Undying Flame: A One Piece What If Story

Part 9: Sunny on the Dawn

As we all stood around the large, docked ship, we all looked up to the deck. There stood a tall figure with the largest and most rounded shoulders ever. "Franky! We need to treat Sanji!" Chopper yelled, rounding to the back of the ship and boarding it, everyone us following. "I'll treat Sanji, everyone else can get comfortable." Chopper said, walking to the room marked 'Chopper's Hospital' in neat handwriting, Sanji still slung over his shoulder.

"Everyone! It's SUPERRRR good to see you." Franky said, striking a pose, his forearms pushed together forming a star. Usopp started rambling to Franky, and the former showed off a bunch of his cybernetic upgrades.

I walked up to Franky after Usopp walked off, Franky retracting his smaller hands that came out of his large hands. "Franky, you're the shipwright, right?"

"Right." He said, smiling. "Anything you need done that requires any of those skills, I'm your guy."

"Could you rebuild a certain craft for me?" I said, pulling the paper out of my shorts pocket. He redeployed his smaller hands and opened it, studying it. "It's a one man craft that..."

"Uses the hot air and fire from your fruit to propel itself." He finished, still looking at the paper. "Smart way of using your abilities, Fire Fist." With that, he looked back at me and folded the paper back up. "Easy, I'll start here soon. I got some extra, heavy duty wood I can make it out of."

"I appreciate it, Franky." I said, smiling. Then, Nami walked up to me with a small box.

"I figured you'd need a new one since the Marines took yours." she said, handing me it. I undid the fastener and opened it, a brand new Log Pose sitting in it.

"Thanks, Nami." I said, taking it out. "But there's an issue."

"What?" she said, looking at the Pose. "Is it defective?"

"No, but when we enter the New World, we'll need a New World Log Pose." I said, tossing the Pose up and catching it. "It has three built into one bracelet. When we swing into Fishman Island, We can get one. My Old Man protected that place for a while. With me there, they should be nicer." That's when I realized what I just said. It's my fault Whitebeard can't protect their home anymore. If anything has happened to the island, it'll be my fault. There's no way in hell they'll be grateful to us. In fact, they may just attack us when they see me.

"I didn't know that." Nami said, puzzled. Then, there was a rattling noise as everyone looked around.

"Brook!" Usopp yelled, looking at the mainland. Glancing to where he was looking, a skeleton was running across the ground, his feet moving faster than my eyes could track. When he was close enough, he leapt from the ground and landed on the deck.

"Yohoho, nice to be together again." Brook said, turning his head to me. "And nice to meet you, Fire Fist Ace."

"Likewise, Brook." I said, smiling. "That's everyone but Luffy, right?" I said looking around.

"So I wasn't the last one! Good to know, yohoho." he said.

"And where is Luffy, anyway?" Zoro asked, leaning against the lip of the side of the ship, sitting down. "I didn't know he would be so late."

"We got here at the same time." I said, setting my hat on my back, the cords keeping it on my neck. "He must be somewhere."

"I may know." Robin said, walking to the edge of the ship, looking over the island. "I sprouted ears all over the island and I just picked up some Marines talking about a Pirate rampaging in Grove 28, on the other side of the island."

"There's no way he can get all the way over here." I said, getting ready to jump off the ship. "I'll go find him." As I went to jump off, several bullets flew through me, melting into balls of molten metal. Looking at the ground, numerous Marines were standing there, large, duplicated figures standing behind them.

"Pacifistas!?" Brook yelled, looking down. "How did they find us!?"

"Doesn't matter." Zoro said, joining me on the edge of the Sunny, grabbing at one of his swords. "We can't just wait here, nor can we go out and get Luffy."

"What if we sail around the island and get Luffy?" Nami asked, trying to dissuade us.

"The Marines will get to us before we can." I said, remembering the layout of the Groves. "The Navy Headquarters are way closer to us than we are to Luffy. The fact there are this many Marines right here shows they'll send out battleships if they haven't already."

"And besides." Zoro said, putting a sword in his mouth. "We got this. Right, Fire Fist?"

"Dead right." I said, grinning.

"You two are insane." Nami said, shaking her head. "Just buy us time for Luffy to get to us."

"Gotcha." I said as me and Zoro leapt off the ship, both of my hands engulfed and Zoro already wielding all three swords.

"Take them down!" One Marine yelled, pointing his rifle at me and firing. Countless bullets whizzed through me as I threw both of my hands forward.

"Saint Elmos Fire: Inferno!" I said, throwing two arrows of fire out, each one hitting the ground and exploding into flame. Then, I rushed towards the rest of the Marines as Zoro attacked.

"Dragon Soaring Crash!" He yelled, leaping up and spinning in midair, slamming into the ground, the ground shattering into pieces around him, destabilizing a bunch of Marines. "Spiral Slash!" He spun around in a blur, all the Marines falling to the ground as Zoro stood back into his normal form. Before either of us could attack, a blast from the Pacifista detonated under me, dispersing my entire body. I reformed in the same spot, a scorch mark under me.

"Guess I can't just disregard you, huh?" I asked the robot, blasting out Conquers Haki. Each Marine fainted and fell to the ground, leaving only the Pacifistas.

"You just had to take the fun, huh?" Zoro asked, grinning. "Guess this is a serious thing." Clicking together two of his katanas, he announced his next attack. "Water Surface: Dead Calm." With that, he danced through the crowd of Pacifistas, leaping up and spinning around a total of 4 of them. Almost at once, they were sliced into 3 chunks each, taking them out of the fight.

"Quite the performance to follow up." I said, sighing. "I'll do my best." With that, I stood still, both arms being covered in Armament Haki. Then they engulfed in flames as I called out my attack. "Flaming Torch!" I pulled both arms back, then threw them forward, a torrent of flames swallowing 4 Pacifistas, melting them, their entire body engulfed as my flames left them. Molten metal dripped off of them as they slowly fell apart. I smiled as Zoro jumped back to where I was, resheathing his sword.

"Flashy." he said, grinning. "But we should get back on board." I nodded and grabbed his arm, then blasted fire out of my legs, propelling us on board the Sunny, a while behind us. I then glanced back to where we had been fighting, about 12 more Pacifistas were approaching, a large swarm of Marines behind them. Looking around us, several warships were approaching us.

"5 ships coming from the southwest." Nami yelled, Franky at the helm. "Any sight of Luffy at all!?"

"Not on land!" Usopp yelled, a little bit away from me and Zoro.

"We have to go, now!" Nami yelled, sweating slightly. "Luffy can get to Fishman Island with Rayleigh or Shakky!"

"I'm not involving Rayleigh in this." I said, my arms bursting into flame. "I'll blow those ships apart!"

Before I could rush off the other side of the ship, Zoro blocked me with the blunt edge of his sword, staring at the ground. "Don't. Luffy can follow us."

"He's your guy's captain!" I said, yelling at everyone. "You can't just leave him!"

"Coup De Bust is ready." Franky said, ignoring me.

"Wait!" I yelled, feeling my body heat up, an odd feeling.

"Fire." Nami and Zoro said in tandem.

"Wait!" Usopp yelled, pointing at the Marines on land. We all looked at them, a bunch of Marines passing out, and two Pacifistas heads being crushed by a single, large hand each.

"Gum Gum..." a familiar voice yelled, a figure connected to both arms. "Slingshot!!" With that, Luffy shot towards us, his rubber arms shooting him past the other Pacifistas, his arms reaching normal size as he flew through the air.

"Spider Net." Robin called, countless hands shooting out and grasping each other, catching Luffy in it, Luffy rolling on to the deck.

"Go, Go!" Nami yelled. "Put us towards the sea, back to land."

"Aye!" Franky yelled, spinning the wheel. The Sunny rotated quickly, the back of the ship facing the island. "Now, Coup De Burst!!" With that, an explosion of air shot out of the ship, sending us flying. We flew so fast everyone fell over, save for Franky, anchored by the helm. Glancing over the edge of the ship, we were flying off the water, soaring over the Marine ships.

As we landed with a splash, Luffy laughed. "It's nice to be back!" he yelled, laying on the deck as everyone else was standing up. "I missed you guys!" Everyone simply smiled, Luffy giving the first order of this New Era. "Let's go to Fishman Island, Strawhat Pirates!!"

"Opening the valve to fill the bag!!" Usopp yelled from...somewhere. A few moments later, the jelly-like substance started inflating and raising up.

"Take the Buoyancy Pouch off!" Nami shouted, Robin crossing her arms. Then, a slight rumble shook the ship, Robin unfolding her hands.

"Done." she said simply. She then crossed her hands, her palms outward. "Unfolding the sails as well, Nami."

"Good, we need to use the underwater currents instead of wind." Nami said as Luffy stood up finally. "We'll be sinking here soon. Franky, keep your eyes open."

"Fishman Island, here we come!!" Luffy yelled, grinning.