expands like a balloon to repel four cannonball back to the respective ships, Nami just sighs and turns just in time to see a cannon ball fly past Luffy and the others who were busy with other attacks, the ball was heading straight toward Robin who had her back turned.
"ROBIN LOOK OUT" Nami screams and as Robin turns with wide eyes she sees a flash of red appear in front of her.
Two men were standing there; one was an old man who was grinning at Luffy. The other one was a Young man of around Zoro's height was covered in red ethereal energy which had formed a ribcage and a single arm and hand within which was a crushed cannon ball
"Hey Rayleigh you brought Itachi" Luffy yells out as he deflects another cannonball before rushing over
"No Luffy I just ran into Itachi on the way here, I came to say goodbye and wish you luck" Rayleigh said with a large grin similar to Luffy's own.
The rest of the crew at this point had gathered and were wondering who the two were. "Hey Luffy who are these guys" Usopp asks completely forgetting that it was Rayleigh who saved Keimi two years back.
"Well this is Rayleigh my teacher, you met him two years ago" Luffy says as realisation dawns on Usopp. "Well who is the other person since he saved Robins life" Nami asked looking at the figure as the energy begins to evaporate showing off his features "well you see guys this is our new crew mate" Luffy laughs as Itachi's face was completely unveiled which caused Chopper and Usopp to scream about how cool his red eyes were, Luckily the commotion raised by their yelling allowed her to hide a very pronounced blush from all but Robins watchful eyes.
"GUYS, MEET OUR TENTH CREW MEMBER... ITACHI UCHIHA"