Capítulo 26: Battle of Minion Island (Part 1)
Chaos.
That was happened immediately following the announcement. To combat the Marine threat, Barrels ordered all his pirates to take as many civilians hostage as possible, only to discover that the Marines had evacuated the area surrounding the casino and his other sub-bases weren't responding.
The Diez pirates were in a panic, trying to flee in all directions or kill as many innocents as they could through fires and explosives.
In the midst of this, a small hole opens up in a forested area of minion island. Rex, Kid and Gem all hop out of this hole with Rex wearing Faust and his tiger print jacket. This was his new 'hybrid form'.
Until Rouge could get stronger naturally, Rex found that using Rouge as his Zoan form was difficult. As such, Rex had Bonney age Faust up a few years and wore his body along with tiger-print.
As for people associating him with Jacket D. Hoodie, that was unlikely. In Jacket D. Hoodie form, the most notable feature of Faust, his face, was covered, and other than that, he looked more or less like a normal person. As such, it would be difficult to make the association.
"Where are Killer, Rose and Bonney? They should have been here by now!" Gem complains, seeing the massive chaos ensuing in the distance.
Rex frowns, rubbing his forehead in irritation. He had thought he had planned for every possible factor in this but Killer being late wasn't one of them.
"Kid, have you found them yet?" Rex asks, looking at Kid who was closing his eyes, covered in a purple light.
"One second…" Kid says, before opening his eyes, pointing his finger to the south. "I've got them! They're about three hundred meters that way, fighting… about three dozen Marines."
Rex clicks his tongue. Only more would come. He needed to get them out of there.
"Let's go." Rex says, rushing off in that direction. "Remember, Kid, we're leaving as soon as possible. No unnecessary fighting."
Kid nods as the three of them rush off to help their comrades.
In a few minutes, they arrive at the scene of the battle to see Gion and another Commodore fighting with Killer and Bonney while Rose was dealing with the remaining thirty or so low-ranking Marines.
Rex is disappointed to see Rosinante standing limply off to the side, ignoring the help that Killer and Bonney had given him and just watching the Marines attack them. Still, Rex figured that was better than him helping the Marines.
Quickly, Gem and Kid join the fray, picking the Marines off from afar.
Rex joins in, his fists lit ablaze as he pummels his way through the Marines. Rex had fixed the fuel by storing gallons of gasoline in his pockets but his fuel was still finite. Moreover, Rex could only ignite himself for short periods of time without harm, as his jacket was only fire-resistant, not truly fireproof.
Gion and the commodore scowl, quickly being outnumbered. Several marines in the distance see this and rush over, but they were too far away.
"We're leaving, now!" Rex said, having Kid drag the three over to them at high speeds.
"Stop!" Gion shouts, drawing her sword in Rex's direction.
Rex only laughs dryly. "Is that really the best use of your forces? Attacking a pirate who plans to flee to the abandoned forest while there are pirates burning homes over in the city?"
Gion scrunches up her brow, hating how Rex always had an escape lined up. She really wanted to capture him, but hearing the screams of terror in the distance, she knew what a true marine should do.
But before Gion makes a move, Rex feels a hair-raising sensation creeping up on him.
"GET DOWN!" Rex roars, with Kid instinctively using his devil fruit to follow Rex's orders, the King pirates collapsing to the floor.
Rex then ignites his fist, punching to the right blindly, massive ripples rushing out of his fist.
Gion and the other Commodore looks confused at this, only for them to widen their eyes a moment later.
Bang!
An earthshattering clash can be heard as Rex's fist clashes against a burning string. He flies off several meters into the distance from the force of the attack, barely stabilizing himself before the attacker appears.
"Fuffuffufu! You thought you could escape me, did you, Vesta Rex!?" Doflamingo says descending from the sky at a rapid pace. "I will bury you and all these Marines for what you and Jacket D. Hoodie have done to my family!"
A cold sweat congeals on Rex's back as he stares down Doflamingo. He wasn't ready for this fight, not by a long shot.
Rex looks around doggedly, but even if he, Kid and Killer worked together, it wouldn't have much of an impact on Doflamingo. What's more, Rex knew Doflamingo had all kinds of tricks to turn people against each other. There was little hope to beat him in a fight.
