The hot, dry wind howled across the massive desert dunes, carrying the heavy sound of clashing swords and booming cannons. The massive gates of Alubarna were open, but the capital city was currently drowning in a sea of pure chaos. A terrifying war had started. The Royal Guards and the Rebel Army were crashing into each other, fighting a bloody battle based on nothing but terrible lies.
But down in the shadows of the towering white city walls, the Straw Hat Pirates had their own brutal battles to fight. The elite Officer Agents of Baroque Works had arrived to completely stop them.
Kai lay completely motionless on the cracked sandstone paving of the outer courtyard. He was breathing in very short, ragged gasps. His fight with the deadly Mr. 1 was finally over. He had pushed his elemental powers far past their limits, and his Power Watch was now completely out of energy. He had risked his own life to create a path for his friends to get inside the city. Now, he was trapped in a deep, exhausted sleep.
Nami stood completely alone near the edge of the massive crater Kai had made. She gripped her blue Clima-Tact tightly in her shaking hands. She was not a terrifying monster like Zoro. She was not a super-powered brawler like Sanji. She was just a normal girl who loved to draw maps. But as she stood there, she remembered Vivi's crying face. She remembered Kai fighting so hard to keep them all safe. She absolutely could not run away.
"I am the navigator of the Straw Hat Pirates," Nami said, her voice shaking but full of resolute bravery. "And I am going to blow you away!"
Miss Doublefinger just stared at the orange-haired girl. Then, she threw her head back and laughed. It was a cold, cruel, and merciless sound.
"A cowardly little girl playing with a toy," Miss Doublefinger sneered.
Suddenly, sharp, lethal spikes began to protrude straight out of her arms and shoulders. She was a Devil Fruit user. She had eaten the Spike-Spike Fruit. Within seconds, the tall, thin woman looked like a terrifying, human porcupine covered in deadly steel needles.
"You do not belong on a battlefield," Miss Doublefinger said coldly. "You will die here like a crushed bug."
Nami swallowed hard. Her heart was beating like a loud drum against her ribs. But she held up her blue Clima-Tact. Usopp had built this weapon specially for her. He told her it was a powerful tool.
"Take this!" Nami yelled. She pressed the first button on the blue pole. She closed her eyes, expecting a massive blast of wind or a deadly laser beam.
POP!
Instead of a deadly attack, a beautiful bouquet of colorful plastic flowers sprang out of the end of the pole. Nami froze. She opened her eyes and stared at the fake flowers.
Miss Doublefinger blinked. She looked completely confused for a second. Then, her cruel smile returned. "Is that a magic trick? Are you a clown?"
"Wait! That was a mistake!" Nami panicked. Her face turned bright red. She quickly pressed another button on the side of the pole.
BOING!
A red boxing glove on a rusty metal spring shot out of the pole and bounced weakly against the hot sand.
Nami's jaw dropped to the floor. Tears of pure frustration welled up in her eyes. USOPP! YOU IDIOT! Nami screamed in her mind. You gave me a party toy! I am going to murder you if I survive this!
"Die." Miss Doublefinger did not wait anymore. She pointed her arm directly at Nami. "Stinger Spike!"
Miss Doublefinger thrust her arm forward. Her spiky arm shot out like a fast, deadly spear. Nami screamed and dove into the dirt. The sharp spike missed her face by just one inch. It hit the thick stone wall behind her and smashed a massive hole in the solid rock.
Nami scrambled to her feet and started running as fast as her legs could carry her. She was terrified. She did not have magical weather powers. She did not have superhuman strength. But she was a thief. She was incredibly fast, and she was very smart.
"You cannot run forever, little mouse!" Miss Doublefinger laughed, chasing after her with terrifying speed.
Nami ran past the unconscious body of Mr. 1. She ran toward the massive, towering white minaret near the southern gates. She remembered what happened earlier. During Kai's fight, he had used his Earth form to slam a massive column of granite into the ground. That huge attack had sent a massive shockwave echoing through the minaret, creating deep spider-web cracks all across the giant stone tower.
