I stood up and brushed off the debris on top of me. My head hurt from the blow I took; I actually hit myself with my sword, the rebound from blocking Zephyr's blow and not being well positioned. I felt blood running down my face, but I didn't think much of it. It had been a while since I'd been injured in combat; the last time it was Ramses who slashed me on my left arm.
I used my Observation Haki to see what was happening in the battle, to see how Zephyr was preparing to attack Isis; that's a problem.
I focused and raised my sword; with three slashes in the air, I launched three energy attacks in the direction where it would intersect with Isis.
With Soru, I returned to the center of the battle to see how my attack didn't do much damage.
Dante: "Okay, I think it's time to get one hundred percent serious." I said it loud enough for everyone to hear.
I stand at attention, my sword firmly facing Zephyr.
With a flick of her hand, Isis generates a gust of wind that sends Zephyr hurtling in my direction. Zephyr didn't notice Isis's movements and flew away without any problems.
She quickly leaped forward to land on Zephyr, landing in a vertical slash. Zephyr blocks the blow with his arm using Haki. His arm hasn't been severed yet, so he doesn't yet have the Seastone Mechanical Arm.
The blow buries Zephyr a little in the ground; the cut was also slightly shallower, but still not very deep. As long as I can't imbue my sword with Haki, I won't be able to pierce through his Haki; all that's left is to attack areas I didn't block in time, which is quite difficult.
Zephyr's force sends me flying, but he can't do more, as Arthur was behind him, ready to impale him. Zephyr dodges the attack again. He sees how he has his shield positioned to his left, not in front of him, to block any attacks from her, only to notice the bullets coming at him from his left.
He manages to block the attacks with Haki, but the bullets are able to embed themselves in his flesh, not to a damaging degree, but they still cause wounds. Don't underestimate Ebony and Ivory; besides, the bullets are made of iridium, so they weren't enough to compete with tungsten or diamond, but they work quite well.
Zephyr notices someone behind him but doesn't act in time. Isis, behind him and with two wind blasts in each hand, throws them at Zephyr, knocking him against a building.
I, already on the ground, quickly head to where he crashed. Once there, Zephyr was already getting up. With both hands on my sword, I slash back and forth, vertically from bottom to top. Zephyr blocked the attack, but I managed to break through his defense, leaving him exposed. In the same way, but from above, along with all the strength I could muster, I launched an energy attack head-on, and this time he was able to block it.
The attack sent him flying again, into other buildings. I stared in the direction he flew, only to see him walking slowly toward us a few seconds later. This time he had a more noticeable cut on his torso. I don't think it will scar him.
Zephyr: "Well, I think it's time for me to get serious now," he said, only for him to reach my position with Soru. I quickly blocked his attack, crawling a few meters away. Zephyr slammed the ground with both hands to generate a wall of dust.
Suddenly, I saw a piece of earth thrown in my direction. With a slash, I split it in half, only to see Zephyr facing me. Zephyr fired it with a Haki finger like a bullet.
I managed to block the Shigan, but it left me exposed because I wasn't in a good position. However, Zephyr didn't counterattack. Instead, he slammed the ground again, destroying the entire terrain around us, throwing almost everyone off balance.
Trini: "ISIS, BE CAREFUL!!!"
I looked to see that, with the destruction and smoke billowing, Zephyr had moved toward Isis's position. It turned out that his target was Isis, not me. And the worst part is, I won't be able to stop him in time.
I watched as Zephyr landed a blow on Isis, sending her flying, knocking her out.
Zephyr: "One down."
Arthur appeared in front of him through the smoke; I slipped behind him. Trini was already preparing to fire again.
Zephyr: "Your teamwork is admirable, but you still have a long way to go."
With a geppo, Zephyr leaps into the air to head toward Trini. She fires at Zephyr, but he blocks with his arms, mitigating much of the damage. Just as she was about to hit, I stepped in the middle of the blow. I managed to block it, but it was strong enough to send us both flying.
Zephyr turns around to see Arthur ready to fight; the two clash in a flurry of blows.
Durindala is a mythical weapon, so it can withstand Zephyr's blows without any problem. They both punched and blocked each other, looking evenly matched, but it was clear Arthur could barely keep up.
Dante: "I think it's time you used it," I said to Trini. She came closer with my words.
I watched the fight between the two again. The shield Arthur had made had already been destroyed, and he could only defend himself against Zephyr's blows. With his hands numb, he tried to slash horizontally, but Arthur stepped out of range of the blade. Zephyr hooked him. Arthur jumped up, and Zephyr landed another blow to Arthur's face, sending him flying and knocking him out.
Zephyr: "That makes two."
Yes, this is the Zephyr who not only has his arm but is fully functional and not sick. Zephyr in the movie wasn't just in that condition, but he faced Luffy with only G2 and G3, along with a bit of Haki.
