Ch. 27- Beyond Rescue

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard © Me

Up in the sky, above the archipelago, a single bubble had popped. Down below, the Straw Hats stared, transfixed, horrified at the spot where Zoro once was. One moment, he was there, but when Kuma touched him...he just...disappeared! Vanished!

"W-where's Zoro?" Usopp questioned. "Where is he?" He turned to Kuma with a look of blind panic and anger. "You...you BASTARD! WHERE'S ZORO? HE WAS JUST HERE!"

GROOOAAAAAAR! Chopper let out yet another fierce roar. It was almost as if his conscience had told him that one of his own, and that seemed to make him more angry than before as he slammed another fist on the ground, nearly hitting Nami, Luffy, Blizzard, and Sentomaru.

"Chopper, stop!" Nami cried. "Don't overexert yourself!"

AROOOOOO~! Blizzard let out a howl.

Snap out of it, little buddy! the wolf-dog thought.

"Chopper!" Luffy cried. "Zoro! Where'd you go?"

"Bartholomew Kuma?" Kizaru said, currently in a stalemate with Rayleigh. "But the Seven Warlords have been summoned to Marine Headquarters. Well, I guess this just goes to show you that you can never trust pirates."

"Damn," Rayleigh cursed. "I need to go and help those youngsters, but I'm kind of stuck at the moment!"

"What had happened to Bro Zoro?" Franky questioned. "He just disappeared! Poof!"

"I don't understand!" Robin said.

"I've seen it happen before!" Nami said. "Back at Thriller Bark...he made this girl, and I never saw here again! I wonder what happened to her!"

Flashback

It was back at Thriller Bark, when Nami first saw Kuma make Perona disappear.

"Where's Lady Perona?"

"She vanished!"

Flashback end

SLAM! Chopper slammed the ground with his fist, again, trying to hit Sentomaru, who jumped away once again.

"Kuma?" Sentomaru exclaimed. "Why the hell is he here?"

"Hey!" Luffy said to Sentomaru. "What happened to Zoro? Where'd he go? What did that guy do to him?"

"I'm the most defensive man in the world," Sentomaru repeated. "They say that anyone that Kuma touches with his paws will be sent flying away from three days and nights. No one really knows if that's true. Only Kuma, himself, knows where he sends them, but one thing's for certain: it's not somewhere you can easily get to from here. They could get hurled to the far reaches of the seas!"

Luffy gasped silently.

If Kuma touches his crew with his...then that means that he'd lose them...and he didn't want to lose them!

Sanji propped himself up on his elbows, panting.

"So...is this guy finally he real Kuma?" he asked. "I mean...we've fought with three of these guys, already!"

"WHERE'S ZORO?" Usopp barked, still enraged. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU SEND HIM? ANSWER ME! YOU BASTARD!"

Behind Usopp, PX-1 was preparing to fire another beam, this time from his mouth. Only Sanji noticed.

"Usopp!" Sanji cried. "Look out behind you!"

Before PX-1 could attack, POOF! Kuma touched him with his paws, causing him to disappear.

"Don't interfere," he said, simply.

"He just made one of his own disappear!" Sanji exclaimed.

"What?" Sentomaru hissed. "He touched PX-1? What the hell is he doing? KUMA! WHY ARE YOU MAKING ONE OF YOUR OWN DISAPPEAR?"

"RUN FOR IT, YOU GUYS!" Luffy shouted. "WE HAVE TO GET OUTTA HERE, NOW! WE'LL THINK OF SOMETHING ONCE WE'RE SAFE FROM THESE GUYS!"

"But Luffy, what about Zoro?" Robin asked.

"He said we'll worry about it later, Nico Robin!" Franky answered. "Now let's scram!"

With that, the Straw Hats prepared to run, once again.

"C'mon, Sanji!" Usopp said as he tried to pick the cook up. "That last beam only grazed me! Just grab onto my shoulders! Hurry up!"

Brook staggered to his feet and saw Kuma approaching, hand raised. He gasped before he threw himself in between the Warlord and his two escaping comrades.

"Look out, you two!" Brook said.

"Brook, what are you doing?" asked Usopp.

"I shall protect you two with my life!" Brook said. "Even though I am already d-"

POOF! Before Brook could finish his little joke, Kuma touched him, causing him to also disappear.

In the sky, another bubble popped.

Luffy gasped, a very sickening feeling beginning to form in the pit of his stomach.

"BROOK!" Luffy and Usopp cried in unison.

Sanji growled in frustration as he began to grab his hair, his nails digging into his scalp.

