Kapitel 81: Chapter 76
[Little Garden]
Near the shore of an island, where two gigantic skulls were shown from afar, the ship of Twin Cat pirates were seen to be anchored.
"What?!! Grimheart pirates against Baroque Works?!!!" Vivi, previously known as Miss Wednesday, shrieked loudly while sitting down with a dial of Den Den Mushi in her hand.
"Yes, Princess Vivi. We don't know the exact details, but that seems to be the most probable case; we're heading to Yuba for confirmation." Igaram's serious voice was heard from Den Den Mushi, "Did you say that you are in Little Garden-"
"Wait, hold on for a second," Hearing Vivi's conversation with Igaram, Nami immediately intervened with her hand raised up. With a shocked expression on her face, she muttered, "Grimheart... you said?"
"What about it?" Vivi turned to Nami in confusion, and Igaram's voice stopped upon interruption.
"Rowan... or precisely, Youchiha Bob. He's our childhood friend. We grew up in the same village." Nojiko stated with a disbelief, "I can't believe it. He disappeared for three years, and suddenly appeared in the Alabasta?"
""...WHAT?!!"" Vivi and Igaram's voice in Den Den Mushi shouted out simultaneously.
It was a shocking turn of event. Crocodile's abrupt order for an assembly, rise of the rebellion, Grimheart pirates' appearance out of nowhere, and somehow, the benefactors of Vivi turned out to be the friends of Grimheart himself!
"What is he doing there anyway? From what I recall, wasn't he at the 7th route?" Nami crossed her arms with serious expression. Her right foot said otherwise though, which tapped upon the deck excitedly.
"*Cough* *Cough* Ma ma ma~," Igaram cleared his voice and spoke through Den Den Mushi, "per say, if Grimheart was to encounter Crocodile, what would he do?"
"Bob- no, Rowan... I am not sure. We haven't seen him for almost four years." Nojiko stated as her eyes seemed to be in trance, still shocked by the mention of the Grimheart pirates.
"But as far as I know," Nojiko recalled when Rowan screamed at his lung after Arlong's death, and when Rowan, without regarding the consequences, killed Nezumi after facing the injustice, "he won't hesitate to fight to death."
"So he's in Alabasta." Nami's eyes flashed jovially, before anxiously turning her head to the Log Pose, "Ugh, just how long does it take for Log Pose to fully record this island?!"
Nami turned to Vivi, who shrugged. Vivi never left Alabasta until she joined Baroque Works, and even then, she never reached upon Little Garden before, since the agents always used Eternal Poses to travel.
"Little Garden... from what I heard, it takes a year." Igaram's voice spoke out.
"""Ehhh?!!""" Everyone in the ship cried out in surprise.
"The island is known to be unique in terms of its environment—we don't know what to expect there. Please do not leave the ship until the situation in Alabasta gets better; we will send you an escort afterward." Igaram stated, causing Nami to slump in disappointment.
Vivi turned to Nojiko for approval, who nodded before speaking, "If you encounter Rowan, tell him to wait for us."
The Den Den Mushi stayed silent for a moment, before Igaram's voice was heard once again, "I... will try. If that's all, I will hang the call. Please stay safe, Princess."
_______________
"Awase Baori!!" Hina elongated long iron cages from each of her hands, stretching all around the Baroque Works members.
Mr. 3 jumped up from his spot with a finger pointing at Hina, "Candle Lock!"
A large amount of liquid wax was expelled out of his finger and flew to Hina. Shu immediately appeared in front of Hina and parried wax by generating a gust of wind with his sword, causing the wax to fly towards the Baroque Works agents.
At the same time, Hina slammed her iron cages together, and succeeded in binding Mr. 4, Mr. 5 and Miss Goldenweek, who were too slow to react against her technique. Rest of them managed to evade.
While up in the air, Miss Doublefinger curled up her body as the large spikes generated all around, forming a spiky ball.
"Stinger Hedgehog!" Miss Doublefinger cried out as she began to roll rapidly towards Hina and Sho.
The duo tried to jump up to dodge Miss Doublefinger's assault, but were forced to duck due to Mr. 2's sudden kick that swiped above their head.
*Clang* A metallic sound was heard as Shu blocked Miss Doublefinger from approaching any further, while Hina instantly dashed towards Mr. 2, attempting to bind the latter.
Mr. 2 backflipped, and with incredible flexibility, evaded Hina's arm.
The ground below Shu rumbled, and while blocking Miss Doublefinger, his eyes widened.
"Mogura Banana!" Miss Merry Christmas popped out of the ground below Sho, before slashing through him while immobilized.
"Sho!" Hina gritted her teeth, but was occupied by Mr. 2. Simultaneously, she was forced to step aside to avoid Miss Valentine, who dropped from the sky and crashed into sandy terrain.
"Ugh..." With a gash on his back, Shu was flown backward with a couple of spikes embedded on his body, as his defence weakened from Miss Merry Christmas.
Miss Doublefinger, momentarily stopping her assault, looked around the battlefield with a solemn expression. Although they are able to match two Captains in from of them, the clash between foot soldiers said otherwise; most of the Baroque Work agents were either caught or dead.
Mr. 3 too looked around, conflicted. At this rate, his trip to Impel Down was guaranteed.
Taking a deep breath, Shu shakily stood back up with unyielding eyes, lifting up his sword. "Don't worry about me, Hina. The situation is going in our favour-"
"What favour?" Suddenly, a voice was heard next to him, causing Shu to freeze. A hand was placed on his left shoulder casually. Turning to his left, Shu was met with the sight of Rowan right in front of him, nearly giving him a heart attack.
