Two Piece: A One Piece Story

Chapter 68 (Lightning Scroll Arc: Part 9)

Shiki smirked, the timing perfect. He used one of his flamed fists to deflect the arrow. Kidomaru was shocked but then realized something.

"You're an interesting one…" he said.

"Yeah, so?" asked Shiki, glaring at him.

Kidomaru smirked, thinking, "Orochi will like him... I better not kill him. But I should make him think I will."

"I should test my aim first," said Shiki.

Kidomaru prepared another arrow and shot it at Shiki, who countered with a glowing chi-infused swipe, creating a bubble-like gust of wind that hit Kidomaru. He braced himself and found something interesting about it.

"That did nothing…" he said.

He looked up to find that Shiki was missing.

"Damn it… that was a distraction," he muttered.

Shiki was hiding behind one of the tree roots, having already gotten rid of the spider that was on him. He wasn't worried for quite a while.

Shiki had been working on a new move since getting to the Grand Line. However, due to the physical limitations of living on a wooden vessel, he hadn't been able to practice the attack other than getting the air pressure just right for the attack.

"This better work…" said Shiki.

"There you are," said Kidomaru, standing behind Shiki.

"Damn it!" yelled Shiki, who got up and dodged.

Elsewhere in the cave, Luffy was asking Misaki about Kidomaru.

"So what can the spider guy do?" asked Luffy.

"Well, he can do anything a spider can," said Misaki.

"That's pretty cool…" said Luffy.

"But he also has limited control over spiders and produces a gold-like substance which he can make armor and weapons from. He enjoys torturing the person he fights before he moves in for the kill. Because of that, he's a sadist," said Misaki.

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black…" muttered Zoro, rolling his eyes.

"What was that?" asked Misaki, turning around to look at him.

Zoro sweat dropped… he really didn't want her to beat him up. "Nothing…" he said.

"That's good," she said with an evil-looking smile.

Zoro sighed; she was that scary.

"Then again… if I beat you up… I'd probably enjoy it more than usual," she said with a seductive smile.

Luffy said something and laughed childishly.

"What was that?" yelled Zoro.

"Nothing… nothing at all!" said Luffy, laughing.

Back in the main chamber, Kidomaru was throwing his knives at Shiki, who was trying his best to dodge them. Quite a few of them hit, leaving small cuts all over him.

"Give up already… you can't win," said Kidomaru, who threw another of his knives at Shiki.

The knife hit him in the shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground. That’s when the others arrived.

"Well, at least he's still alive," said Misaki.

"Don't talk like that," said Zoro with a sweat drop.

"Why that bastard," muttered Luffy.

Kidomaru was going to stab Shiki point blank. Shiki was about to do his move when there was a shout of "Gum Gum Pistol!" Kidomaru was socked in the face and sent flying.

"What the hell…" he muttered.

"Don't you dare do that to my brother!" yelled Luffy, pointing at Kidomaru.

"Luffy," said Shiki, his eyes wide. He saw everyone was there.

"How did you get here?" asked Kidomaru as he got up.

"We all beat them!" said Misaki. "Of course, I had the fat ass… and Zoro here beat the bone guy."

"That's impossible! No one can beat Kimimaro!" yelled Kidomaru.

"It's four against one now…" said Luffy. "It's going to be fun!"

"Stay out of this! I called first dibs!" said Shiki.

"What?" asked Zoro.

"I said stay out of this!" yelled Shiki. "Right now, he's my opponent. This is my fight, so stay out of it!"

There was a silence. "Fine…" said Luffy, adjusting his hat. "We'll stay out of it…"

"But if you get in too much trouble, I'm going to be the one that has to save your ass," muttered Zoro.

"I doubt you will have to," said Shiki.

"Are you sure that's a wise choice?" asked Kidomaru with an evil smirk.

Shiki got up and took his fighting stance, while Kidomaru prepared his bow and created another arrow.

"Okay… that's what I'm going to do," thought Shiki with a smirk.

"You piece of trash… you're not going to get it this time!" said Kidomaru.

Kidomaru shot his arrow, which Shiki managed to dodge.

"Damn it!" yelled Kidomaru, tossing away his bow. He quickly created his knives and threw them at Shiki, but Shiki dodged them all.

Then Shiki found himself backed into a corner.

"Now's the time to finish you off," said Kidomaru with an evil smirk.

"Not quite," said Shiki.

"What?!" asked Kidomaru.

Shiki moved his chi-enhanced hand, creating that air bubble again. He blasted a ball of flame from his mouth, shooting it into the air bubble. The air bubble fed the huge flame ball, merging into a massive fireball that looked like a dragon. It hit Kidomaru, who was in such shock that he didn't have time to create his armor. He landed on the ground, burnt like a piece of toast.

Shiki smirked in relief as he sheathed his hand. "It worked!" he thought.

"That was awesome!" yelled Luffy.

"You're going to have to teach me that," said Zoro with a smirk.

"Wow… that was pretty awesome," said Misaki with a smirk.

"I almost forgot you guys were here," said Shiki with a sweat drop.

Misaki smirked and walked over to the pillar with the scroll on it. She opened the scroll and began to read it, nodding. "It's real all right," she said as she put it in her pocket. "All right, mission complete! Thanks for your help… I couldn't have done it without you!"

"So what are we going to do with him?" asked Shiki, pointing to Kidomaru on the ground.

"Leave him… we have to get to town, and fast," said Misaki.

The others nodded and left the cave. A few minutes later, the other members of the Elite 4 woke up Kidomaru.

"Wake up!" yelled Kimimaro, using some sort of bone cane to prop himself up.

"Damn it…" muttered Kidomaru, looking at the pillar. "They took it…"

"So, looks like we failed this mission," said Sakon.

"We may have failed this one… however," said Kimimaro, "that swordsman who defeated me… he might prove useful to Lord Orochi, even though right now he refuses to join us."

"I was thinking about the guy who just beat me," said Kidomaru with an evil smirk.

The four of them left the cave broken and beaten. Although they left the cave in defeat, they had some interesting news for their leader—news they knew he would enjoy.