Dialogue "sample"
Thoughts 'sample'
Author notes -sample-
Disclaimer: One Piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Chapter 150: The Level 2 Guardian
"Vivi can be a bit scary sometimes" Whispered Chopper to Luffy and this one nodded.
"What was that Chopper?" Asked Vivi.
"Nothing!" The little deer started to sweat.
"We should have freed all those prisoners. They would have made for a good distraction." Complained Buggy for the third time.
He had been very insistent on letting go of all the men that they saw locked in cages, but the rest of the crew refused to let them go.
"Shut up already! we are not freeing every criminal we run across." Spoke Sanji.
"Yeah…I mean, most of those guys were probably there for a good reason." Added Nami.
"I'm sure they were not all bad!" Defended Buggy.
"I have to agree with the clown. There are many good pirates and bandits out there. " Said Luffy.
"We know that, Captain. Not all of them are bad." Vivi agreed. "But the truth of the matter is…that most of them are. I would bet that most of them are robbers, murderers, and rapists. No…better let them rot in here."
"Oh? it seems like we have reached a dead end." Said Chopper, happy to change the topic.
"A dead end?...great, now what are we going to-..." Nami stopped speaking and looked up with wide eyes.
"What is that?"
They all followed her gaze and realized the reason for her surprise. They were not looking at a wall but part of a gigantic beast.
"What?!" Cried Nami.
"It's massive!" Exclaimed Chopper.
The creature was the size of a marine warship. It looked like a lion with black fur and a white mane. It also had feathers covering its back.
"Is that a lion?...wait, it has the face of an old man" Luffy observed.
"Is a bit like those manticores from before, but a lot bigger" Sanji pointed out.
"Wait!, I think I have heard of this thing before" Started Buggy.
"I heard stories about a massive beast with a human face protecting the way to level 3…the Sphinx!"
"That thing is supposed to be a sphinx?..." Vivi rose an eyebrow.
"Its name is not important right now! Look behind it" Said Nami.
By looking from between the legs of the creature, they as we're able to make out a big hole that was placed behind it.
"So, that's the entrance to level 3. We just need to beat this guy." Said Vivi.
"Then, let's just beat the crap of this ugly thing and move on!" Sanji rose his face to look at the creature directly.
The sphinx seemed to understand this. Its human face contorted in anger.
"Ggrrrrrrr!"
The sphinx made use of some surprising agility to leap in the air while twisting its body at the same time. It extended one of its giant claws and brought it down directly on Sanjis's position.
They all had to move out of the way as the paw was big enough to hit all of them at the same time.
As the paw impacted the stone floor, this one shook and big cracks started to appear.
"Don't let it do that again! Is going to collapse the floor! Shouted Nami, who was being held by Vivi.
Buggy stood up from within the pile of rubble where he had landed.
"Ah…I thought I was going to die. " He looked at Nami.
"Straw hats!. You were supposed to protect me!"
Nami and Vivi chose to ignore the complaints of the clown and instead looked at Luffy and Sanji in action.
"Let's go Sanji!" Luffys entire body started to smoke.
"Yes, Captain!" Sanji rushed forward, he then jumped in the air, directly at the beast's face.
"Bien Cuit…Grill Shot!"
The Sphinx made a painful noise as Sanji hit its forehead with his flaming leg.
He then retreated back since he had sensed that his Captain was in position.
Luffy was hovering right above the Sphinx.
"Gear third…" He inflated his arm to a massive size as it rose in the air.
His giant first then turned darker, almost black before he brought it down with great force into the Sphinx's head.
"Gomu Gomu no…Elephant Gun!"
His massive fist looked big even in comparison with the colossal beast.
The entire area shook when Luffy's attack impacted the Sphinx skull.
"That was awesome!" Chopper had stars in his eyes.
"Shishishi, did you like that?. I have something even better! I'll show you later." Promised Luffy.
Buggy stood there, looking in awe at his old foe.
"How did you guys get so strong…"
The beast was defeated but no without consequences.
Cracks started to appear all over the room they were in and the floor started to shake much harder than before.
Nami was already holding onto Vivi, preparing for the worst.
"Carefull!. The ground is going to-"
Before Sanji could finish, the stone floor broke down into pieces that started to fall down into the next level.
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Vivi descended slowly while carrying Nami. The ground of this next level seemed to be made of sand and was now covered in pieces of stone from the floor above and an unconscious but still alive Sphinx.
The other notable thing about this place was the temperature.
"Is so hot in here…" Nami had already started to sweat.
"The air must be over 40ºC (100°F)" Vivi made an expression of disapproval. She was used already to this kind of temperature and much higher but this place was bringing to the surface some unpleasant memories for her.
"Let's hurry up to leave this level…" she said with disgust.
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