Chapitre 81: Chapter 80
[January 25th, 12 am]
The weather was cold on Minion island. The sky was full of snow, covering up all the present buildings, trees, and plains with white. At the same time, the island was silent, for upon the arrival of Crocodile and his subordinates, the civilians hurriedly evacuated.
And down the hill, three Marine Officers stood, looking up at the higher ground solemnly. They were Vice Admiral Mozambia, Rear Admiral Strawberry, and Captain Cancer. Behind them stood the marine soldiers, standing with nervousness that right above stood the notorious 'Sir' Crocodile and the betrayers of Marine: Diez Barrels and his underlings.
"...It looks like Vice Admiral Tsuru and Rear Admiral Gion won't reach here on time," Mozambia, placing the dial back onto the Den Den Mushi that a marine soldier next to him was holding, exclaimed, "And so is Vice Admiral Garp." He turned to Strawberry and asked nervously, "...Are you sure that we are enough to take them out? Vice Admiral Tsuru told us that a battle will break out without a doubt."
"He definitely became stronger. However, so did I." Strawberry stated firmly, "Furthermore, his overreliance on his devil fruit grants him a crucial weakness against water. Unlike other Logias, being soaked makes him unable to morph his body into the sand and nullify physical blows. The current bounty on his head... doesn't attribute to his actual strength."
Cancer, standing silently next to his superiors, gazed at the hill grimly.
'...5 billion for the Op Op fruit, eh.' Cancer felt complicated, 'What will happen if the fruit ends up in the World Government's hands? Or if a criminal ends up eating?'
Cancer felt as if there existed a huge burden on his back. His heart was beating fast out of nervousness. However, taking in a deep breath, he calmed himself down. Subsequently, he turned to X Drake who stood among the marine soldiers, and said seriously to the teen,
"Keep your emotion in check, Drake."
Drake, while biting his lips out of frustration, nodded.
Mozambia then spoke up, "Alright. All marines, we're going in!"
Yes, sir! The marines all began marching with their bodies tensed up, ready to engage at any moment. They carefully checked the surroundings while doing so, looking out for any trap.
And finally, they reached the top of the hill. In front of them lied a small house, and before said house were the former marines—no, the pirates, looking back at the marines with excitement. Among them stood Diez Barrels, and one man with slicked-back black hair: 'Sir' Crocodile, the user of Sand Sand fruit.
"...It looks like the representative of Id isn't here yet." Barrels who was holding onto a small chest, looked at Crocodile and asked in a low voice, "What should we do?"
"It's proven at this point," Said Crocodile while smoking a cigar, "That Golden Lion Shiki was it, but happened to meet Marine Hero of all possibilities."
"Then?"
"We wait." Crocodile stated, "Wait until Id finds another route to contact us. His help is necessary to enact my plan."
"And what of those marines then?"
"..." Crocodile didn't reply this time around and instead grinned. From this alone, Barrels immediately understood what he was about to do.
Crocodile, with the grin intact, then spoke up at a loud voice to the marines ahead,
"Why, long time no see, Strawberry." Crocodile's eyes—seeming crazed almost—locked onto the Marine Officer with a long black beard.
Strawberry sharpened his eyes, "Where is the Op Op fruit."
Barrels opened the chest in response and showed marines the heart-shaped devil fruit inside. Mozambia whispered to a marine soldier next to him, who nodded and confirmed that the fruit in the chest was the Op Op fruit without a doubt.
"Hu..." Crocodile, taking a puff out of a cigar, then flicked his head, "And where's the promised amount?"
Strawberry, without saying, turned around and said something to his back. Two marines then walked out, carrying a tray full of belis. Barrels and the other pirates all gasped in delight upon sighting the unbelievable amount of money, and Crocodile, whose eyes flashed in greed, walked forward to it.
