章 97: Lion Hunt
The traps had been set up. Mostly they were made up of catapults and giant slingshots with a variety of different ammunitions. Cherry also included a few surprises of her own.
Everything had been hooked up to a complex system of ropes and pulleys that Usopp could use to launch things at Shiki in the air.
Now was the time to cast the lure and hook themselves a big fish.
"The surveillance den den mushi is coming this way. Remember to make it look like an accident hat you were discovered." Cherry whispered to Nami.
"I know already, stop reminding me." Nami whispered back.
Nami stepped out from between two houses and turned to see the large snail gazing at her. She put on a very believable shocked face before running off in the direction of their ambush.
...
Inside the observation room of Shiki's main base.
"Why haven't you found her yet! What the hell is taking so long!" Shiki complained loudly.
"Captain, we don't have surveillance over the entirety of Merveille and we only have so many men to go out searching for her. It's going to take some time." Spoke a man at a console, though it was clear how nervous and afraid he was.
"I don't care, just find her!" Despite his outward anger, he would not punish subordinates who hadn't actually messed up. Well, there was the fellow that was operating their weather prediction technology up until a few days ago, but he had advised against following Nami's advice.
"CAPTAIN! One of the surveillance den den mushi in the village spotted the woman! She ran away towards the wilderness to the south of the village!" Another subordinate reported loudly.
The tense atmosphere relaxed considerably with those words.
"Jihahaha! I knew you could do it! I'll be going personally right away." Shiki said, in a much better mood now that he knew where his new navigator was hiding.
He went to the nearest window and flew outside towards the village from where he'd begin his search.
...
The sun was beginning to set and the sky grew darker. The perfect time to pull of this ambush, as Shiki would still be easy enough to see if he flew, while the darkness would obscure their contraptions in the trees.
"Here he comes. Are you ready, Luffy?" Cherry asked.
"Mm!" Luffy assented. He immediately entered into Gear Second and grabbed two thick tree trunks, preparing to launch himself.
Cherry drew her sword and stabbed it into his back, only there was no blood as the blade transformed into lightning and slipped into his body.
Luffy's hair stood on end and sparks danced across his body.
Shiki came within range and Luffy fired himself at the old pirate faster than he'd ever moved before.
Shiki sensed the attack, but Luffy's speed was too absurd to respond to without warning.
Luffy slammed a lightning charged Jet Bazooka in Shiki's back, sending him flying into the strike zone of the traps.
"What the heeeellllll!" Was the only thing Shiki could shout before a multitude of nets, explosive balls, firebombs, and harpoons were fired at him from all directions, leaving no room for escape.
Shiki outstretched his hands and the projectiles all stopped just before reaching him.
"Did you think you could beat me with petty trickery such as this? Everything in Merveille is under my control!" Shiki shouted, both amused and enraged at the same time.
Cherry snapped her fingers.
*BOOM!*
An enormous cloud of green enveloped him instantly. It was so dense that nothing could be seen within.
A couple of seconds later the cloud was forced away from Shiki and he could be seen hacking and coughing as he clutched his throat.
"D-daft Green...?" He spoke in a hoarse voice filled with panic. He quickly reached into clothes for the antidote he always carried with him.
*Bam*
Luffy took the opportunity that Shiki's lapse of awareness had created to blast him with a giant lightning coated fist, shattering the antidote in the process.
"Damn you!" Shiki grit his teeth. His skin was already showing the first signs of Daft Green poisoning, Cherry had packed it in pretty densely. His hair was burned and streaks of blackened skin could be seen on his arms and face.
Shiki no longer looked down on these youngsters, as much as it hurt his pride he was now taking this seriously.
"I'll show you that a man who fought Roger isn't to be toyed with!" Shiki immediately went on the offensive.
He sensed Zoro being kicked into the air by Sanji and swung his sword legs in his direction. Zoro was forced to counter the powerful slashes with his own, wasting his opportunity to attack.
Shiki quickly oved his hands and formed giant earthen lions from the terrain. With them he tried to swallow up all the people he could sense in the vicinity.
Luffy blasted through his with a giant stomp, but the others were in a bit of a predicament.
Zoro and Sanji were forced to work together to break through theirs, much to their chagrin.
The others present, which was Usopp and Franky, had to be rescued by Cherry as she ripped through the remaining lions with a mixture of Hasshoken and Rokushiki.
Shiki saw this wasn't going well for him. His irrational hatred of East Blue grew with every moment that passed. First Gol D. Roger humiliated him, now a bunch of upstarts from East Blue were doing the same.
Shiki shot his hands down with a mad look in his eyes. The entire floating island dropped out of the sky, whilst he flew upwards at the same time to put distance between them. He directed his palms toward another of the floating island and moved it over to be directly above and moved out of the way.
He strained with all his power to bring the first island to a stop and start to rise with increasing speed as the second island came hurdling down towards it.
Cherry couldn't let that continue, so she quickly bounced through the air at him. Shiki couldn't respond properly as he was already losing function in his limbs from the Daft Green poisoning.
Cherry pummeled him with fists and feet, each strike contained vicious vibrating energy that torn through his body. When the other islands started the fall out of the air, Cherry realized Shiki had already been beaten into unconsciousness.
Below she saw Cabernet in Ship form flying away from the lower island with the villagers, all safe and sound. It was good she prepared for the possibility the islands would fall.
The Thousand Sunny's Coup de Burst charged up and launched itself away from the islands so as not to be crushed as well. Cherry quickly moved to the ship to make sure everyone was accounted for.
From the island where Shiki's fortress was located, she saw the strangest sight. A large number of people flapping their arms and actually flying with them, they looked much the same as the villagers.
As for Shiki's men? Well, the islands ought to slow down a bit when they hit the ocean, right? They should be tough enough to endure if they were on Shiki's crew.
"Is everyone alright?" Cherry asked as she landed. It seemed that everyone was accounted for. Even the duck.
Seeing everyone was accounted for and in good shape, she was satisfied. She walked over to Robin and snuggled up with her, to which Robin responded to by patting her head.
"What happened to Shiki?" Nami asked.
"I don't know, but guys like him are like cockroaches. He probably won't die. From the looks of things, he'll get caught by the marines though." Cherry said, pointing to the distance where several marine warship were lying in wait.
The islands landed in the ocean and surprisingly didn't sink. Once the villagers were situated, the Straw Hats quickly fled before the marines could catch them.
"Are you sure you don't want to come, Billy?" Chopper asked the duck.
"Quack." He quacked decisively and took flight. He'd discovered that Cherry wasn't really like him, and she was also really scary, so he had decided to stay at Merveille.
'Now we can finally get back on track.' Cherry thought, whilst leaning her head on Robin's shoulder. 'I just need to convince Luffy to go save Ace somehow, why does he have to be so stubborn about the strangest thing...'
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