DISCORD LINK: https://discord.gg/nTGxMXW
--------------------------------------------------------------
Before Lucas could go back and ask Whitebeard what he meant, he noticed some changes in the formation of the marines.
Sengoku turned to a marine officer beside him and gave his order.
"Begin the plan!"
"Understood!"
Lucas saw this and frowned. Right about now, Sengoku should've ordered for the denden mushi visuals to be disconnected as he didn't want the people around the world to see their cheating of moving the execution in advance and them making use of traitor, Squard.
For Sengoku, the single word 'Victory' is all the people need.
But this time...it seems there was no need to do so as the one being executed wasn't Ace.
Haruta's life and death have no meaning to the marines or the world. He was simply bait to lure in Whitebeard, unlike Ace who symbolized the Pirate King Roger's last bloodline.
As for Squard...Lucas doesn't know if they still planned on using him if they aren't gonna cut the broadcast but he still kept a close eye on the guy in case he does anything suspicious...
At this moment, Sentoumaru and his army of Pacifistas had arrived.
Whitebeard took a glance at them and had a slight frown.
"So those are the Government's 'Human Weapons'...I had heard rumors…"
Luffy saw the Pacifistas as well and was surprised to see so many.
"It's those beat guys we saw back at the Sabaody Archipelago! There's so many!"
Sabo and Ivankov were also shocked and their faces turned grim.
"Kuma...just what on earth happened…?"
"K-K-KUMA!?"
Sentoumaru glanced at them all with a slight disdain in his eyes as he held his huge broadaxe on his shoulder.
"Now, all of you! We've waited long enough...it's finally our turn!"
Lucas looked over at Luffy and Ace and judged that they were safe for now. He flew up and head straight towards the army of Pacifistas that appeared from behind them.
The Pacifistas had already started to shoot their laser beams at the pirates when Lucas appeared.
He glared at the army of Pacifistas and the steam from his body started to increase as he activated Boilingman mode.
Marco is on the other side of the battlefield so they can't do that super powerful combo but that was fine. He's only up against some machines and not admirals!
But the problem here was that the Pacifistas numbered a lot.
"Well, I'll just burn even more…"
Lucas spread his arms wide and the hot steam started to condense into dots of highly pressurized energy around him.
At first, there was 1...then 2...3...4...until the numbers had matched the number of Pacifistas!
Lucas remembered a certain anime and thought of a name for this move even if it doesn't really match...anyway, it was a cool name!
"Unlimited Steam Bursts!!!"
*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*
The dots of pressurized energy shot forward and homed-in onto their target Pacifistas, creating explosions that matched Kizaru's own laser beams!
In a few moments when dust filled the air, everyone watched on with dumbfounded expressions.
...What the hell!? Just how much more powerful can this guy be!?
When the dust finally settled and everyone saw the mess of the former Pacifistas, they were all frightened! They looked back up at Lucas in awe and fear but found Lucas suddenly became skinny!
He looked like he had starved for years! He's basically a skeleton now!
One marine captain tried to take this as his only chance and used soru and geppo to quickly reach Lucas and swing his blade!
He was indeed quick on his thinking and being able to react immediately proved that he was strong. But...it was a pity that someone else was faster than him.
Before the marine captain could reach Lucas, Whitebeard had appeared in front of him and swung his quake-clad fist down onto the marine captain.
*BOOM*
Unable to dodge or block, the marine captain spat out blood and was sent back down the ground with a huge crater!
Lucas looked at Whitebeard and was confused.
Being able to reach this fast...did he already know the weakness of using Steam Burst?
Lucas took a while to gather water in the air again to refill himself.
When he recovered, Whitebeard was already back on his ship, not paying him any more attention.
...Forget it, he's probably not gonna answer even if I asked.
Lucas sighed and grumbled while mumbling 'stupid whitebeard geezer'...
Whitebeard naturally heard this and just laughed.
"Gurararara! Atta boy! Men! What are you all standing there for!? Attack the platform!"
"Yessir!"
With the Pacifistas dealt with, the pirates' morale was high as they pushed on!
Luffy and Ace also ran faster towards the execution stand.
"Shishishi! Man, Lucas is as strong as ever! I still need to get even stronger!"
"Hehe, he's pretty good, but he's still not a match to pops!"
Just as they were about to get close, Kizaru appeared before them with a missing arm.
He had a deathly grim look and was no longer as casual as before. Kizaru was pissed!
To think that someone like Lucas could hurt him to this extent…!
But instead of taking his anger at Lucas, it was best to deal with these two for now. Kizaru knows how much Lucas cares for Strawhat Luffy, if he kills him, it can be considered as his revenge!
Kizaru didn't waste time with words anymore as he disappeared in a flash of light and appeared in front of Luffy with a kick.
"Gah-!?"
"Luffy!"
Surprised by the sudden attack, Luffy was thrown backward and landed near Jozu.
Jozu saw Luffy and recognized him as Ace's brother so he naturally turned to help. The opponent was an admiral, even if he's heavily injured, he still wasn't someone Ace and Luffy could defeat!
It wasn't just Jozu who charged at Kizaru, the several division commanders of Whitebeard also stepped in and held back Kizaru.
As for Aokiji, Marco is doing his best to hold him down along with the other pirate captains that came to help.
Lucas took a quick look at the battlefield and found Squard, he was still on the battlefield and not anywhere near Whitebeard.
While looking at the battlefield, Lucas also saw Buggy fooling around with one of the visual denden mushi.
"I'm Buggy, the legendary…"
Lucas decided to ignore him…
Suddenly, Lucas noticed something and his face went pale.
Squard was indeed not near Whitebeard...but he's heading towards Luffy and Ace!
The reason why Squard stabbed Whitebeard in the original was because it was Ace who was on the execution stand. His heart was swayed by Akainu into thinking that they had made a deal with Whitebeard to kill everyone else except for Whitebeard's crew.
Squard's hate for Ace's father, Roger, was well known. In the past, Roger and Squard's crew were enemies who fought and it was Squard's men who had lost and died.
Akainu and the marines didn't need to trick him into much, they just needed to goad him into killing Ace. It was still fine to be shown to the world. After all, they could just say that Squard's hate for Roger was the reason, the marines had nothing to do with it.
Thinking about this, Lucas quickly flew in when he saw Squard about to stab a haki-infused sword through Ace.
"Waterdafall!"
Lucas turned to a huge pillar of water and crashed down on Squard!
Luffy and Ace were surprised by Lucas suddenly attacking one of their own and Ace was even angry.
"Lucas! What are you doing!?"
"Calm down, he's not dead. I just poured water on him."
Lucas rolled his eyes as he couldn't be bothered to explain. He can just push the explanation on Squard.
Sure enough, Lucas didn't even need to say anything, Squard just shouted and ranted about how pitiful he is and how much he hated Roger.
Ace now knew and said a bunch of words to him...it was a huge drama that was annoying to see so Lucas no longer paid them attention.
Sengoku and Akainu's faces turned black. It seems their plan didn't work at all.
What's more, because of this, Whitebeard was angered!
WIth two fist punching the air on both sides, the two ice walls at the sides were smashed and they were no longer trapped. Anyone unwilling to fight can leave as they want.
"If you call yourself pirates, then choose for yourself what to believe!!!"
Then, he held onto his naginata and jumped off the ship.
"THOSE WHO WOULD FOLLOW ME, BE READY TO LOSE YOUR LIVES!!!"
"OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Finally! The world's strongest man...is about to join the fight!!!
No one backed away. Instead, they pushed through and plowed a path for Whitebeard!
Whitebeard held two hands on the air above him then, as if grabbing onto something, he dragged the air diagonally downward.
Suddenly, the whole island...no, even the sea started to tilt on one side!
Lucas watched this while in the air and can't help but awe at the sight.
"Truly...the strongest man…"
With another fist to the air, the air cracked and sent a shockwave straight to the execution platform!
But before it could reach the execution platform, the three admirals had regrouped and put their arms forward to deflect the attack.
The next moment. Massive steel walls started to encircle the bay area, the pirates were trapped! All that was left for the marines to do was to melt the ice foothold they were standing on and all the pirates would, in one fell swoop...be defeated!
This was a good plan, but they had forgotten to take into account two things.
One was obviously Lucas who they haven't been able to control, and the other...was Oars!
Oars quickly dashed to one of the steel walls which was about to raise and slammed his body on it. Even with the durability of the steel wall, it was still unable to bear the weight of Oars and it could only be pushed back down!
"Oars!"
"Dammit! Akainu!"
Sengoku didn't want to waste any more time and ordered Akainu to attack!
Akainu's hands started to turn into magma.
"Ryuusei Kazen!"
Everyone saw fists of magma falling down on them like meteor showers. The pirates' faces turned pale.
"They're planning on melting the ice!"
"Dodge!"
"Quickly get out!"
While the pirates ran about in search for covers, Lucas flew up and expanded his wings as he created a huge dome made of water.
As soon as the magma meteors touch the water, a part of the water evaporates while the magma turns into stone.
Initially, it was hard to block or deal with the magma meteors, but now that they were stone, it was easier to deal with them!
"Gomu gomu no...Gigant Pistol!"
"Hiken!"
"Dragon Claw!"
"Death Wink!
"Gyojin Karate Ogi...Buraikan!"
Everyone unleashed their attacks to break the meteors!
Seeing this, Sengoku and the rest gritted their teeth as they looked at Lucas.
Lucas! This guy again!
In their hearts, the danger that Lucas posed seemed to be greater than Whitebeard now.
Unlike Whitebeard who was starting to weaken, this Lucas...just keeps stronger and stronger so fast!
Lucas...can no longer be left alive!
Whitebeard laughed and shouted.
"Gurarara! Men! Oars and the White-haired brat had given us a path! Charge!"
"Oooooooooooooohhh!!!"
Everyone charged forward to where Oars was holding down one of the steel walls.
Meanwhile, Lucas' face twitched when he heard Whitebeard.
Is it necessary to call me out as brat, you damn geezer!?
Whitebeard called for their other paddleship to resurface and everyone jumped on it as Oars grabbed the boat to force their way in!
Whitebeard and the pirates had made their way in the plaza!
As soon as they did, the several division commanders split up and made sure to keep the Shichibukais occupied.
Even Crocodile and Hancock had helped in as well as Jimbei, Sabo, and Ivancov.
As for Buggy, Mr. 3, and Bon Clay...well, they were still busy goofing off in front of the visual denden mushi…
Ace shouted.
"Haruta! Just hold on there! We're coming to get you!"
"Shishishi! Let's go!!!"
"I'll be right with you!"
Luffy and Sabo grinned and charged forward along with Ace while the rest of Whitebeard's crew followed.
Lucas hovered in the air and glared at Sengoku.
"Sengoku, I had told you before...the consequences of going against me..is definitely heavy!"
"...Garp, it looks like this war...insists on the two of us participating!"
Sengoku's face twitched as he rolled up his sleeves.
Lucas' face turned serious.
I need to get this over with.
Lucas didn't like how much time he had already wasted. It was time to end this war…!
Deciding as such, Lucas turned into a blur as he flew straight towards the execution stand.
Suddenly, Garp decided to move and swung down his fist of love at him.
Lucas already expected this and returned a fist of his own.
*Boom*
When it comes to strength, Lucas still loses out. A punch with the explosion of steam on his fist was still enough to push Garp back even if just a little.
Before Sengoku turned to a giant buddha, Lucas became a huge tidal wave and swept through the whole execution stand!
Both Garp and Sengoku wasn't able to deal with the wave and was swept away as well.
While in the water, Lucas had separated Haruta and sent him to where Ace was as they had the key.
"Haruta's free!"
"Men! Fall back!"
Whitebeard grinned and ordered for retreat!
As long as they can take Haruta back now, they would've won!
"Pops! I'm back!"
"Good son! Now fall back!"
Everyone started to retreat now that Whitebeard had given his order.
Sengoku coughed a bit after being clear of the water and began to enlarge.
"Don't think I'll let you get away!!!"
While everyone retreated, Whitebeard stepped forward.
"Pops…!?"
"Go! Leave this to me!"
Whitebeard planted his naginata on the ground and stood tall.
"I AM WHITEBEARD!!!"
--------------------------------------------------------------
AN: Man, this arc is taking a while. XD. Though, it will probably end within the next two chaps or so.
I may not be able to write a chapter tomorrow Sunday due to work...yea, I know...work on Sundays, what the hell right? Sadly, I have no choice in the matter so I can only work huhu. I'll still try and see if I can post one, if not then...yeah, you'll have to wait a bit more.
And about the drawback of Lucas' power to heal, that wasn't really a nerf as that limit had already existed since Alabasta arc, it was just that he didn't know it and it has been slowly eating his life away. The healing works fine on himself without any drawbacks, but not when he does it to other people or objects. I'd like to think that it makes more sense for there to be consequences in his op healing ability than one without. Else, there will never be any real sense of danger and the story will basically be him ignoring his body like Deadpool or something. XD
See ya next chap!