The only exit Rex can see is to rat out Law and Rosinante who were fleeing over to the marines in the distance. Maybe that way, Doflamingo would ignore his crew for the Ope Ope no Mi that was much more valuable.
When the chips were down, Rex would always choose his crew over Rosinante. After all, hadn't Rosinante just done the same with the Marines.
Rex opens his mouth to speak.
"Dofl…"
Bang!
Doflamingo flies backwards as a gunshot sounds off in the distance. Then, a tall, old woman appears, landing as delicately as a feather on a large building.
"Anyone who wants to commit murder in my presence had best reconsider!" Tsuru says, a pair of modified pistols in her hands. "In the name of the Marines, I, Vice admiral Tsuru, sentence everyone of you to a life sentence at Impel Down! Those who surrender willingly may have hopes of seeing the light of day!"
"YOU OLD HAG!!" Doflamingo steadies himself several meters away and looks at Tsuru with a seething hatred in his eyes. On any other day, he would be forced to flee from Tsuru, but the stakes were too high today.
Reaching his arm behind him, Doflamingo yanks forward, sending an army of pirates flying into the fray attached to strings. In that army were several of his ranking officers, including Pica, Trebol and Diamante, all of whom had been healed.
"Trebol, with me. Let's wash out this old hag. Pica, Diamante, lead your armies to defeat the marines and the King Pirates. Oh, and don't let my dear brother escape!" Doflamingo shouts, sending a line out to grab Rosinante back into the fray.
Doflamingo ignores Law running away in the distance, and turns his focus to Tsuru.
"Well then, let's dance." Diamante says, rushing off to Rex right away. Aside from Trebol, Diamante had the biggest bone to pick with Rex.
The others quickly find their own opponents, with Gion, Gem and Rose teaming up against Pica while Kid squared off against Lao G, Bonney matched with Machvise and Killer with Gladius. Soon, the battle starts off.
Rex's entire body was covered with flames as he rushed at Diamante.
"Army Bandera!" Diamante shouts, destabilizing the ground as he leaps towards Rex whipping out his sword.
Rex rolls under the whip sword bringing his thumbs into his mouth and blowing out. "Rocket thrust!" Rex roars, blowing out a massive amount of Gem's blood from pockets under his feet and using Electro to ignite it.
Like the name suggested, the technique shot Rex out like rocket with him elbowing Diamante in the gut with a Hasshoken infused strike.
Diamante's beginner observation Haki gives him about a half second's worth of notice to this attack, with which he is able to convert himself into fabric, only receiving a fraction of the impact.
However, this doesn't stop Rex, who grabs at Diamante's drape-like left leg, and drags the cadre to the ground.
From there, Diamante kicks out his right leg, trying to wrap it around Rex and strangle him, but a blazing fire forms around Rex's neck, forcing Diamante' to pull back.
Diamante leaps back, staring Rex down. It seemed he was stronger than he was back at the auction house. Diamante couldn't hold anything back in this fight.
Of course, other fights are going on, though none as intense as Rex and Diamante's.
The trio facing Pica struggled considerably against his massive, stone body. The strategy they eventually fell into was Gem and Gion blasting holes into Pica's stone using explosions and swordsmanship leaving Rose to poison Pica through these holes.
Still, Pica's massive durability and his ability to withdraw seemingly endless quantities of stone where extremely difficult to deal with. Gion was forced to rapidly use Soru and Geppo to dodge his attacks, while Gem used his explosions to give himself some speed and mid-air maneuverability of his own.
"Explosion Dash!" Gem roars, kicking off the ground at a massive speed to punch into Pica's body.
The massive explosion that ensues shakes the stone golem, causing him to stumble back a step. Ever since the fight with Trebol, Gem had been working with Rex to create a close-combat fighting style that used his explosions and now he had.
Gion frowns seeing Gem's abilities. It seemed that there was another devil fruit user in the King Pirates. That was alarming, for a crew to have three devil fruit users was rare in the Grand Line and almost unheard of in the four blues.
Still, for now, Doflamingo was still more dangerous.
As for this new member, 'Rose', Gion was almost happy to see that the rumors about Rex were wrong. While Gion hated Rex to her core, she didn't want to believe that her rival was a baseless sexual predator. Seeing another female officer helped to reinforce that.
Other than them, the fight between Kid and Lao G was on a similar scale. Facing Lao G's punches and a lack of metal to manipulate, Kid finds himself falling back on his boxing lessons.
Forming his epithetical 'Mecha Fists', Kid clashed with Lao G equally but was slowly losing ground against the superior fighter's experience.
Bang!
Lao G fist forms a massive dent on Kid's chest armor, causing him to cough out violently. Kid's eyes were filled with hatred as this experience eerily reminded him of getting pummeled by his sensei.
"Enough!" Kid roars, finally returning a punch back at Lao G with full power.
Lao G barely looks at the attack, sending his own fist to block, only to unexpectedly be on the losing side of this exchange. Being pushed back several meters, Lao G looks down at his fist seeing that it was bleeding slightly.
Kid grins. "My turn now, old man!"
As for Killer and Bonney, they were paired off together against Machvise and Gladius. Switching from opponent to opponent, they were holding their own.
"Punc Bala Barrage!" Gladius shouts, trying to use a barrage of exploding bullets on the duo.
Killer only dashes behind Machvise, while Bonney grows pink hair all across her body like a yeti before charging in at Gladius.
Killer's speed proved an apt counter to Machvise's weight, while Bonney's hair would block the shrapnel from Gladius's explosions.
The fights slowly fell into a balance, with there being no changes for a while. The pirates and Marines fought back and forth, but no one really gained or lost any ground.
"Kyukyukyukyu! Why have a party without inviting this captain!?" Devon shouts, finally making it to the staging area of the battle with a massive grin on her face. "You're making me feel like I'm unwanted. I guess if that's the case, I'll just have to kill a few of you!"
"Yes, this-a humble fox would-a like to get-a some action of his own-a!" Foxy shouts, leaping up onto a large platform to try and spot his quarry. "VESTA A-REX, I'M-A GOING TO A-KILLLLL YOU!!!"
Beside them, numerous officers of their respective crews stand. With Devon Rex can immediately recognize Jango, Kuro, Bentham and… was that Hina? As for Foxy, he had gotten Daz Bonez, Galdino and a masked woman.
Rex couldn't help but feel bad for Crocodile. Almost all the strong people from his crew were taken before he had a chance. Now he only had Mr. 4 and the six female agents left from his top 10.
The hearts of the Marines and the King Pirates all stopped. If Foxy and Devon sided with the Donquixote Pirates, they would destabilize the equilibrium in the battle in favor of the Donquixote pirates.
In the distance, Tsuru tries to throw off Doflamingo to rush back to her crew, but the String user creates a mini bird cage within his bird cage to contain her.
"Your opponent is me! You'll just have to watch your marines die! Fuffuffufu!"
Doflamingo grins broadly, glad that he had made the deal with the Devon and Foxy pirates. As for the money he owed them… that could be 'dealt with' later.
However, just as Doflamingo was celebrating in his mind, his hopes are quashed by an approaching figure.
"Pirates, walking into a World Government deal site." The man said, his massive, upright hair wriggling in rage. "UNACCEPTABLE!"
The man was Rear Admiral Strawberry, and with him arrived a whole host of marine reinforcements.
Seeing Strawberry's arrival, Pica cringes, before immediately rushing towards him. As a Rear Admiral, no one other than Pica or Diamante could deal with Strawberry and Rex was currently holding back Diamante.
Gem and Gion try to get some final shots off, but the massive stone man doesn't even look back at them, barreling towards Strawberry like a madman.
Rose tries to rush over to Rex, wanting to help him against Diamante, only to be stopped by a marine lieutenant Commander. The man threw her to the side, where she landed next to Rosinante. Then, he withdraws a metal baton and leaps towards them.
"No, you don't pirate scum! In the name of Justice, I, Lieutenant Commander Vergo will defeat you."
Rosinante widens his eyes as he sees Vergo, but given his appearance, only Tsuru would know of his marine status. Vergo had no intention of letting Rosinante go for help as he leapt on them.
Soon new battles are formed. Gem goes to deal with Devon, his own opponent having fled, while Gion looks to her former subordinate fighting her, Kuro and Jango. Bonney leaves both Machvise and Gladius to Killer, rushing off to block Foxy. Meanwhile other marines match up against Galdino, Daz Bonez and Bentham.
Now that all the players were finally here. It was time for the battle to truly begin.
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