Nami looked up at the cracked stone. A brilliant, desperate idea flashed in her mind.
"Hey, porcupine!" Nami stopped running. She turned around and waved her arms. "Over here!"
Miss Doublefinger growled. "I will turn you into a pincushion!"
The Baroque Works agent lunged forward with her full speed. She pointed both of her arms forward, turning them into massive, deadly spikes. She aimed right for Nami's chest.
Nami waited until the very last second. When the spikes were almost touching her shirt, she dropped flat to the ground and rolled hard to the left.
Miss Doublefinger could not stop her momentum. "Gah!" she yelled. She crashed face-first into the base of the massive, cracked white minaret. Her sharp spikes dug deep into the stone, getting completely stuck in the heavy rocks.
"Now is my chance!" Nami yelled.
She jumped up. She did not press any more buttons on her useless toy. Instead, she gripped the blue Clima-Tact with both hands like a traditional, heavy bo-staff. She swung the solid metal pole with all the strength she had in her arms.
CRACK!
Nami smashed her staff directly into the deepest, widest crack on the damaged stone wall.
The heavy stone tower groaned. Because Kai's earlier attack had already ruined the foundation, Nami's precise, heavy strike was the final push it needed. The cracked stone shattered completely.
"What is happening?!" Miss Doublefinger shrieked, trying desperately to pull her spikes out of the wall.
It was too late. A massive avalanche of heavy white stones and thick granite blocks collapsed directly on top of the Baroque Works assassin. A huge cloud of white dust exploded into the air.
When the dust finally cleared, Miss Doublefinger was buried under a massive pile of heavy rocks. She was completely unconscious.
Nami fell to her knees in the hot sand. She was panting hard. She wiped a mix of sweat and dirt from her forehead. She looked at her blue staff, then at the pile of rocks.
"I did it," Nami whispered, a tired smile crossing her face. She had won with her brain, not magic. "But I am still going to hit Usopp with this pole when I see him."
Far away from the city walls, things were going terribly wrong for the long-nosed sniper.
The ground beneath Usopp and Chopper had suddenly liquefied into churning sand.
"Mole-Banana!" Miss Merry Christmas shrieked. She was using her Devil Fruit powers to burrow into the earth at terrifying speeds. She grabbed Usopp by his ankles with her sharp claws.
"GAAAAH! I'M BEING EATEN BY THE DIRT!" Usopp screamed at the top of his lungs. His legs shook violently as the mole-woman dragged him away from the city gates.
Under the ground, there was a massive, dark maze of dirt tunnels. Miss Merry Christmas pulled Usopp through the hard dirt at fifty miles an hour. Usopp's face smashed against rocks and roots. His goggles cracked. His nose bent awkwardly. Finally, the mole-woman threw him up through a hole in the ground.
Usopp flew high into the air and crashed heavily against a ruined sandstone wall. He coughed up blood and fell to the ground, feeling like his entire body was broken.
"Usopp!" Chopper yelled. The little reindeer had used his Rumble Ball. His body was currently shifted into his massive, muscular Heavy Point form. He charged forward to help his friend.
But a massive shadow fell over the reindeer.
It was Mr. 4. He was an incredibly large, heavy man. He blinked his eyes very slowly. He rested a massive, incredibly heavy baseball bat on his broad shoulder.
"Four... play..." Mr. 4 mumbled sluggishly. He lumbered heavily after the sniper and the doctor.
He swung the massive bat through the air. The bat weighed exactly four tons.
SWOOSH! BAM!
Chopper tried to block the giant weapon with his strong, muscular arms, but the pure kinetic force was far too much. The reindeer was sent flying backward through the air. He crashed hard into the sand right next to Usopp.
Miss Merry Christmas popped her head out of a hole in the ground. She looked like a giant, ugly mole wearing sunglasses. She laughed a mean, scratching, terrible laugh.