"Each stack is worth 10 million. There are 500 of them on this tray. In total, it's exactly 5 billion." Mozambia stated as Crocodile looked at the money tray in awe. Crocodile continued walking closer to the money tray, however, Strawberry then unsheathed his sword and pointed at Crocodile's neck, stopping Crocodile's approach to the money.
"...Hand over the devil fruit first, Crocodile."
Crocodile, unbothered by the sword on his neck, narrowed his eyes at Strawberry who glared back at him. The tension was rising, and Cancer had his hand on his sheathed sword, ready to unsheath at any time.
"...Strawberry, remember the last time when we met?" Crocodile then said in a cold tone, taking an abrupt shift in his demeanour, "The day in which my crew helplessly got arrested by you and your division." He then raised his head up and gazed at the sky, "It was raining heavily back then."
Strawberry, not daring to lower his sword, raised his eyebrow, "And?"
"It's snowing today," Replied Crocodile. He raised his hand up and felt the snowflakes that landed on his hand, "Snow melts upon touching my skin and becomes water. It drenches me and renders me unable to transform into the sand. Back then, the rainy weather made me vulnerable against your attacks, and situation-wise, it's quite similar today."
Then, Crocodile's eyes suddenly flashed in a murderous manner. Strawberry, feeling a chill out of Crocodile's gleam, instinctively swung his sword at Crocodile's exposed neck, and—
CLANG—!!!
in contrary to Strawberry's expectations, his sword didn't manage to decapitate Crocodile.
"...What?" Strawberry whispered in confusion, "It didn't even go through...?"
Mozambia and Cancer immediately unsheathed their swords and aimed at Crocodile. The marine soldiers raised their rifles up and aimed at Crocodile.
"Haki?" Strawberry murmured, but then denied it, "No. This doesn't seem like Haki at all." He, frowning in disbelief, growled at Crocodile, "What have you done, Crocodile?!"
Crocodile gave a crazed grin to Strawberry, "Figure it out by yourself, marine."
And then, a sharp and horizontal wave of sand, generated from Crocodile's hand, was swung at the three Marine Officers,
"Desert Spada."
BOOOM! Strawberry, Mozambia, and Cancer all raised their swords and blocked Crocodile's attack, but were knocked back from the sheer force behind it. The three of them grimaced as they landed back on the ground and were sent skidding back by some distance.
"Ugh..." One marine soldier gulped from witnessing such a frightening scene. Subsequently,
Bang! Bang! Immediately following Crocodile's attack, all marines fired. The bullets all flew toward Crocodile rapidly, and the Marine Officers expected them to go through Crocodile without any harm.
However, in contrast to their expectations, the bullets—with clanging noises—bounced off of Crocodile instead. Though caught off by the suddenly bouncing-back bullets, the three Marine Officers immediately raised up their swords, and,
Clang Clang Clang!
slashing their swords exquisitely, managed to parry away all the bounced-off bullets. Thanks to their efforts, no marine soldier was harmed by their own bullets.
"FIRE!!!" Just then, Barrels ordered loudly while pointing his sword up.
Bang Bang Bang!! The bullets filled up the sky as countless number of them were fired from both sides. Mozambia, Strawberry, and Cancer clashed their swords against Crocodile's yet another wave of sand. And Cancer, from the corner of his eyes, then came to sight,
"DIEZ BARRELS!!!!!" X Drake recklessly charging to his biological father with rage written on his face.
Cancer shouted in disbelief, "DRAKE—"
"Desert Girasole."
BOOOOM! Cancer didn't have time to finish his sentence as Crocodile, at the next moment, manifested a dense blade of sand and stabbed it into the snowy platform below. The snow was absorbed in an instant, and many marines all of a sudden lost their footings, for the ground below the snow layer crumbled down into a huge pit of sand.
"AHHHH!!!" Several marine soldiers cried in horror as they were engulfed by the sand. They instinctively reached their hands out, but before their comrades could save them, they fully disappeared into the depth of sand.
"What in the world...!" Cancer grimaced as he stood in the air, having managed to avoid Crocodile's technique through the use of Geppo.
