章 47: Chapter 047

"Hey, Miss!" Vivi turned to face the new arrival. It was the two pirates that had easily fallen for their tricks.

"So, it's you," Usopp said. "The weird lady who we met inside Laboon." Before Vivi could ask what they wanted, as she was extremely pressed for time, the other one spoke up.

"We have no idea what's going on here, but our captain has ordered us to protect you. Would you please come with us, Miss?" Sanji asked politely.

"More fools show up to die," came the annoyed voice of Mr. 5. "When will you no name pirates learn not to get in our way?" He raised his pistol to his mouth again and Sanji's eyes narrowed. He didn't know what that was, but anyone could tell it was a hostile move. It was a shitty pistol. He quickly kicked Usopp out of the way and grabbed Vivi as the man fired, jumping out of range of the following explosion. He set Vivi down and turned a scathing glare towards Mr. 5. Before the numbered agent could blow into the pistol again, Sanji jumped high into the air, performing a series of front flips. Mr. 5's eyes widened as he approached with surprising speed. He raised the pistol a second too late, and Sanji's downward spinning heel connected with the dome of his head, shattering his sunglasses in the process.

"Mutton Shoot!"

Mr. 5 slumped to the ground in obvious pain while Miss Valentine watched in mix between shock and rage. "You bastard!" Vivi looked on in awe. The Mr. 5 pair had never lost to any pirates as far as she knew. Who were these people? Miss Valentine proceeded to perform another 10,000 Kilogram Press, which Sanji hopped out of the way of. She didn't stop though, continuing to jump into the air and attempt to flatten Sanji. Sanji continued to hop out of the way as Vivi watched in shock and Usopp in annoyance.

"Hey, Sanji! Why don't you attack back at some point?" the long-nosed man shouted, but Sanji just yelled back, telling him to shut it as he continued to avoid the blows that were making numerous craters in the ground.

"You'll have to do more than dodge if you want to beat me!" Miss Valentine said, still seething.

"Sorry, Miss. I don't kick women," Sanji replied. "Would you consider not trying to crush me anymore and perhaps cradle my head against your chest instead?" He asked the question in the most innocent of tones, but that just seemed to infuriate the woman more. Suddenly, she stopped, taking a deep breath. Then she started running in Vivi's direction. Usopp yelped and held out his slingshot with a frightened expression, and Sanji's eyes narrowed as his code of chivalry clashed with his captain's orders.

Usopp shot a flame star at Miss Valentine, only for her to jump over it and soar high into the air. She was directly above Vivi before she increased her weight again and crashed into vacant ground once more. Sanji set down Vivi carefully and frowned, knowing he wouldn't be able to keep this up forever.

"One Sword Style: Bird Dance!" The wind blade, which Luffy dodged, continued on past its target and hit Miss Valentine dead center. She gasped as blood seeped from the wound, and fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Sanji rounded on Zoro.

"You bastard! That had better have been unintentional!" Zoro paid him no attention, though, still locked in his ongoing fight with Luffy. Vivi got over her shock at seeing the Mr. 5 pair defeated, and turned to Sanji.

"Why are those two fighting, anyway?"

Sanji blinked. "Oh, them?" he asked nonchalantly. "They're idiots," he said as if that explained it all. It was that that Mr. 5 recovered and looked at Sanji in fury.

That fucking hurt, he thought. If it weren't for my Devil Fruit giving me increased resistance to blunt force, I'd be out cold with a concussion.

He ran toward Sanji in frenzy, attempting to take the man out with an explosive punch. Sanji raised his leg in preparation for another assault.

"Gomu Gomu no…Whip!" Zoro jumped over Luffy's leg, which crashed into Mr. 5 and sent him soaring through the air before he finally crashed into a rock, and didn't get up again. All eyes turned toward the escalating conflict. They seemed to be at a temporary standstill.

"Fine," Zoro said. "If we're gonna do this, then I hope you're ready, Luffy." He unsheathed his third sword and placed it in his mouth before tying his bandana around his head. Luffy grinned widely, and his entire form seemed to redden as steam slowly rose from his body.

"Three Sword Style…1080 Caliber Phoenix!"

"Gomu Gomu no…Grizzly Magnum!" A large, dense wind cannon shot towards Luffy at the same time his arms blackened to obsidian and grew to the size of houses before their eyes. He threw his arms forward and met the wind cannon head-on. Everyone in the vicinity was blown off of their feet as the ball of condensed air ruptured from the force of the blow.

"That's new," Sanji commented. Luffy's arms were blown backwards, and quickly shrank back down to normal before he leapt into the air. Zoro barraged him with a storm of large, fast, deadly wind blades, and Luffy danced through the air, weaving through them gracefully as his blackened arms blurred out of sight and rebounded off of Zoro's swords. Zoro quickly sheathed two swords as Luffy landed.

"One Sword Style…Lion's Death Song!" Luffy leapt out of the way of the deadly blade, whistling as the buildings behind him were cleanly sliced in half as a side effect of the swing. He landed behind Zoro and prepared his own attack. His blackened arm erupted in flames as he reared it back and launched at the swordsman.

"Gomu Gomu no…Red Hawk!" Zoro too jumped out of the way, and Luffy's arm left a long explosive trail in its wake, reducing the buildings that had already been cut in half to rubble.

Zoro sighed in exasperation. "Are we done here, Luffy?" Luffy shrugged.

"I guess, unless you wanna get serious. I don't feel like destroying the island, though."

Zoro sheathed his swords, and Luffy grinned with mirth.

"Well, if Zoro's done messing around, what do you say we take a princess to her kingdom?" he asked.

"I'm gonna kill you one day," Zoro mumbled, and Luffy burst out laughing. Sanji and Usopp just watched with blank expressions, used to their antics, while Vivi and Igaram continued to wonder what the hell was going on.

"Princess?" Sanji asked. He turned to the only female that Luffy could be talking about and observed her carefully. Then he shrugged. "I wouldn't mind bowing down to you," he said casually.

"Would someone please explain what on earth is going on?" Igaram asked in frustration, his head in his hands.

"Sure. One sec," Luffy said. He turned in a random direction and shouted. "Nami! You can come out now!" The orange-haired woman appeared out of the shadows of a nearby building, an extremely annoyed look on her face.

"I finish looting their treasure, and I come to see you two destroying the town? What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked.

Igaram looked at the bag slung over her shoulder, and his head sagged. It was the treasure they'd looted from the previous group of pirates that had passed through. So, she'd seen right through them as well? Were they that pathetic?