"You foolish, weak pirates!" Miss Merry Christmas yelled, pointing a sharp claw at them. "Do you really think you can save this country? You are just garbage! And you are fighting for a dead man!"
Usopp froze. His entire body went completely cold. He looked at the mole woman. "What... what did you say?"
"I said Monkey D. Luffy is dead!" she laughed loudly, kicking sand into the air. "Mr. 0, our boss Sir Crocodile, killed him in the middle of the desert! Your rubber captain was stabbed through the chest. He is buried under the sand forever!"
Chopper's big eyes went wide. Tears instantly began to fall down his furry face. He shrunk back down into his small, cute reindeer form. He put his little hooves on his head. "No... Luffy... Luffy is dead?"
Usopp's whole body was shaking. His legs felt like they were made of jelly. He was so scared. His captain was gone. The bad guys were too strong. Every single bone in his body told him to run away. His feet wanted to turn around and run all the way back to the ocean.
But Usopp did not run.
He slowly pushed himself up from the dirt. His knees were shaking violently, but he forced himself to stand tall. Blood dripped from his chin and stained his shirt. He reached into his pouch and grabbed his slingshot tightly in his shaking hand.
"Stop crying, Chopper," Usopp said. His voice was low, quiet, and completely serious.
"But Usopp... Luffy is..." Chopper sobbed, wiping his wet eyes.
"Luffy is not dead," Usopp said firmly. He glared right at the laughing mole woman. "Luffy is going to be the Pirate King. A guy like him will never die in a place like this."
"You are stupid!" Miss Merry Christmas yelled angrily. "He is dead! A weakling like him could never beat a Warlord of the Sea!"
Usopp's eyes burned with a fierce, unyielding fire. He raised his head proudly.
"There comes a time when a man has to stand and fight!" Usopp roared, his voice echoing across the desert dunes. "And that time is when his friend's dream is laughed at! Luffy will be the Pirate King! I will not let you laugh at him!"
"Kill him right now, Mr. 4!" the mole woman shrieked in anger.
Mr. 4 slowly raised his four-ton bat. He walked toward Usopp like a slow, unstoppable tank.
"Chopper! We have to work together!" Usopp yelled. "Find their weakness! Use your brain!"
Chopper wiped his tears. He looked at Usopp's brave face and nodded his head. He changed his body again. He shifted into his Brain Point form.
"Scope!" Chopper said. He put his hooves together like a circle and looked closely at Mr. 4 and the mole tunnels. His brain worked like a supercomputer, scanning the battlefield.
"I see it!" Chopper yelled. "The tunnels! They are all connected! If we can knock them both into the center tunnel, they will crash into each other!"
"Good job, doctor!" Usopp smiled. He pulled back the rubber band of his slingshot. He aimed it right at Mr. 4's slow, blinking face.
"Usopp Spell!" Usopp yelled at the top of his lungs. "Paper cuts right between your fingers! Five sharp needles shoved under your fingernails!"
Mr. 4 blinked slowly. He was not a very smart man. When he heard those terrible words, his slow brain imagined the pain. He stopped walking and looked down at his fingers, feeling completely confused and uncomfortable.
"Now, Chopper!" Usopp yelled.
Chopper changed back into his massive Heavy Point form. He grabbed Usopp by the legs. He spun the sniper around and around in a massive circle, spinning faster and faster to build up huge momentum. Then, he threw Usopp right at Mr. 4 like a human cannonball.
Usopp reached behind his back. He pulled out a huge, heavy black hammer. It had the words "5 TONS" painted on the side in big white letters.
"Usopp Pound!"
Usopp smashed the giant black hammer directly into Mr. 4's face!
CRASH!
The impact was huge. Mr. 4 fell backward. He stumbled and crashed directly into Miss Merry Christmas, who was just popping her head out of the center hole. The massive, heavy man fell right on top of the mole woman. They both tumbled backward, falling deep down into the dark tunnel. They hit their heads on the hard underground rocks and were completely knocked out cold.
Usopp fell to the ground. He dropped his massive hammer. It bounced lightly on the sand. It was not really a heavy hammer at all. It was just two black frying pans taped together with a stick. It only weighed two pounds. It was a complete trick.
But the trick had worked perfectly.
"We won, Chopper," Usopp smiled. Then, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fainted face-first into the dirt, completely exhausted.
Zoro stood at the front of the battle line. He had his sharp swords fully drawn and a terrifying, bloodthirsty aura radiating from his body. He had yelled for his crewmates to scatter. Now, he was facing the most eccentric enemy of them all.
Mr. 2 Bon Clay spun around like a violent, flamboyant top. He wore a pink swan coat and heavy shoes with swan heads on the toes.
"Come, green-haired swordsman! Let us dance the dance of death!" Mr. 2 yelled excitedly. "Un Deux Trois!"
Mr. 2 aimed a devastating, heavy kick directly at Zoro's head.
CLANG!
Zoro brought two of his blades up in a perfect cross block. The impact was incredibly powerful. It sent a massive shockwave of dust rippling outward through the air. Zoro's boots skidded backward on the sand.
"I don't dance with freaks," Zoro grunted, pushing back with immense physical force.
Zoro dashed forward. He swung his swords, aiming to cut the flamboyant man down. But Mr. 2 did something completely unexpected. He quickly slapped his own face with his right hand.
Suddenly, his face completely changed. It was not a strange man with heavy makeup anymore. It was the face of Princess Vivi!
"Please don't hurt me, Zoro!" the fake Vivi cried out, looking completely innocent and terrified.
Zoro stopped moving. His swords froze in mid-air. He knew it was a trick. He knew it was the power of the Clone-Clone Fruit. But his brain hesitated for one split second. He could not swing his swords at his friend's crying face.
BAM!
The fake Vivi smiled an evil smile and kicked Zoro right in the ribs with a heavy swan shoe. Zoro coughed up saliva and fell to his knees in the hot sand.
Mr. 2 slapped his face again and changed back to his normal, flamboyant self. He laughed loudly. "It is so easy! You are too soft, swordsman! You cannot fight your friends!"
Zoro wiped his mouth. He stood up slowly. His visible eye was dark and angry. He watched Mr. 2 very carefully. He noticed something extremely important. When Mr. 2 did his strong, spinning ballet kicks, he always had his normal face. He only used the faces of Zoro's friends to defend himself and cause a distraction.
He cannot use his powerful ballet attacks when his body is transformed, Zoro thought, gripping his swords tighter. He has to turn back to his normal swan form to attack me with full power.
Zoro smiled a highly dangerous, bloodthirsty smile. He slowly put the hilt of his third sword, the white-handled Wado Ichimonji, into his mouth. He bit down hard.
Mr. 2 spun around again. He jumped incredibly high into the air. He got ready to do his ultimate, strongest kick. He did not change his face this time. He wanted to finish the fight with raw power.
"This is the end for you, moss-head!" Mr. 2 yelled. He flew down toward Zoro like a falling meteor, his heavy shoe aimed right at Zoro's skull.
Zoro took a deep, steadying breath. He bent his knees. He held his swords tight. He waited until the very last second, right when the heavy shoe was inches away from his face.
"Oni Giri!" (Demon Slash)
Zoro moved faster than the human eye could possibly see. He dashed right past the falling swan man in a brilliant blur of motion. The three sharp swords flashed in the sunlight with a bright, deadly gleam.
Mr. 2 froze in mid-air. His eyes went incredibly wide. A massive, cross-shaped cut appeared across his chest. Blood sprayed into the hot desert air. He crashed heavily into the stone wall behind Zoro and did not move again. The flamboyant dancer was completely defeated.
Zoro breathed out slowly. He expertly flipped his swords and slid them back into their sheaths with a sharp click.
"Your dancing is terrible," Zoro grunted. He sat down heavily against the wall to rest his aching body.