Seeing him in power scaling, if I faced Luffy in a time skip, I could barely defeat him in his base state. With G2 and G3, I don't know if I could. And even less so if we count G4 and its variations. That's where my power scaling is.
Right now, Zephyr is at his full power, using rokushiki and Haki to fight. Basically, he's at his peak. Soon his strength level will gradually decrease due to age, but that time isn't now.
I positioned myself at a safe distance and swung, trying to stab Zephyr with the tip of my sword, but he was able to dodge. With the momentum, I tried to move away from the spot to gain distance, but Zephyr followed me, and with his haki fists, he threw quick and frantic punches at me.
I could only block the blows with my sword. I felt my hands go numb and lose feeling, as if the circulation in them had stopped.
I used Observation Haki to see Trini's position, and the moment I felt her behind me, I knew I had to act. I also saw Zephyr about to use a powerful blow, so I positioned myself as firmly as I could and blocked it.
I felt my arms crack; it was a horrible sensation, but that wasn't the worst of it. I saw the Sword Buster shatter; it was no longer able to withstand Zephyr's blows. Unlike Durindana, there was nothing special about my sword, except that it was heavy and required a lot of strength to use it.
I couldn't continue like this. At that moment, I used my Conqueror's Haki and tried to direct it at Zephyr. The same thing happened to him as to Garp, remaining still for a second, which was more than enough. I immediately leaped high, giving Trini a clear view of Zephyr, and the shot rang out.
Zephyr uses Haki on his arms to stop the shot, but the power of it sends him hurtling a few meters. When it stops, the damage to his arm is visible. Despite having Armament Haki, the bullet still passed through him, remaining embedded in his arm. Blood was visible oozing from his arm; after all, the bullet almost pierced his arm.
Right now, what I'm using, Trini, is the AT, better known as the anti-tank weapon. It's the first weapon I bought for her with the system; we hadn't had the chance to use it before, since Trini doesn't have to be in close combat, something that hadn't happened until now, since she always had to be on the front lines.
The AT is designed to destroy tanks, so the weapon's attack power and bullet design are very powerful, capable of penetrating vehicles without much trouble. The only downside is that it takes time to reload; it takes a minute for the weapon to fire again. So Trini won't be able to fire another shot at the target.
Zephyr looks angrier than usual, and that's bad. While the weapon's damage was pretty good, it wasn't enough to render the arm useless, which was the idea: to render a limb useless. We're not planning on killing Zephyr, as it would be worse for our situation to kill an admiral and a celestial dragon; there'd be no way for the Navy and the world government to pardon us. I'm still talking as if we could even defeat Zephyr.
He's targeting Trini now, and if she falls, I'll be momentarily helpless against Zephyr, and logically speaking, she's the only one at the moment who can do the most damage to him. I have no choice but to help him.
With a good amount of Sorus and aching legs, I managed to get to Trini before Zephyr.
Zephyr attacks again, more frantically, and now with more force than before. The Marine tries to position himself at an angle where he can hit Trini, but I move in that direction and block the blow with my sword.
I watched helplessly as the Sword Buster broke more and more, unable to do much, since if I stopped blocking with my sword, the damage would be much worse. Until the unbelievable happened.
With a blow capable of destroying anything in its path, Zephyr manages to destroy my sword. The sword is shattered into 10 pieces, leaving a sword with a handle and a third of its blade still to use.
Zephyr delays another blow, but the sword, destroyed, can't block his blows, so a Haki-enhanced punch lands me square in the stomach.
The blow sends me flying with immense pain. Blood spurted from my mouth, and I felt my consciousness fade until I hit something and everything went blank.
Third-Person POV
Zephyr: "That makes three." She looks at Trini. "It's a shame it ended like this. I have a lot of respect for her for everything she's done, something I also try to fulfill in my own way."
Trini: "And that would be it?"
Zephyr: "A world without pirates."
Sulli: "That's where you're wrong," came Sulli's voice, emerging from some buildings. "What we're trying to do, or at least what we're trying to do, is just help people. This whole world without pirates thing isn't something we're really interested in, since something we've been taught is that in every group, be it pirates, marines, or even the world government itself, there are good people and bad people, and that's something I agree with," she said, pulling out throwing knives in one hand and holding a scalpel in the other.
Elsewhere, a gust of wind appeared, catching Zephyr's attention. It was Isis, now recovered; she was clearly wrapped in a bandage.
The reason Sulli hadn't appeared was that he was hiding for a surprise attack, but he canceled that when he saw the enemy's strength, in addition to seeing Trini and Arthur being knocked down, so he went to their aid. She managed to wake Isis since the damage wasn't that severe, but she couldn't wake Arthur, so she moved him to a place where the marines nearby couldn't find him.
Isis was floating in the air; using her Devil Fruit, she was able to do it. It's something only she can do, being a woman of air; the wind around her doesn't cut her breath; anyone else wouldn't be able to breathe. Also, she's not flying but creating a platform of air to support herself.
Zephyr: "Just because you're in the air won't make much of a difference," she said, launching herself with a geppo toward Isis.
The moment she tried to land a blow, she collided with an invisible barrier. It was a wall of air swirling around Isis. She came up with this after waking up, thinking of a way to protect herself from Zephyr's blows.
Isis: "That'll be enough," she said, pushing Zephyr with the wind.
He feels a sense of danger as he sees how Trini has him in her sights with the AT. At the moment of the shot, Zephyr manages to dodge for a while with a geppo. The shot hits the forest where they were generating an explosion, leaving a crater in the tree, which pierced through it.
Trini puts the AT to her sword when she sees she won't have another chance to shoot, so she switches to her pistols and aims at Zephyr. He is ready to launch himself at Trini, but Isis pushes Zephyr again, knocking him a few meters away.
Isis: "Trini, what can we do? I can't find any way to defeat him." Trini stood there, thoughtful.
Trini: "We can only distract him until Arthur or Dante return to the fight."
A few meters ahead, there was a destroyed house; Zephyr had fallen there, just getting up when he felt someone's presence. He was ready to attack again when a ball hit him in the face; he didn't dodge it because he didn't sense any threat from it. But that was a mistake.
The instant it hit him, it exploded, not like an explosion, but like a smoke bomb, only it didn't have any smoke.
Zephyr began to feel dizzy and disoriented. The next moment, Sulli appeared; he was the one who threw the bomb at him. By throwing himself without meaning to hurt him, he managed to stop Zephyr from dodging it, even though he doesn't have Haki. Dante and Trini explained to him how it works.
Sulli: "Some time ago, Dante had an unfortunate accident, which left him in a terrible state. From that, my father and I managed to extract the components from his body, which I've been able to replicate for use in these cases." Zephyr is in the same state as when he arrived on the island where they met Sulli, only the effects aren't as strong.
Zephyr barely resisted the drug. He was about to return when Sulli threw two bombs again. Zephyr tried to escape, but the bombs collided, creating an explosion.
Sulli: "Let Arthur's chemistry books be useful," she whispered behind a wall, which blocked the explosion.
Just as he was ready to leave, the wall he was standing on was destroyed, and an arm shot out, aimed at him in the form of a fist. He wasn't able to dodge it, and it threw him out of the house and onto the street.
Trini and Isis were a few feet away, heading toward where they were fighting. Zephyr appeared from the house where Sulli flew out, resisting the effects of the drug and with her clothes singed.
Zephyr: "Surrender, you three can't beat me; you'll only end up more hurt than you are," she said while blocking the knives Sulli threw at her, who looked as if he was between life and death from the blow she landed.
At that moment, Trini paused to think but then gave a small smile as she turned to Zephyr.
Trini: "Sadly, we can't make decisions without our leader. Why don't you ask him yourself?" She said while looking in one direction.
Right there was Dante, walking slowly over; in his right hand was the Durindana, while his left hand held another weapon. It looked like a sword, but the sheath looked like a piece of a firearm.
At that same instant, an incredible pressure was felt coming from Dante's direction. It was his Conqueror's Haki coursing through the entire space.
At a distance of a few meters, Dante releases his sword, raises his spear, and points it at Zephyr with the fingers of his left hand. The spear seemed like a rocket about to take off, and everyone heard the following words.
Dante: "Durindana Pilum," the spear, shot out at a speed almost no one could see. Unlike Arthur, Dante knows the function and how to use Hector's spear to its fullest potential. He hasn't taught Arthur, as he wants him to have his own way of using the spear and not be a copy of Hector. He also needs Dante's stamina and strength to be able to throw Durindana Pilum most effectively.
Zephyr had no choice but to block the attack with the speed it was coming at him; in just about two seconds, the spear was already head-on with the blade of the spear.
First, there was a shockwave as the spear hit Zephyr, sending Sulli and Trini flying. Then, the spear dragged Zephyr into the grove, followed by a huge explosion.
Dante: "Having to rely on weapons and not one's own strength to damage an opponent—how embarrassing."
Dante's POV
He trotted over to where the others were; Trini was in the best condition. Isis had a wound on her head; it must have been from the blow Zephyr gave her. While Sulli could barely stand, she had several wounds on her body. Dante wasn't much different; he was just more accustomed to pain.
Dante: "Don't relax; this isn't over yet." From a distance, I can feel Zephyr coming our way: "How's Arthur?"
Sulli: "Ironically, better than you or me." She nodded at his comment.
Dante: "I want you all to leave here and let me fight him alone; they want me, not you."
Trini: "Do you want us to abandon you and leave you to your fate?" she said, sounding frustrated.
Dante: "Exactly, and it's an order from their leader," I said, looking directly at Trini. "I'll be fine, don't worry."
She looked at me with irritation and anger; then I sighed.
Trini: "You heard the leader," she said as they moved toward the area where there were fewer people. Sulli and Isis looked at me worriedly, as if they didn't want to leave me alone either, but they followed Trini anyway.
If they captured us all, I wouldn't know what would happen, and that worries me. If they capture me, I'll be fine, but if they are captured... I wouldn't know what a better fate would be.
Zephyr came with his clothes torn, covered in bruises and wounds; he no longer had his suit on, and his cape was in his right hand, equally damaged.
Zephyr: "Are you sure you want to fight me alone?"
Dante: "If it's to protect my friends, I wouldn't mind dying fighting you."
The marine gave a satisfied smile and lunged at me. I did the same with the sword in my hand, which I bought shortly after waking up from unconsciousness; the sword is named Murasama. When we were a few meters away, I tried to unsheathe the sword, but I couldn't.
At that moment, I felt as if the sword had spoken to me: 'You're not ready.' I felt cheated; I had spent 200,000,000 LP on a sword I couldn't use.
The Murasama in her hand comes from a mod for a pixel game called Terraria. More specifically, it comes from the Calamity mod. And it's a weapon that can be used after defeating the God Eater. There isn't a God Eater in this world, so I have no idea what the weapon does to make it ready for use. Do I have to defeat a god for that?
I saw Zephyr about to punch me in the face; I wouldn't be able to block the attack, so I decided to bare my face, taking the attack head-on. The blow slightly cracked my jaw and knocked out two of my back teeth.
Spitting the teeth into my hand and putting them in my pocket, I attacked with my sheathed sword. We were in a frenzy of hitting, blocking, and dodging. Unlike the Sword Buster, the Murasama is a sword that could take on Lovecraftian entities, so I didn't have to worry about Zephyr breaking it this time.
Seeing an opening, she slashed at Garp's side with her sword and then kicked him in the face, knocking him back a few steps. If I could land two consecutive hits on Garp, then I can do it to Zephyr too.
Just as we were about to hit each other again, a voice was heard.
???: "You'd better stop; this fight is unnecessary."
At that instant, I turned around to see who it was. There stood a tall, dark-haired man with an afro and sunglasses; he had the Navy symbol on his chest. It was Vice Admiral Aokiji.
If I was worried before, I was even worse now. I had no way out if I had to face Zephyr and Aokiji at the same time.
Zephyr: "What do you mean, Aokiji?"
Aokiji: "What I mean, Master, is that Dante wasn't the one who killed the celestial dragon; it was a pirate gang, which I've already captured."
Zephyr: "Are you sure?"
Aokiji: "The officer at the base here confirmed it; he went to see Miss Manmayer about what happened. She says she was with Mr. Ethanbaron when he was killed by the pirates. Dante tried to stop them but didn't have enough time; for fear of something happening to him, she returned alone to the hotel where she's staying."
Zephyr: "Okay, I'm going back to the barracks to treat my wounds."
I sighed; this ended better than I expected.
Aokiji: "Don't relax too much; you and your group will have to pay for the damage you caused." What a pain!
Dante: "If only they had been faster. Since when were you watching the fight?"
Aokiji: "Since you used Conqueror's Haki and threw the spear," I sighed again, "I can only say you're unlucky. Being a famous person, there are people who admire and respect you, and on the other hand, there are people who hate you and want you dead. In the Navy, there are both sides; they envy you and hate you for taking all the credit and honor when they're just doing their job. That's why they arrived so quickly to where they were staying."
I should have known something like this could happen. I just didn't think it would be so soon.
Aokiji: "That's all I have to say. Go to the barracks to find out how much they'll have to pay for the damages," and he left.
I stood there staring into space, because if we were poor before, now we're even poorer and even more in debt.
Dante: "I think death would have been better." I think I can now say I look like Dante from Devil May Cry. Indebted, poor, and virgin.
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Right now, I'm in the process of fixing the fic's grammar, which I'm doing first on the other fic, since it's easier for me and more horribly written.
I'm doing it sparingly since I have other things to do, but I'll do it, even if it takes me years.
Now, without exaggerating, this fic also probably has some poorly written parts, so I'll revise it once I finish the other one, which is more urgent.
And regarding the power stones, it's not necessary; you can really ignore the previous comment, since after thinking about it, the stones don't really do much; they don't give me any benefit that I can see. It just lets me know that there are people who support the fic, that's all. I hope you liked the chapter.