"Crap, crap, CRAP!" he cursed. "What the hell am I doing, just standing here? Two members of our crew got erased RIGHT in front of my eyes! USOPP! RUN!"

"Don't talk like a maniac!" Usopp said, trying to pull Sanji away. "I'm the only one who should run! You gotta come with me!"

"RUN, SANJI!" Luffy shouted. "PLEASE, LISTEN TO ME!"

"YOU DAMN PAW-BASTARD!" Sanji shouted as he charged at Kuma. He tried to kick him, but Kuma blocked his heel with his paw, causing him to repelled and hit a nearby tree root. KRASH!

Sanji tried to get back up, but as he lifted his head, he saw, to his horror, that Kuma was now trying to attack Usopp!

"No!" Usopp cried. "Stay back! Stay away from me! Special Attack: EXPLODING STAR! EXPLODING STAR!"

BANG! BANG! Usopp shot two Exploding Stars at Kuma, but they didn't effect on the Warlord at all. Before the sniper could react, Kuma pressed his paw against his chest.

POOF! Usopp was gone.

Yet another bubble burst in the sky.

Sanji gasped. Now three crewmates had disappeared!

"USOPP!" Sanji cried before he got up and charged at Kuma again. "DAMN YOU!"

POOF! Kuma swiped his paw at Sanji, and soon, he was the next to disappear.

Four down, five to go.

Another bubble popped.

"Oh, no!" Nami gasped. "Zoro, Brook, Usopp, and Sanji are all gone! He made them all vanish!"

"What are we going to do?" Robin said.

Luffy was frozen. Four of his crew members had just been erased...and he couldn't find any way to stop it, at all!

"W...what the...?" he murmured, trying to get the words that trapped in his throat out. "How...?"

Blizzard was also frozen, not just because of the horror that was going on before his eyes, but also because he didn't know what to do, either.

Rayleigh, meanwhile, was still busy trying to keep Kizaru from going after the Straw Hats, panting.

"Something really extraordinary is going on, over there!" said Rayleigh. "I'd really like to go help them, but the years have slowed me down, I'm afraid!"

"Keeping a Marine Admiral at bay isn't enough for you, eh?" Kizaru questioned. "Don't go saying things like that. It makes me look bad!"

Suddenly, Kuma appeared beside the two.

"You must be 'Dark King' Rayleigh," said Kuma.

"Kuma!" Kizaru said.

"Humph," Rayleigh grunted. "Do you really expect me to believe you're the REAL Kuma?"

"That is up to you," Kuma replied. "I'm endangering my position by doing this, though."

"What is the meaning of this, Kuma?" asked Kizaru.

"In matters that do not involve the government," Kuma answered him, "I'm not required to cooperate with the Marines, so I will not answere your question."

"YOU BASTARD!"

Kuma looked back and saw Luffy, his body now pink and steaming.

"Gear...SECOND!"

Kuma didn't seem to pay Luffy any mind. He suddenly disappeared and then reappeared before Robin and Franky.

"Now he's over here!" Robin exclaimed.

"Get outta our way!" Franky shouted. "STRONG RIGHT!"

WHAM! Franky's iron fist collided with Kuma's face.

"No, Franky!" Robin shouted.

"FRANKY!" Luffy yelled as he dashed toward Kuma.

"Luffy, no!" Nami shouted. "Come back!"

You idiot! Blizzard thought. What in the hell are you doing? Have you gone crazy?

"Luffy, stay back!" Robin cried. "Don't you see? That's just what he wants!"

Luffy didn't listen. As he was watching his crew disappearing, one-by-one, he started to lose whatever sanity he had, and was no longer able to listen to reason.

Right now, all he wanted to do was beat the living crap out of Kuma by any means necessary.

"Gum Gum...JET PISTOL!"

WHOOM! SQUSIH! Luffy shot his fist at Kuma, who simply raised his hand, causing him to his paw pad, instead, and caused him to crashing into an abandon building. CRASH!

"Dammit!" Luffy cursed as he tried to get up.

By this time, Kuma had already erased Franky.

Once again, a bubble had popped above the archipelago.

"FRANKY~!" Luffy shouted. This was too much for him to handle. Who else had to disappear?

It appeared would get his answer when he saw Robin attempting to escape.

"ROBIN!" Luffy cried as he tried to run to her rescue.

"LUFFY-" Robin started before POOF!

She was gone, too.

SKISH! Luffy fell to the spot where Robin was last seen.

At this moment, his mind was starting to go. He couldn't take this, anymore. This was putting a strain on his mental and emotional state. If this kept up...he could snap.

Kuma suddenly reappeared in front of Nami and Blizzard. It was then that he noticed Chopper, still rampaging.

GRAAAAAAAAAHH! The monstrous reindeer roared as he continued to pound the ground. Once he noticed Kuma, a small part of him seemed to remember that he was the enemy, because Blizzard and Nami could've sworn that they saw him narrow his eyes at him. With another roar, Chopper prepared to attack Kuma.

"CHOPPER~!" Luffy yelled out, hoping that his voice would reach his now terrifying doctor.

NO, LITTLE BUDDY! Blizzard cried in thought. DON'T DO IT!

"CHOPPER, STOP!" Nami added.

It was too late.

POOF! Chopper had vanished.

Another bubble popped, again.

Luffy fell dead silent. Now there were only two members of his crew left: Nami, his navigator and precious love, and Blizzard, his most loyal and faithful guard dog.

"Stop..." he murmured as Kuma began to close on the last remaning members of his crew. "Stop...stop...stop...! Stop!"

Nami and Blizzard backed away from the Warlord, and then turned to run, but Kuma soon gave chase.

"PLEASE, STOP~!" Luffy shouted as he ran towards the three.

Nami and Blizzard ran as fast as their legs could carry them, the latter being fortunate enough to be able to outrun Kuma. Unfortunately, the former...wasn't.

"NAMI~!" Luffy cried as he reached out his hand to his navigator in a last-ditch effort to save her.

Nami did the same, reaching her hand out to her captain, tears dribbling from her eyes.

"Luffy!" she cried. "HELP M-"

POOF! That was all she could manage to say...before she too, had disappeared.

One more bubble popped in the sky.

Time seemed to come to a complete stand-still. Luffy's expression was a mixed one of horror, anger, shock...and grief.

Blizzard braked to a halt once he saw Nami's disappearance...and that Luffy was now down on his knees, looking at his hands.

"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Luffy roared into the heavens before he fell completely, pounding and kicking the ground, grunting and huffing. That did it. Seeing Nami disappear before his very eyes was enough to send Luffy falling apart.

Now he remembered what the sickening feeling was: loss and heartbreak.

He never felt this broken up since the day he lost his mother.

"What the hell...?" Luffy questioned. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

Now it was Blizzard's turn to feel heartbroken, not just because the friends he made were now gone...but because he could sense that Luffy was clearly in great distress.

What the hell am I doing, standing here? Blizzard questioned himself in thought before he galloped over to Luffy. He gently nudged him in the side, hoping to catch his attention.

He did. Luffy turned to Blizzard, eyes wide and tearful.

"B...Blizzard!"

Not one more word was spoken, for Luffy grabbed Blizzard and pulled the wolf-dog into a vice-like embrace. Blizzard was like his lifeline, now. If he let go of his dog, now, he felt like he was going to lost it all.

As Luffy kept hugging Blizzard, he felt his tears come spilling out of his closed eyes.

"They're gone, Blizzard," he whispered. "They're all gone!"

Blizzard shivered in Luffy's embrace, pressing his neck against his shoulders, letting his own tears of grief and loss fall.

It felt like only yesterday that Luffy had formed his crew. He remembered the party they were having last night, all drinking, dancing, and laughing together on the deck of the Sunny, under ther starry sky.

Zoro...

Usopp...

Sanji...

Nami...

Chopper...

Robin...

Franky...

...and Brook.

All of them were gone...and Blizzard was the only one he had left.

"I couldn't save them, Blizzard...!" Luffy muttered. "I couldn't save anyone!"

Blizzard gritted his teeth as he continued to Luffy's heartbroken sobs. As he looked up, he saw Kuma.

Kuma...

That bastard was the cause of all of this.

Grr~! A vicious growl rumbled in the wolf-dog's throat. He knew he couldn't really attack, but as of now, he didn't care. He was just pissed...and sad.

Kuma just stared down at the two.

"So, you're just going to send them flying, huh?" Sentomaru questioned. "You better explain what's going on here, Kuma."

"This certainly is a problem," said Kizaru.

Rayleigh just heaved a sigh.

Luffy looked up to Kuma, still holding onto Blizzard, eyes still flooded with tears and nose runny.

"We'll never see each other," said Kuma. "Farewell."

With that, Kuma swiped his paw at Luffy and Blizzard...and soon, they, too, were gone.

Grove 12 of the Sabaody Archipelago in the Grand Line. It is here, on that day, that the Straw Hat Pirates, led by Monkey D. Luffy...had been eradicated.

Well, that's it. The Sabaody Arc's over.

I'll be starting on the Amazon Lily Arc tomorrow.

Until then, review, please!