Chapter 135:
The Charge Begins: Enemies Return

"AAAAAAACCCCCCCEEEEEE! CCOOOOOOOOOBBBYYYYYYYYY!"

"That voice," Ace muttered, his eyes widening.

"Captain?" Coby gasped. Their eyes and the eyes of many fighters below turned upward at the sound of shouting. There, in the air above the battlefield, fell an entire Marine battleship and a squadron of people.

And at the lead of that falling group was one Monkey D. Luffy.

"This is Straw Hat's fault!" Buggy roared as he, Luffy, and the other former prisoners of Impel Down fell toward an icy battlefield.

"Heehaw!" Ivankov laughed. "If we survive this, we'll be in the thick of it!"

"I guess this is one way to make an entrance," Jinbei grunted.

While the falling and panic might have felt like forever, the event itself only lasted about ten seconds before the ship, and many of the people, slammed into the ice. Where they landed, however, was a thin sheet that had barely covered a section that had been torn out by 'Diamond' Jozu near the start of the war. This was bad news for the Devil Fruit users of the bunch that could not freely conform their bodies.

Luffy came to relatively quickly, coughing a little water from his lungs as he sat up on the slanted deck of the now-broken battleship. Prisoners were laid out around him, unconscious or panicking. Where he was came to him a second later, his eyes widening.

"Ace!" he realized. "Coby!" Scrambling to his feet, Luffy rushed the way that felt right, running over the crossed masts to get a view of Marineford and the stand built in its shadow. Thereupon he saw three figures, two of whom were kneeling and the last standing. The Straw Hat captain let out a breath of relief before breathing in.

"AAAAAAAAACCCCEEEEEEEE! COOOOOOOOBBBBYYYYYYYYY! IIIII'MMMMMM HEEEEEERRRREEEEEE!"

"Luffy!" Ace yelled. "No, Luffy! Don't!"

"Captain!" Coby followed. "Captain Luffy!"

"Straw Hat is making waves as usual," Mihawk said, the ghost of a smirk at the edge of his mouth.

"Oh Goda, why him?!" Moria cried

"He's alive," Hancock blinked, licking her lips.

"It's him," Helmeppo snarled, impaling another random pirate with his Candy Cane. "And he's brought an army of big names. Him and his damnable charisma."

"Straw Hat," Smoker said. "Alongside the Warlord Jinbei, the Revolutionary Ivankov, Buggy the Clown, and... Crocodile? Why the Hell...?"

"Of course Garp squirrelled himself away as soon as his blasted progeny appears," Sengoku muttered.

Luffy's eyes roamed the battlefield, taking in who was on what side. The death caused him to pause, but that only reinforced his determination to save his brother and crewmate.

"Huh? Where did Croco-boy go?" Luffy heard Ivankov ask, causing him to realize one of his temporary allies wasn't there while the others had gathered nearby. Rather, Crocodile was making use of his powers to rush backwards toward a pirate ship, his golden hook primed to attack.

Quickly activating his Second Gear, Luffy shot across the battlefield, kicking Crocodile's golden hook before it could reach the Emperor. Whitebeard, for his part, didn't move a muscle even as the area exploded with steam.

"What are you doing?" Luffy demanded, staring the former Warlord down while he landed between Crocodile and the old man he'd tried to attack.

"Obviously I'm aiming to kill Whitebeard," the Logia answered, his hook glinting in the light. "Is that a problem?"

"Yeah, it is," the waterlogged teen responded, his Second Gear fading. "This old guy is important to my brother and is here to save him, so I won't let you kill him." A quartet of Whitebeard Pirates surrounded Crocodile, their swords each coated in the black sheen of Haki.

"So you're the brat Ace is always talking about," Whitebeard grunted, sizing Luffy up as the air around them grew heavier. Luffy turned, the shadow if Whitebeard falling over him. "Do you know the forces we're up against? Get out of here. You'll only get yourself killed."

"Shut up, old man," Luffy shot back as he walked out of the shadow, standing beside the Emperor as if they were equals, surprising and scaring pirates, revolutionaries, and marines alike. "I'm not just here for Ace. Coby is my Nakama. That makes it my job to save him. Not yours."

Whitebeard's eyes narrowed, coming to rest on his hat.

"...That hat looks familiar."

"Yeah, Shanks gave it to me. You probably know know him. What of it?"

Whitebeard was silent for a moment, considering the casual response.

"...I'm starting to like you, brat," the old pirate smirked. "Keep talking like that and I'll be forced to make you one of my sons."

"Not a chance," Luffy rebuffed, again causing marines and pirates alike to gawk. "I'm the man who will be King of the Pirates! And if we have to fight for that title, I'll fight you then!"

"Gurararara," the aged Emperor rumbled. "Gurararara! We'll see. Don't get yourself killed out there, brat."

"I won't," Luffy smirked, kneeling beside the giant of a man. "I've got a wife waiting for me." He paused. "Oh right, the Marines want to move things up and kill Ace instantly."

"Really?" Whitebeard frowned.

"Yeah. There was a snail on that ship up there. We heard it before we fell."

"Understood. If you're going out there, take some backup. We won't hear the end of it if you get hurt, Tiger Cub."

Luffy pulled a face as the Whitebeard Pirates holding Crocodile at swordpoint chuckled. "Ace said he'd never tell anyone," the teen whined. "I'll beat his ass for that once we're out of here. Iva! Jinbei! Cover me!"

"Let's go, Straw Boy!" Ivankov laughed. "Heehaw!"

"I guess this counts as my resignation," Jinbei rumbled. "Sengoku! I quit!"

Luffy jumped down to the ice without pause, curving his path to meet up with his larger allies. The trio, a nightmare to the Marines, began tearing a path through the war zone. Admittedly, Ace, Coby, Sengoku, and the newly-arrived executioners couldn't see much of their advance due to Oars' giant body, but the marines they sent flying marked their progress.

"Halt, Pirates!" a familiar voice ordered as if through a megaphone. Luffy quirked as eyebrow as his small group approached a squad of marines led by a man wielding a bo, a pile of unconscious pirates beside them. "You will pass no further, for, while you are wild and worrisome, I, Captain Wallace Wood, will wrangle you, laying you to low points the likes of which few have faced before! I have trained my techniques to the terminus since Tri-Horn got the better or me and mine; I will not go down so quickly! This is your final warning!"

The captain charged, his bo twirling with the ease of thousands of hours of practice. Luffy threw a couple punches, each of which the alliteration-prone marine blocked and deflected in his running approach. "Prepare yourself, pirate! Wukong's Wooden Wonder!"

"Death Wink!" Ivankov yelled, the shockwave caused by the drag queen's eyelid blasting the marine out of Luffy's path, Captain Wallace Wood crying "Inconceivable!"

The younger criminal didn't stop for a moment, twisting around to take out the next group with an unannounced Gum-Gum Whip. His eyes widened as he bent away, two bladed circles flying over his head before boomeranging back to their owner. The captain was then forced to spring backward, avoiding a punch that crushed the ice he'd been standing on. The trio skidded to a stop as they eyed the Marines before them, the most recent attacker somersaulting away.

The marine on the left, who had just attacked, had pink hair and tanned skin, his uniform straining against his muscles. His fists each seemed to have screws screwed into the knuckles. His companion was thinner, with a decorative goatee and heart-shaped glasses. A hat that matched his goatee covered blond-almost-gray hair.

"We meet again," the pink-haired marine grinned. "It's time for your luck to run out."

"You two are familiar," Luffy muttered. "Do I know you?"

"Ack!" the marine coughed, his professionalism broken. "I'm Fullbody! I'm here to get back at you for the Baratié and my men that your devil of a crewmate killed!"

"Surely these chakram seem familiar, yes?" the reedy man said, his blades swinging back-and-forth as pendulums.

"Oh, yeah!" Luffy blinked. "You're that guy whose ass Sanji kicked! And you're the hypnotist guy from Kuro's crew! What are you doing here?"

"I've turned my life around," Jango answered quickly. "I've honed my abilities in the Marines so now they're stronger than ever! Watch! When I reach the count of Jango, you'll fall into a deep sleep! One! Two!..."

"Hey, Luffy," Jinbei grunted.

"Yeah?" Luffy turned, his whole focus on his friend for that moment.

"Jango!" the former pirate finished. The group was silent for a second before Jango, Fullbody, the approaching Captain Wallace, and Ivankov fell, snoring. Jinbei took a deep breath before kicking the queen in the side.

"I meant to do that!" the (temporary?) man stated quickly, jolting to an upright position. "Totally faked it!"

"Shishishishi!" Luffy giggled.

"Tch," a woman scowled. "Useless morons. Disappointed. Hina is disappointed."

Marine Captain Hina was a beautiful woman with long, pink hair and cherry-red lips. A cigarette smoked between her lips and her gray outfit hugged her frame. Beside her walked Vice-Admiral Jonathan of G-8 and his second Drake.

"We meet again," Jonathan smiled as Hina kicked her stupid, sleeping subordinates, knocking them out of her path.

"Oh hi, Jonny!" Luffy chuckled, waving at the strategist. "How's the base? And you're that woman from Alabasta that caught Bon-chan!"

"You know them?" Jinbei asked.

"The kitchen has gotten better since you attacked," the Vice-Admiral answered, falling into a fighting stance. "You won't escape this time, however, Straw Hat."

"You will not pass me!" Hina declared, black bars growing from her sleeves into something of a fence between Luffy's group and any path forward. "Now, Sleeve Prison! None shall escape from Hina's Black Cage!"

"She's so beautiful when she uses that line!" Fullbody and Jango swooned.

"I wanna be that cool," Captain Wallace Wood whispered wistfully.

"I don't have time to fight you two," Luffy said, falling into his own stance. "Let me through."

"Three," Drake corrected.

"Four," Captain Wallace Wood whimpered, waving. "I am alive and arguably active."

"You know we can't do that, Straw Hat," Jonathan responded. "You are a pirate and we are marines. It's your duty to catch you and lock you away."

"That's what you marines always say, yet here I am."

"You get away until you don't," Hina rebuffed.

"Death Wink!" Hina's eyes widened a fraction before the queen's attack slammed into her, blowing her back with her Black Cage trailing behind like centipides caught in the wind. "I can handle her and her subordinates, Straw Boy!"

"Captain Hina!" Jango and Fullbody cried.

"We'll get you for that!" Drake yelled, charging forward despite his commander's protests.

"Yeah," Captain Wallace Wood waved without attracting attention. "Catch the criminals."

"Look out, Luffy," Jinbei grunted. "Fishman Karate!"

Luffy, Jonathan, and Drake jumped as the fishman's fist shattered the ice below them, a wave of cold seawater washing over Navarone's second. Drake hit the ice with a thump, teeth chattering.

"So that's the power of a Warlord," Jonathan muttered, using Moonwalk to avoid the subsequent blasts of water. "I'll need to take him out of this game fast." Rising into the air, the Vice-Admiral dove toward the blue-skinned combatant, his fingers bent. "Three Finger Gun!"

"Ten Brick Fist!" Jinbei countered, the warriors creating a shockwave as they met. "Go, Luffy! I'll hold him off!"

"Be careful, Jinbei! Jonny's a smart one!" His warning given, the pirate put his trust in his friend and sprinted forward into a new clump of enemies.

"This is not ideal," Jonathan complained as he landed on the ice across from Jinbei. "Don't get me wrong, I know my chances of beating you, but I prefer having time to plan for these sorts of things."

"That's where you and I differ," Jinbei grunted, charging ahead faster than his bulk should have allowed. "Fishman Karate, Ten Brick Fist!"

Several dozen feet away, Luffy encountered yet another figure from his lengthy past. This one, however, was even less threatening and more annoying.

"Kiiiishishishi!" Moria laughed, stepping into Luffy's way. He raised his hands, zombies dressed in Marine garb rising around him. "This is a battlefield, Straw Hat! There are plenty of fresh corpses for me to use and you're all alone. You won't get away this time!"

"Gum-Gum Whip!"

Moria's smirk dropped as Luffy's leg threw his creations away. Drawing his pair of giant scissors, the Warlord unhinged them, now duel-wielding the equivalent of two swords.

"Oh I'm so scared," Luffy taunted. "Two scissor blades. What's next? You gonna start stripping for power? Well, don't."

"That doesn't even make sense, brat!" Moria lunged, forcing Luffy to fall into back-handspring to avoid the subsequent high-low attacks of the rotund Warlord.

It was obvious Moria was skilled with his blades, slices and slashes cutting through air inches from Luffy's face, but the younger pirate sparred with the likes of Zoro and Coby regularly. He jumped away, putting distance between himself and his onion-shaped foe. The rage making each new attack more sloppy than the last, Luffy finally lashed out with a kick, tossing one of the scissor blades from Moria's hand.

"You can't beat me," Luffy stated. "You couldn't with a giant zombie robot and you won't without it."

The Warlord was growling, the stinging anger of his defeat fueling his movements. He reached out with his now-free hand, dragging a writhing mass of shadows from the nearby marines and some pirates they were fighting.

"Watch, Straw Hat, as my power grows exponentially!" With a swipe of his blade, the Warlord severed the shadows from their owners. The fighters cried out in pain before they were seared away by the sun, turning to ash in the blink of an eye.

"You bastard!" Luffy yelled as Moria swallowed the shadows, his form twisting in grotesque patterns as he grew almost twice as tall. "You killed them!"

"Kiiishishi! Who cares? They're suitable sacrifices in exchange for your death!" Moria grinned, taking a step toward Luffy that cracked the ice below him.

"I need to get to my crewmate and brother, you psycho!" Luffy yelled, undaunted. "MOVE!"

A wave of pressure radiated from the rookie, causing Moria to stagger back with second thoughts while several marines and pirates nearby fell over, foaming at the mouth.

"Did he j-just say brother?" a marine gulped. "Is he Roger's son, too?"

"Impossible!" another marine insisted. "He's too young! Both Roger and his lover were dead when he was born!"

"You fools are making a mockery of the Marines!" Sengoku yelled into his snail, causing the statement to echo across the battlefield while he silently cursed Garp and his lineage. The Hero of the Marines was probably back in his office licking his emotional wounds rather than in the fight where he belonged. "You are letting a rookie's presence take control of the battle! Don't underestimate him because he's young! Straw Hat and Firefist were raised together as adoptive brothers, but his true father is Dragon the Revolutionary!"

"That explains a lot," Smoker grunted into a silence around him, his brows knitted together. "So that man was there to see his son off. How dangerous for us."

"He really does have big family," Hancock mused, idly kicking a nearby marine into stone. Salome hissed. "Yes, I'm still going to do it, Salome. He becomes a more formidable target with each surprise. A more tasty morsel for my throne room."

"So it's in his blood," Helmeppo growled. "A strong moron like the rest of his family. I can't wait to see that dinosaur asshole's face when I kill his captain in front of him. It will go a long way to building my reputation!"

"Gurararara," Whitebeard laughed from the Moby Dick with a smirk, Marco stunned at his side. "What a punk! I guess we've got another reason to keep him alive."

"Go away, Luffy!" Ace pleaded, straining against his chains. "Do you think I want your help?! Don't embarrass me like this, making me say my baby brother saved me! The Hell do you think you're doing?!"

"The Hell does it look like!" Luffy screamed back across the battlefield. "You couldn't stop me if it was just you, Ace, but they've got one of my Nakama! I won't abandon you or Coby!"

"C-Captain!" Coby sniffed. "Captain Luffy! We beat God! I know you can do it!"

"Don't encourage him!" Ace yelled. "He's enough of a reckless idiot already!"

"If I can't save my friends and family, then I could never be the King of the Pirates!" Luffy declared, clenching his fists. "No more fun and games here."

"Be careful, Captain! Please!"

"Kiiiishishishi!" Moria laughed, all the talking giving him the time he needed to get over his shock at the sudden announcement. "To think you're the spawn of such a big shot! A part of me truly wants to run away in fear, but a greater part of me says that I'll go down in history if I defeat you now. It's a shame I won't be able to take that Tri-Horn brat's shadow again, but perhaps I can take his body instead. Then I'll take your shadow and put in in that Oars over there! I'll be the strongest pirate in the world! KIIIIISHISHISHISHI!"

Luffy turned his hardened gaze on the shadow-man, cold determination on his face.

"You talk too much, your laugh is annoying, and you just threatened my Nakama," Luffy listed, making a fist and punching the ice. "Second Gear."

Steam exploded from Luffy's skin, clouding the surrounding area. Moria charged in, swiping his swords through the steam, but it dissipated around his blade without a hint of the pirate. The Warlord turned slowly, his long neck and small head on a swivel as me looked for any hint of his foe in the fog Luffy's steam had made.

"Where did you go, little monkey~?" Moria called into the opaque whiteness, trying to cover his nervousness. "Come out, come out, wherever you are~!"

"Jet Rifle."

"Grh!" Moria's remaining sword fell from his hand, the appendage and its pair inching toward his neck where the twisted punch threatened to cave his throat. The fist opened, grabbing the vulnerable Warlord before Luffy yelled, flipping him. Moria groaned from where he'd been buried in the ice, the stolen shadows leaking from his mouth before dissipating into the air.

"You're weak, Moria," Luffy told him. "Without your army, you're nothing." He turned to the crowd, cracking his knuckles. "Who's next? I'm royally pissed off now."

End of Chapter 135

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-SwordOfTheGods