Witnessing Rowan's sudden appearance, everyone froze on their spots, not knowing what to do.
"G-Grimheart..." Mr. 3 muttered. Rowan being here meant one thing: Crocodile's defeat.
Rowan momentarily turned his head toward where Carmen and Cavendish were seen to be fighting Onigumo, with Dan about to join them.
'They don't need me there.' Rowan thought before looking around his surroundings, consisting of sandy terrain and a large number of soldiers, all frozen with their eyes heading toward him.
"Fight or whatever, I don't care. However," Rowan spoke up impassively, "I think there's some clearing up to do here first."
________________
Onigumo frowned at Carmen and Cavendish, who kept on colliding against him without yielding. They were getting better and better at collaborating with one another; he felt the situation was becoming increasingly dangerous.
Additionally, his overuse of Haki began to tire him out, especially since he was forced to block many potent attacks from Cavendish and Carmen.
However, same applied to those two. As those who recently awakened Haki, Cavendish and Carmen weren't as adapt as Onigumo when it came to it. This was especially the case for Carmen, who was still having a trouble in using Armament Haki properly.
Facing Onigumo, Carmen mustered all her strength, intending to end the fight with one final move.
Cavendish, immediately noticing what she was about to do, backed away from her, as the temperature began to rise at an extreme rate around Carmen.
The sands around Carmen began to gain a reddish glow as the intense heat scorched them. Her body began to shine brightly in white glow.
"Flame Empress: Supernova."
*BOOOOOOOM* From all around her, a huge volume of intense white flame was gushed out, surrounding her whole body. Onigumo stared at such scene with a cold sweat, feeling an entirely new level of heat emanating from Carmen.
"Well then, I suppose I should do the same." Cavendish remarked as he lowered his body while gripping his Haki-imbued sword in a reverse grip. His head abruptly slouched downward, and when he lifted it back up, his blue eyes were blazing like hollow flames, with Hakuba's devilish grin gone from half of his face.
Onigumo felt the great dangers coming from Carmen and Cavendish.
"Sticky Guard!" Lifting his giant arms up, the spiderwebs gushed out from his palms and enveloped his whole body. Subsequently, they were imbued by Armament Haki. His strongest defence was now active, in which his Tekkai, Haki, hybrid zoan form, and thick spider webs were all combined altogether.
"Flame Ediction," Carmen declared as she held out her right palm forward. The white flames around her swirled into the middle, forming a shining white orb.
"One Sword Style..." Cavendish's black sword flashed before a pale flame-like hue enveloped it, "Hakuba."
*SWOOOOSH* With an incredible speed, Cavendish blasted off of his position, flying towards Onigumo like a phantom.
"Despair!!" At the next moment, the white flaming orb was sent propelling towards Onigumo at an insane pace, while heating up the sands that lied below its trajectory path.
Their attacks were in sync. When Cavendish's slash was about to reach Onigumo, Carmen's attack also reached Onigumo simultaneously.
"Haaaaaa!!!" Yelling at his lungs, Onigumo firmly held his hands out as he watched two attacks in front of him.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* As Cavendish's sword and Carmen's white flaming orb collided to his hands, Onigumo began to skid backward at a rapid speed from the tremendous amount of forces behind the strikes; he was unable to overcome the combination of their strongest attacks.
Onigumo's armours melted instantly, and at next moment, all he saw was Cavendish's sword making a deep gash on his chest diagonally, before he was blasted off from his spot to the nearby dune.
*BOOOOOOOOOM* The sands erupted from Onigumo's crash, and those sands that Onigumo was buried within, instantly heated up from the sheer temperature of Carmen's flame.
"*Huff* *Huff*" Not even having a strength to stand up, Carmen lied down on the sands below her, as the white flames died down.
Similarly, Cavendish was seen to be holding his head with one hand, while gripping on his sword, which was stabbed on the ground, with his other hand. What he just did was a temporary merging with Hakuba. After the use, he would be left defenceless due to an immense amount of headache he would feel from separating back.
"Wow." While they were trying to cope with their exhaustion, Dan landed next to them. "I was just a second late, talk about being unlucky."
The sands ahead died down, revealing Onigumo, who lied on the sands, dead without a doubt. His whole body was scorched to crisp, with a large gash from his right shoulder to his left waist, almost severing him.
"Arghhhhh..." Cavendish thrashed his head in pain, causing Dan to sweatdrop.
"Hey, Dan..." From Dan's left, Carmen spoke out weakly, "Help... me up..."
_______________
[Tamarisk, Alabasta]
In the middle of the piles full of dead corpses, Carina was standing casually, completely unharmed.
There was not even a single drop of blood on her. She was terrifyingly agile and fast, to an extent where no marine soldiers were able to strike her. At the same time, she only targeted a vital point; one soldier would die every time she stabbed once.
Looking around her with cold eyes for a moment, Carina retreated to Prominence without any word.
"So... mademoiselle Carina, what shall we do now?" Unfazed by the scene in front of him, Alfred asked while brushing Farul's mane. In Rowan's absence, Carina, as the vice captain of the ship, naturally had the right to fill in.
"Translocate Prominence up north. With Rowan's Observation Haki, he will easily find us." Carina said impassively. Alfred nodded before going down to pull up the anchor.
Robin was sitting down on a nearby chair with a Seastone-cuff dangling on her foot.
"Aren't you worried for your crew mates? Crocodile, Baroque Works agents, and the marines. They are all very formidable." Robin slowly asked.
Hearing this, Carina snorted before turning back to Robin with confident eyes, "Worried? Please, the fight should be over by now."
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein