One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty Three

-Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Three-

Luffy intercepted the man's attack, flying through the air after activating Second Gear and knocking him back into a nearby rock.

"Stay away from him!" the rubber man sneered.

"That was close..." Lily breathed out, relief flooding her the second she saw Luffy.

"Kick his butt, Luffy!" Usopp cheered.

"If you want him, you'll have to go through me!" Luffy huffed.

"So we meet again, rubber man" the man grinned as he pushed himself to stand. "Another pirate to kill, huh? That's fine, I was going to wipe out your crew sooner or later—if you're in such a hurry to get killed, I'll grant you your wish!" there was a spark of eagerness in his gaze as he raised his arms and prepared himself to fight. Both participants in this fight were quick and seemingly equal in strength to an extent as every attack Luffy sent toward the older man was easily blocked...yet every attack the man tried to send out himself was easily interrupted by the captain as well. It seems even when an attack would land, the other would just get right back up and into the fight.

"Yeah! Go Luffy!" Nami and Chopper soon began to cheer the second one of Luffy's fists seemingly connected with the man's face...or at least that's what it seemed like at first, but at a closer glance, his fist had only connected with the man's fist which caused the cheering to be cut short.

"Your Haki's not too shabby kid, but it's still not as good as mine" the man cockily grinned.

"What'd he say...?" Usopp weakly asked.

"So he uses Haki too" Sanji frowned.

"This fight's getting tricky" Robin noted.

"We should have known it wasn't going to be that simple of a fight..." I sighed as the man began to swing his arms. Luffy was quick to dodge the man's attacks, but even when one of his fists did manage to hit him, he was always quick to regain his composure.

"Those long arms are a pain..." Luffy grumbled in annoyance.

"Don't tell me that's the best you've got, pirate?" the man frowned, unamused at the idea that his opponent had nothing more to offer than weak punches and simple dodges.

"Maybe you'll like Third Gear" just as Luffy put his finger up to his mouth, the sound of a cannon going off was heard which was then followed by a cannonball striking the rubber man's back and sending him flying into a nearby rock.

"Luffy!" Nami and Chopper worriedly cried.

"Hey! That was cheap!" I snapped as the rock Luffy had struck crumbled to bits, causing the rubber man to stumble back onto unsteady feet.

"I'm impressed, I thought you'd be dead by now" the man confessed. "Bet you've never seen a bombshell wrapped in Haki, have you?" he grinned before jerking his head back toward his ship where an alpaca ow stood with smoke seeping out of its agape mouth. "Say hello to my dear partner, Beast Cannon Alpacacino—he's a bazooka that ate a Devil Fruit" he said as the alpaca laughed. I hastily found myself practically having to forcefully turn my head away as I covered the lower portion of my face with my hand...

How adorable.

His fur looked so soft and the chubbiness of his cheeks made me so badly want to squeeze them.

"Finger Pistol...or rather five!" the man grinned as he menacingly held up one hand before calmly approaching the captain.

"He stabbed him!" Nami and Chopper gasped as my hand instantly flew to my stomach. My fingers now curling and gripping at the fabric of my hoodie as I felt the way the muscles in it painfully tensed and clenched right up as I recalled the hellish pain I had been in back in Water Seven when Lucci had done something similar to me. The sudden sensation of fingers tearing through your flesh at the same speed as a bullet was one that one couldn't so easily forget even after two years.