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Chapter 11.

Death Will Come to Escort You

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The knife never reached its target.

Lyon's face twisted and his body bent with the force of the blow. Blade fell out of his hand and it whirled in the air, coming to stop in a random corpse.

Vladir moved to deflect a second kick. He proved not fast enough. His sternum was hit with a crack and he smashed on a tree.

Luffy gasped. He took quick, panicked breaths and ran trembling hands over his body. He couldn't believe that he was in one piece. He heaved himself up, free of the man's weight and head-band's bonds. He looked up.

"Ah! Sanji!" he exclaimed, mad with relief.

His voice came out raspy and weak. The cook smiled despite that, towering over the boy's beaten form.

"Nice to see you, shitty rubber," he said. He reached one hand and ruffled his captain's hair.

He cringed when he felt dried blood.

"I knew you would get in trouble. Can't lay low for a while, can you?" he asked.

"Shishishi! Sorry!" Luffy apologized.

"What?! You came with back-up?" Lyon growled.

He angrily got up from the pile in which he landed. He kicked away bodies that slid from the top and took out the second, smaller knife. He plunged it in the nearest corpse, relieving his rage. He was covered in blood. His head-band was crooked, with strips of material torn and ragged. Bracelets were back on his wrists, coiling like worms.

"I have enough of this," he hissed. "Vladir! Stop resting, you lazy prick!"

The bald-man twitched. He stood up, keeping his head low and swaying wide shoulders from left to right. His slumped posture had something dangerous about it.

"Don't rush me, trash," he whispered. "I need to rip somebody's guts."

He straightened his back, producing a sickening, vicious crack. Sanji cringed, watching as ribs pierced the man's chest and his robe, sticking out like some gruesome barbs. Vladir didn't wince.

"We'll make you pay," Lyon promised.

He jumped to the cook, slashing with knife at his neck. Sanji had no trouble to avoid it, but his eyes widened when they followed the blade's direction; it was curving in air, descending at Luffy.

The blonde bent at impossible angle. He placed hands on the ground and kicked up. He almost hit the mark of Lyon's wrist, but the man skillfully took it out of reach. Two of his bracelets slipped. They slid down Sanji's body and curled around his hands, and then yanked them together.

The blonde lost support and fell. He lost his breath when his back hit the ground, but he still noticed another attacker approaching.

Vladir pulled his arm back. Before his fist could connect with the fallen man, Luffy outstretched his leg and swept him from his feet. Lyon had more luck. He leaped over the rubber appendage and kicked the cook's face, sending him back down. As the latter was about to stand up, the hunter landed on him with a knife.

The blade was stopped with a glinting sword. Zoro leered at the man and aimed two katana at his hip. Lyon retreated and snarled when another sword was sent his way.

"Zoro! Brook!" Luffy cheered at their sight.

"Luffy-san!" the musician cried out. He rushed to his captain and leaned down, minimizing the difference in height. "Oh my, Luffy-san! These wounds are serious! Shall I bring you to Chopper?" he asked in worry.

"What? A talking skeleton?" Lyon smiled. "Little birdy brought unusual friends."

"Shut up, you shitty clown!" Sanji sneered. He turned to his captain, who flashed him a crooked smile. "Hung on, Luffy," he said. "Don't move for a sec."

He crouched on the ground. He was confident that Brook and Shitty Marimo had his back, so he through nothing of ignoring the enemy. He helped the rubber boy stay in an upright position. It took quite a lot of effort, but he finally managed to do a check on his wounds.

He didn't like what he saw.

"How is he, cook?" Zoro growled. His eyes never left the smiling hunter and his silent companion, but he was eager for answers.

"Don't rush me, Mossbrain!" Sanji snapped. "Luffy? We need to get you back on Sunny. Do you hear me?"

The captain blinked at him slowly. He was definitely conscious, but he seemed to be loosing grasp on reality. There was a drunk-like look in his eyes. It was becoming more and more prominent, which worried the bigger man.

Sanji's eyebrows twitched. He turned to the skeleton, who was staring at the boy with concern.

"Can you carry him, Brook?"

The musician nodded. As he moved to lift his captain from the ground, the violet-haired man made a disapproving sound.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no," he chanted in fake sadness. He stepped back and spread both of his arms, so that he touched nearby trees. "You won't take him anywhere. Well," he tilted his head to one side, "or maybe you will. How about... to your funeral?"

The trees creaked. They sprang into motion and unfolded their massive branches, producing ear-splitting cracks.

Brook cringed. He tightened his hold on the captain, pressing one of Luffy's ears against his sternum. He covered the other one with his hand.

"Devil Fruit!" he guessed. He watched with growing anticipation as the deadly mass of wood coiled above them, waiting for what was about to come.

It wasn't long before the branches plummeted down.

The pirates scattered. The ground trembled, whipped by endless blows.

Lyon laughed. He removed all of his bracelets and morphed them into spiked chains. He cheered them on as they wrestled out of his hands, tearing skin, and rushed after targets.

They were aiming for blood.

"Shit!" Sanji cursed.

He was busy avoiding hits and was was taken aback when a chain suddenly wrapped around his arm. He grabbed it, feeling it dig in his flesh, and immediately tore it away. It was then when he realized that his observation haki wasn't working.

"Something isn't right," Zoro growled.

He noticed the same thing and grew alert. He chopped another round of attacking branches, keeping a close eye on his surroundings.

He wasn't disappointed. He caught a glint of a weapon to his right and bounced off a tree, twisting around. He blocked a sneaky knife with his swords.

The violet-haired man grinned at him madly.

"Feeling disoriented?" he asked. The swordsman pushed him away and the hunter fell to the ground, laughing.

Zoro recognized his mistake. In the path of Lyon was Brook and Luffy, the skeleton holding his captain with one arm and faring blows with another. His back was facing the approaching enemy. He couldn't see him coming.

"Brook!" Zoro shouted.

The musician turned around. But it was too late. Luffy's eyes widened as he saw the blade inches from Brook's face, and he blocked it with his hand.

He felt blinding pain as the knife went through his flesh. Lyon grinned, surprised but satisfied, and the skeleton blanched at the sight. He sliced his katana at the hunter. The latter deflected it with a whip of branches. Brook was thrown away and his hold on Luffy loosened. The boy fell to the ground, rolled a few times and came to a stop.

He lied there, unmoving. He barely registered that Lyon knelt on top of him and equipped the last of his knives. It was a repeat from before.

"Thought you escape, birdy?" the man cooed.

Before he could lower the blade, Lyon's arm exploded with blood. He climbed to his feet and staggered, looking with confused, disbelieving gaze at his injured appendage. Even though he didn't use it, his knife was dyed in fresh red.

"Wh-... What?" the hunter breathed out. He raised his gaze from the wound and set it on the tall, black-haired man, who appeared before him. "You...? Who-...?"

The newcomer didn't let him finish. He gripped him by his neck, and squeezed.

The Straw Hats gaped as Lyon's struggled and spluttered. His shoulder repeatedly pumped blood, squirts getting bigger and darker. It lasted for what felt like ages and then stopped.

Trees ceased all movement. Chains morphed back to normal and dropped on the ground, turning into ordinary jewellery. The spurts of blood became slow and narrow. The dark stranger released his hold. He flung the hunter like he would throw trash and watched him fall.

Lyon tumbled down with wide, bloodshot eyes. His face was whiter than a marble. His expression was frozen in shock and his mouth was twisted, teeth bared.

He was dead.

The stranger turned away. His icy expression softened when his gaze landed on Luffy. He walked towards him, making the Straw Hats' blood run cold.

"My lord. I arrived to escort you," he declared, crouching before the pirate.

Zoro's protective instinct yelled bloody murder. He jumped at the newcomer with a swing of his three katana, but the man blocked it with a single sword. They stilled for a fraction of second, frozen in the clash.

And then the impossible happened.

The swordsman opened his mouth in shock. His hands slackened and Shusui and Kitetsu slipped from his hold. Wado dropped from beneath his teeth and clattered on the ground.

Zoro slumped. Someone screamed.

...

A/N: No, no, don't you look at me like that. Zoro isn't dead.

...Yet.

No, honestly, I'm not going to kill any of the Straw Hats. But can someone guess what the black-haired guy did and who he is in the first place? Perhaps it's still too early to answer the first part of the question, but you can try. The clues are there. I can confirm that he didn't touch Lyon in place other than his throat, and he only blocked Zoro's swords. Nothing more.

So: what did he do?

Also, why did he address Luffy the way he did?

All threads of the plot are finally there!