One Piece 2nd Generation: Grand Arrival Part 8

Rhea stood absolutely horrified. Her eyes widened with fear. "What just happened?" Her voice faltered. In the distance Red stood upon the execution platform, sucking in tons upon tons of black smoke. The people started to crumble to dust.

Silver saw Rhea in the distance. "Sir. We have one that was left out."

"Deal with her." Red ordered.

Fantasia lifted her head to see Rhea. "No!! Not her!!"

Red, still facing the crowd, looked down to Fantasia. "A friend of yours?" His eyes glowed red for a moment.

"Yes. I won't let you hurt her."

"But how are you going to do that m'lady? You're tied up at the moment." Red looked down to Silver and nodded.

Silver brushed his hair out of the way and sped towards Rhea. "Create: Gauntlet." His wrist glowed purely white, then returned to a silver metal hand with several gems embedded within it. He jumped high into the air and punched down to the ground.

Rhea jumped back. Silver landed in front of her, the ground utterly destroyed. "Whoa!" She exclaimed. Silver looked up, a trail of light followed his gaze. Terror struck Rhea. She froze in fear.

"I'm sorry Madame. But I'm just following orders." His gauntlet dispersed into the air. "Create: Rifle." He held his hand up and a long gun grew out of light. He pointed it to Rhea. "I apologize."

-

"STOP IT!!!" Barked Fantasia. "Red, you have to stop him!!"

"And how would I do that? He's doing that on his own free will. Cause last time I checked, no one ordered him to go to that."

"You're his captain! You can stop him!"

"I'm sorry baby girl. But this is out of my hands."

"No!! It's not!! You can stop him anytime you want. You just wanna see me beg!"

"I'm like an open book. Yes. Now get started, lets see how much your friendship is really worth."

Fantasia out her head down. "Please...Red...let her go."

"Ooh. Nice try but not good enough. I wanna feel it. Show me that you care."

"RED!!" She screamed. "You're a despicable asshole with no soul....but I'm not above begging."

"Come on...you can do it."

"Red. Please let her go..and in exchange....I'll go out to sea with you."

"Finally!! An answer! I asked you that question two days ago!" Red bursted with excitement. "SILVER!!!! DO NOT HARM HER!!"

-

Silver looked up to Red, the rifle in his hands dispersed into nothing. "Yes sir." His eyes rolled back to Rhea. "You've gotten lucky Madame." He walked away from Rhea and jumped back to Red's side. "What made you change your mind?"

"We have a new member of the crew. Silver, meet Fantasia."

-

Jericho raced down the shoreline. Seeing nothing but the back of buildings, trees, and the wide open sea. "There's nothing here." He said to himself. He looked ahead to an abandoned ship. It lay in ruins, the wood molded to black and the boards were broken. "It's worth a try.....Kenbunshoku....no there's nothing there."

Jericho kept over the ship but his foot was caught by a hand. "None shall pass."

Jericho smirked. "Sorry buddy, but I'm not the type to be held back." With his free foot his kicked himself free and landed on the opposite side of the ship. "Wonder what that was about." Jericho looked in front of him. A legion of dark beings snarled on his direction. Their skin pure black and fangs that dripped red. "This is creepy!" He held his hand to his forehead. "Am I hallucinating?"

One of the beasts came closer, baring its fangs. "Die." It murmured. It's voice gruff and deep. "DIE!!" It said as it lunged.

-

Kent looked over the city. No one was in sight. "Hmmm...today's not that busy." He glided over to his side and landed upon a building. "This doesn't feel right. I can feel people all around me...but I can't see them. Whats going on?" A sharp pain jolted through his head. "Oww!! What was that?!"

"C R E A T E." A voice drifted through the air.

"Who's there?!" Kent quickly looked around. "Whats going on?!" He panicked.

-

Jericho out his hands together and smashed the beast into the ground. "Oww!!!" He exclaimed, holding the bottoms of his hands. "Damn that hurt. Okay, so I'm not dreaming. That's a bad sign." He looked over all of the beasts that stood awaiting his next move.

The one on the ground sprung back up and growled. It's body began to morph, spikes grew down its back and it's fangs got longer. "You will die." It stated gruffly. It slashed it claws but Jericho jumped back. He hit the ship and was barricaded by the beast army. Arms shot out the ship and grabbed onto his body, holding him down.

"This isn't good." He said worried. The front beast slashed its claws and scratched across his chest, drawing blood. Jericho howled in pain, struggling to let himself out. The beast rose its hand again. Jericho pulled the arm off his body and dodged the attack. Jericho quickly ripped the hand off his leg and dealt a kick square in the beast's chest. "That hurt." His chest turned black, along with his forearms. "Buso Koka....RHINO BARRAGE!!" Jericho hastily dealt a barrage of punches to the beasts that surrounded him. When he stopped, they remained standing, as if they weren't harmed. "What are these things?!"

The front Beast swiped his hand across Jericho, sending him flying into the ground. "Weak." It murmured. It started to morph again, it's hind legs got beefier, and so did it's body. With each step it took, the ground shook.

"So this is what it's like to be weak?!" Jericho exclaimed. His eyes widened. His heart began to race and beat out of his chest. "Am I going to die?! No, I lived through worse I can deal with this." He looked up at the beast.

The beast dropped his hand, smashing Jericho into the ground. Rocks flew up, creating spikes along the ground. Veins grew on the beasts body, as of it were straining itself.

"No....I can't....I can't die here!!" Jericho proclaimed from under its hand. He threw the hand back, causing the beast to stumble backwards. Jericho laid on his back, panting, trying to catch his breath. "Okay. Not letting that happen again." He wiped the sweat from his face. "Lets do this." He jumped out of his hole and looked down upon the beasts. "Buso Koka: Meteor!" Jericho's entire body darkened to a pure black as he curled up into a ball. He dropped at high speeds, on contact with the ground, cracks traveled along the beach and rock spires shot up into the sky. Each beast flew up into the air, except for the large one with spikes.

It ran on all fours and swiped its hand, knocking Jericho away. It slid to a stop then charged again. Jericho is still flying back while the beast made it to his side. It rolled its hand back ready to strike again. Jericho blocked his head and braced for the attack. "That's not gonna work!!" The beast growled, slamming its hand into Jericho.

Jericho flew back and bounced onto the ground. "Ack! Ugh! Dammit!" He shouted every time he hit the ground. He looked up and saw the beast above him, baring his fangs. It's claws shot out, ready to kill. Jericho blocked his head, awaiting the attack. When it connected he was sent flying into several trees, destroying each one he came in contact with. "How am I supposed to beat this thing?!"

The beast charged through the trees, stomping and destroying everything in its way. "YOU CANT ESCAPE!!!" It roared.

Jericho pushed himself back a bit. "No. I've survived worse. I can do this." His heart started to race. "I have only one option." He looked down at his jacket. ''I can't eat it now. The times not right.''

"I WILL FIND YOU!!! AND I WILL KILL YOU!!!!"

''What better time than this?! It's my only choice!!'' Just then, the beast skidded to a stop. It was staring Jericho down and charged. "Damn!!" He started to fidget through his jacket. "Come on!! Where is it?!!!" He said worried. "There it is!!" The beast was right above him. "It's too late!!" His eyes widened and his heart rate shot up. He was frozen with fear. "No...I can't die here!!" A shockwave emitted from Jericho, sending the beast into a state of unconsciousness. It fell flat in front of him. Slowly the beast started to shrink. The body turned human and groaned. "What? The hell was that"

The beast returned to a human. The man looked like he was close to death. "H-help me." He pleaded, reaching out to Jericho. "Please."

Jericho slowly got closer to the man and hoisted him onto his back. "I'll help....as long as you don't transform." Jericho tried to run but his body fell to the ground. "Damn."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself earlier. Please forgive me." The man said.

"It's alright. I'll be fine..." Jericho stood back up and walked through the forest.

-

Red grabbed Fantasia and Silver and disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Rhea laid there on the ground, her eyes wide with fear. "What just happened?" She said quickly. She sat up and looked up at the platform which was slowly tilting over until it broke again.

The beasts in front of her started to get back up. They started to fight again, ripping off arms, growing spikes and fangs, and other body parts. One stopped and looked back at Rhea, blood dripped from its mouth as it's gaze narrowed on her.

Rhea jumped up and dashed away. The beasts noticed her and chased after her. They started to gain up on her until she jumped up and grabbed onto the ledge of a building. She swung herself up to another and climbed to the top. The beasts sat on the ground, clawing on the walls, trying to get her down. "This is gonna be a problem." She walked away from the edge of the building and ran across the rooftops, jumping over alleyways and swinging from signs and poles. She stopped on the top of a building at the end of town. "This looks like a good place to stop." She sat down and put her hands on her thighs. "Now, where could he have taken her?"

The sounds of a jet roared around her. In the distance, Kent was flying around. But he kept falling a bit and returning to his path. Until he crashed into a building. "What?!" He shouted, feeling the building in front of him. "The sky!! ITS SOLID!!!"

"Kent?!" Rhea asked. She crawled over to see him tapping and rubbing the building in front of him. "What are you doing?"

He turned to Rhea. "Rhea?! Whats going on? I didn't think you could fly! Anyway, check it out!! The sky is a solid!!"

"The sky isn't solid. You're just touching a tower."

"WHAT?!" He exclaimed, putting his ear against the wall. "That explains a lot." He started to knock on the wall. "Yep, this is definitely a building....but why is it the sky?!"

"What are you talking about."

"Well. Everything around me is either clouds or blue sky. So I'm just wondering why there's a building floating up here."

"Kent. You're not in the sky. You're right above a building. Like all you have to do is drop a few feet and you'll feel it."

Kent stretched his legs out and his toes touched the roof. "What?! How is this possible?!" His armor fell apart and dropped him on the building. "This isn't right!! Why am I still in the sky!! Whats going on?!"

"Kent, can you see?"

"I can see perfectly!" His eyes shined bright red in the light.

"Kent, were your eyes always red?"

Kent shook his head. "Silly Rhea. You know my eyes are yellow."

"Not now. They're purely red. Maybe Red used his powers on you!"

"Maybe." Kent replied, dragging his finger across the ground. "Are you sure the sky isn't just solid? And you're flying? Cause I don't remember him ever putting a spell on me...I haven't seen him for a full day."

"It's the most logical answer...and there's two options...one we get him to break it....or you go for a swim."

"B-but...I can't swim."