"Cancer," Then, Strawberry said calmly, "Leave Crocodile to the two of us and go fetch that idiot."
"What about Crocodile then?!" Cancer exclaimed with widened eyes, and Mozambia nodded in agreement to Strawberry's words while eyeing Drake's state,
"Look, that moron is about to die."
Cancer narrowed his eyes at the daring Crocodile, before clicking his tongue and dashing toward Barrels with the use of Soru. Crocodile, watching Cancer's dash in hilarity, let the man go.
"Hm..." Crocodile then tilted his head as he shrewdly gazed Strawberry and Mozambia, "Are you sure that sending that to him was a good choice?"
Strawberry and Mozambia simply raised their swords up in response.
On the other hand, at some distance away, Drake was found fallen with his own sword dropped away from him. Barrels, standing right in front of Drake, snorted, "You haven't changed a single bit, Drake. Useless and impulsive; how are you going to become an Admiral like that?"
"FUCK YOU!!!" Drake screamed while glaring at Barrels heatedly. Barrels simply rolled his eyes, not having a simple bit of compassion for his own son. Then, he raised his sword up, and pushed it forward to stab it through the exposed Drake's forehead—
CLANG!
Cancer managed to appear just in time to parry Barrels's sword away from Drake.
"Kid..." Cancer growled at the rapidly huffing Drake, "I'm so going to kill you when this is over."
"Captain Cancer..." Barrels snorted in amusement, "Are you here to avenge your pal-dara?" Barrels swung his sword around casually, before vanishing from his spot with the use of Soru,
CLANG—!!
Cancer and Barrels's swords met one another once again.
"Shigan."
BANG! Cancer quickly tilted his head to evade Barrels's attack. Sweating profusely from the tension, Cancer then gritted his teeth as Barrels vanished from his vision once more.
CLANG—!!
Barrels snickered as his blade met Cancer's again.
"Can't you tell?" Barrels grinned devilishly, "There is far too much difference between the two of us. And unlike the case of that Bastille, you use the same type of weapon as me. Simply put, defeating me is an impossible feat for you."
"Fucking shut your mouth," Cancer snarled, before,
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG! The two of them began engaging each other in fast series of sword strikes. Cancer held his sword with two handss and was using all his strength, while Barrels was grinning and holding his sword with one hand only.
"Shigan. Shigan. Shigan."
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Cancer's eyes widened,
"TEKKAI!!"
CLANG CLANG CLANG!
Cancer, while petrified under the state of Tekkai, managed to block all three finger guns and a sword slash simultaneously.
"Huff... huff..." Cancer breathed heavily as he wiped the sweat on his forehead. Barrels, cracking his neck casually, then vanished from his spot yet again.
CLANG—!!
__________
"KYAAAA!!!"
Within the dark night where the cloud blocked the dim lights of the moon and the stars, Baby 5, fully enveloped by the white smoke except for her head, was found screaming as she, along with Smoker, flew by at an insane speed.
"Huff... huff..." Smoker, who seemed exhausted from flying at such speed for a long period of time, was found sweating profusely. However, he managed his concentration and willed himself to maintain the current speed, in order to reach the Minion island as quickly as possible.
'Crocodile and Op Op fruit,' Smoker gritted his teeth, 'How in the hell...!'
Then, Smoker felt a little light-headed.
"Smoker!!!" Baby 5, looking at Smoker with concern, shouted, "Your nose is bleeding!!!"
Smoker, upon hearing Baby 5, rubbed under his nose. His right hand was stained with blood.
"Huff... I'm fine," Smoker said while returning his eyes to his front, "This is just a tomato sauce."
The blood on his hand and nose slowly turned into wisps of smoke and left Smoker's body. Smoker, not bothering himself with it, instead thought out of worry,
'Hang in there, Cancer...!'
The time was ticking, and the battle on the Minion island was ongoing. White Hunter was racing against the time, and the current time shown on his wristwatch was: 1 am.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone