"Hey, Akane! Let's go fight 'em!" Luffy's call, bright and eager, ripped through the sudden, terrified silence of the Foosha Village square. His grin was wide, splitting his face, eyes sparkling with the thrill of impending battle. The shadow of Sabo's memory hadn't vanished, not entirely, but it was momentarily eclipsed by the primal excitement of a challenge, of protecting his home and friends. Ace, beside him, needed no further urging. His hand tightened on his metal pipe, his stance shifting subtly, body coiled and ready. The raw fury that had burned in his eyes moments before now translated into a focused, predatory intent.
The pirate horde, swords and axes drawn, charging forward from the docks, seemed to falter for a half-second at the sight of the three small figures standing in the garden patch, facing them head-on instead of running. Their initial wave of avarice-fueled aggression met a bizarre wall of sheer, unadulterated anticipation.
"Huh?" snarled a burly pirate in the front, lowering his cutlass slightly. "Fight us? Brats!" He spat on the cobblestones. "Get outta the way before we step on ya!"
Another pirate, skinny and nervous-looking, snickered. "Yeah, go hide under your mommy's skirt, kids! This ain't a playground!"
Their laughter, rough and mocking, filled the brief lull before the storm. They saw children – a rubber boy, a freckled kid with a pipe, and a tiny girl with bright red hair clutching a sword hilt. Eighty million berries, sure, but surely the bounty was for something she did, not something she could do right now, facing seasoned pirates? They saw easy prey, a swift, profitable victory. They saw future riches. They didn't see the past three months. They didn't see Garp's training. They didn't see the fury born of unimaginable loss.
They saw wrong.
Luffy didn't bother with words. With a joyful yell, "GOMU GOMU NO… PISTOL!" his arm stretched, not in a full, arcing strike, but a quick, sharp jab, a technique honed by Garp's insistence on efficiency. His fist, moving with surprising speed, smacked the scoffing burly pirate squarely in the jaw. THWACK!
The pirate's head snapped back, his eyes crossing, his cutlass clattering to the ground as he crumpled like a sack of potatoes.
The cocky laughter died instantly. Faces went pale. The charging horde stumbled to a halt.
"What the hell was that?!" yelled the skinny pirate, staring at his fallen comrade. "His arm... it stretched!"
Ace didn't wait for their confusion to resolve. With a burst of speed that made him momentarily blur – a flash of Soru, raw and uncontrolled but effective – he darted past Luffy, closing the distance to the nearest cluster of pirates. He moved with a focused intensity, his metal pipe a whirling, brutal extension of his will. CRACK! THUMP! CLANG! He didn't rely on fancy moves, but sheer, concentrated force and agility. A swing to the head, a jab to the gut, blocking a sword with a sickening clang that sent sparks flying, then a swift, powerful kick that snapped ribs. His movements were economical, deadly, honed by countless sparring sessions against Garp's concrete-hard fists and Luffy's unpredictable rubber attacks. He fought with a quiet ferocity, his eyes cold, every blow carrying the weight of his silent fury.
Meanwhile, the pirate captain, still standing near the docks, stared, his greedy grin replaced by a look of stunned alarm. "Devil Fruit user?! And the other one... fast! Don't just stand there, you idiots! She's MINE!" He roared, trying to rally his men.
My turn. The initial shock of being recognized, of having the terrible name bellowed across the square, faded instantly, replaced by a cold, clear focus. These weren't just random thugs; they were here because of me, because of the bounty, because of the name the World Government had given me. They were an extension of that system, of the cruelty that had destroyed my life. They wanted my head. Fine. They could try.
I drew the Kaenken. The black blade slid from its sheath with a faint whisper, catching the sunlight. It didn't glitter; it seemed to absorb the light, shimmering with an inner heat, promising retribution. It felt solid, balanced, strangely comforting in my hand.
The remaining pirates, startled by the speed and brutality of Luffy's single punch and Ace's sudden rampage through their ranks, hesitated, looking from the downed men to the three small figures who suddenly didn't look quite so harmless.
One brave (or foolish) pirate, seeing me standing still, sword drawn but making no move, lunged forward, a rusty cutlass swinging in a wide arc towards my head. "Get outta the way, brat! I ain't got time for kids!"
My muscles tensed, the instinct to dodge, to shield, overwhelming. But Garp's voice echoed in my mind – "Relax. Let go. Feel the attack coming… and become paper." The image of him swaying, the blow passing through empty space.
I took a breath, forcing my shoulders down, willing my body to go limp, to flow. I focused on the incoming cutlass, not as a threat to block, but as a force to move with.
WHOOSH!
My body seemed to ripple, swaying impossibly to the side, my torso bending at an unnatural angle. The cutlass whistled past my ear, inches away, hitting only air. I hadn't moved my feet. I hadn't even consciously tilted my head. My body had simply yielded, flowing around the blade like paper in a breeze.
The pirate stumbled past, staring back at me in stunned disbelief, his eyes wide. "Wha—?! Did she just... bend?!"
I didn't waste the opening. My hand instinctively snapped forward, the Kaenken a blur. The blade didn't seek to cut deep, not yet. It swept across the pirate's outstretched arm, not with force, but with speed and a focused touch. SHING!
He cried out, dropping his cutlass. Not from a deep wound, but from a sudden, intense burning sensation where the blade had touched him. The Kaenken, the Flame Sword, drank the heat, remembered the fire. It didn't need brute force to inflict pain; a touch was enough to sear, to burn through skin and cloth like a branding iron.
"Gah! It burns!" he shrieked, clutching his arm, stumbling backwards.
Seeing this, the other pirates, already unnerved by Luffy's rubber power and Ace's ferocity, grew even more hesitant. A girl who could bend like paper and wield a sword that burned with a touch? This wasn't in the wanted poster's fine print.
But greed is a powerful motivator, and eighty million berries was a lot of money. With a renewed roar, urged on by their frantic captain, they charged again, splitting into groups to tackle the three of us.
The square became a chaotic ballet of violence. Luffy was a whirlwind of stretching limbs and unpredictable bounces, laughing as he knocked pirates senseless with rubbery punches and kicks. "Shishishishi! This is fun! You guys are weak!" He used his basic Gomu Gomu no techniques, but also incorporated bits of Garp's training, attempting (and mostly failing) Soru dashes that ended in tangled messes, or trying to use Kami-e by simply letting his body go completely limp and bouncing off attacks like a human wrecking ball. His sheer durability and joyful unpredictability were his greatest weapons.
Ace moved like a focused predator, his pipe a deadly extension of his will. He used Soru effectively now in short bursts to evade and position himself, delivering powerful blows with precision. He even attempted Tekkai a couple of times, tensing his body to deflect weaker sword strikes with a grunt of effort, his muscles hardening visibly for a brief second. He was methodical, efficient, driven by a cold anger that made every hit count.
I became the ghost in the garden patch. The charging pirates were hesitant, wary of the sword that burned and the body that wouldn't stay still. I focused, channeling the Kami-e, letting my body sway, twist, and ripple around their desperate swings and jabs. Whoosh! Swoosh! Blades passed through empty air where I should have been. It required intense concentration, a constant battle against my own instincts, but with Garp's voice ringing in my ears, I forced myself to relax, to flow. It wasn't perfect; sometimes I mistimed it and had to use the Tenshi light, a soft, golden pulse that flared around me for a split second, cushioning a blow with a dull thud, but the Kami-e was working more often now.
When I struck back, I used the Kaenken not for deep cuts, but for punishing, burning touches. A quick sweep across an arm, a jab to the leg, a light tap on the back – each contact left the pirates crying out in pain, their skin searing as if touched by fire. SHING! "GAAAH! It burns! My hand!" "The sword! Stay away from the sword!" The Kaenken wasn't a blade of slicing death, not yet. It was a weapon of agony, of deterrent, of psychological warfare, turning their own avarice into a source of pain.
One particularly large pirate, wielding a heavy club, saw my small size and charged, ignoring the warnings. "Kami-e, huh?! Let's see you flow around THIS!" He swung the club in a wide, crushing arc.
My body instinctively tensed. No! Relax! Flow! I forced myself to breathe, to let go, focusing on the heavy, incoming force. My body rippled, bending backwards at an impossible angle. The club roared past, inches from my face. I felt the rush of air, the sheer power behind the blow. I hadn't been hit.
But I was still bent backwards, vulnerable. Before I could snap back upright, another pirate, seeing the opening, lunged forward with a dagger.
Instinct took over. No Kami-e. No Kaenken. Pure Tenshi fruit.
WHOOSH!
It wasn't a kick. It wasn't a jump. It was a sudden, blinding burst of speed, a forward propulsion born not of muscle but of pure, concentrated light energy exploding outwards from my core. For a fraction of a second, I was the light, a crimson blur shooting forward.
I reappeared several feet away, behind the stunned pirate who had lunged at me. The air where I had been shimmered for a moment. The pirate stared at the empty space, then turned slowly, eyes wide with shock as he saw me standing behind him. He hadn't even seen me move. It was a raw, uncontrolled burst of Soru, but amplified, empowered by the Tenshi fruit's unique properties. Garp had said Soru was ten kicks in an instant; the Tenshi fruit just made you instantly move.
Before the pirate could react, Ace was there, a blur of motion. Soru! He appeared beside the stunned pirate, a cold look in his eyes, and delivered a brutal, efficient pipe strike to the temple. THUMP! Another one down.
The fight raged on around the garden patch and onto the edge of the square. Villagers peered fearfully from behind shuttered windows. Makino watched from the crack in the bar door, her face pale but her eyes wide with astonishment as she saw the three kids, her adopted little brothers and their new friend, fighting off a horde of armed pirates with impossible techniques.
The pirates' boasts had turned to cries of pain and fear. "They're not kids! They're monsters!" "That sword burns!" "He's rubber!" "They move like... like shadows!" Their numbers dwindled rapidly. Ace and Luffy worked together seamlessly, Ace driving pirates towards Luffy's rubbery range, Luffy bouncing enemies back into Ace's pipe strikes. I moved through the chaos, a fluid, hard-to-hit target, using Kami-e to evade and the Kaenken's heat to disable, occasionally using those unpredictable bursts of light-speed Soru, startling both friends and foes alike.
Finally, only the pirate captain remained, his initial cockiness shattered, his face a mask of fear and disbelief. He stood amidst the scattered forms of his defeated crew, breathing heavily, gripping his cutlass with trembling hands. He looked from the unconscious forms of his men to Ace, standing ready with his pipe, to Luffy, bouncing impatiently, to me, the small figure with fiery hair, the glowing sword, and eyes that seemed to hold the weight of distant stars.
"The Divine Calamity..." he whispered, the name no longer a boast of wealth, but a litany of terror. "Eighty million... it wasn't a mistake..."
He lunged, a desperate, wild swing aimed at me. Ace moved to intercept, but Luffy was faster.
"GOMU GOMU NO... BULLET!" Luffy's fist shot out, a focused, powerful punch that traveled the length of the square, slamming into the captain's chest. CRACK!
The captain cried out, propelled backwards, flying through the air like a ragdoll before slamming into the side of his own ship with a sickening thump and collapsing onto the deck, unconscious.
Silence. The sudden quiet of the square was deafening after the chaos. Ace lowered his pipe, breathing hard, a thin trickle of blood running from a cut on his cheek. Luffy bounced a few times, then ran over to the ship. "We beat 'em!" he yelled, already looking for snacks or treasure.
I stood in the center of the clearing, the Kaenken still warm in my hand, my heart pounding, not from fear, but adrenaline and the unfamiliar exhaustion of fighting alongside others. The air still smelled faintly of fear, sweat, and burning hair from the Kaenken's touch. The defeated pirates were scattered like debris around the square. We had won. Easily. Garp's training hadn't been for nothing.
Ace walked over to where the captain lay unconscious on the ship's deck, picking up the crumpled wanted poster that had fallen from his pocket. He unrolled it, his expression grim. He looked at my face on the poster, at the terrifying name, then down at the defeated captain. He folded the poster carefully and tucked it into his own pocket.
He turned back to me, his gaze intense. Luffy was already rummaging through the captain's pockets, looking for loot.
"Well," Ace said, wiping the blood from his cheek, his voice low. He looked around at the unconscious pirates, the startled villagers beginning to peek out from behind their shutters. "Guess they won't be bothering anyone in Foosha anymore."
He walked back towards me and Luffy, stopping beside me, his expression thoughtful. "Eighty million," he murmured, glancing towards the sea, towards the world that wanted me. "That's a lot of money. And 'The Divine Calamity'..." He shook his head slightly. "They really don't like you, do they?"
He met my gaze directly, a strange mixture of concern, curiosity, and something that felt like pride in his eyes. The quiet understanding from the bar returned, deepened by the shared fight.
"So," he said, his voice dropping slightly, the unspoken questions returning, but now laced with a new weight, a new understanding of the forces we were up against. He gestured to the defeated pirates, then out to the sea. "You're strong, Akane. Stronger than anyone thought." He paused, considering me. "But you're also a massive target."