Hearing Janet's words, I widened my eyes in disbelief as Ace, and I stared at each other; although I wasn't like most pirates who sought the fabled island of Laugh Tale to claim the One Piece, it was still a place of legends that only one group has ever reached.
"A-An Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale? Y-You're not joking, Janet?" Asked Trenza in shock as she gazed at the transponder snail, which nodded its two eyes.
"Yes; there is an Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale." Replied Janet firmly, her voice causing Trenza to faintly smile while jumping in joy.
"Hahaha! We're going to be the first pirates to reach Laugh Tale!" Yelled Trenza in joy as she leaped in the air, only for Ace to suddenly grab her by the arm, snapping her back to reality.
Staring at Ace, I felt my smile recede while I sneakily reached for my pistol holstered to my waist, though my wrist was promptly engulfed in a fiery hand, causing me to wryly smile.
"Sorry about this, Trenza, no hard feelings, but… I'll need to have that Eternal Pose." Stated Ace with a faint smile as he glanced at Trenza, who nodded, only to kick his side using her prosthetic leg, causing him to wince in pain.
"Ouch. Huh, Seastone prosthetic?" Muttered Ace in slight surprise with a raised eyebrow as he glanced at Trenza's peg leg, causing her to smirk while she pointed it at his face.
"Heh, it's not just some measly prosthetic." Replied Trenza with a smirk as the bottom of her prosthetic suddenly flipped open, revealing a barrel, causing Ace's eyes to widen while a loud bang resounded.
Feeling Ace's grip loosened, I pushed off his body using my prosthetic and quickly backed away, gaining distance from him while his crew went to check upon him, though I didn't get very far before the smoke that concealed Ace's body suddenly vanished as a large fiery fist headed right for me.
"AHHH!! Are you trying to kill me!?" Exclaimed Trenza in slight anger as she leaped to the side, barely dodging the fiery fist that carved through the forest behind her, leaving behind a bare, smoldering earth.
"Tch, I should be asking you that! You nearly killed me with that!" Replied Ace in slight anger as he stared at Trenza, who awkwardly coughed before looking away.
"I-I figured you'd easily survive that; sorry, I wasn't trying to kill you, just daze you. Huh, maybe I'm actually stronger than I think?" Said Trenza apologetically as she looked away, only for her to rub her chin with a thoughtful expression.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to further dwell on my supposed strength since all of a sudden, the island violently trembled, and no, it wasn't because of Freyja, Father, and Mael's battle off in the distance; furrowing my brows, I quickly stood up, only to widen my eyes when I noticed the bubble that surrounded the Island disappear.
"Oh, this can't be good." Muttered Trenza with an ugly expression, only for her to suddenly start falling despite standing on the ground.
Thanks to my haki, I quickly noticed the knock-up stream had gone dry, and without the bubble, we were rapidly falling back toward Delta Island.
"T-This isn't how I want to DIE!!" Yelled Trenza loudly as she helplessly fell through the sky while observing her surroundings.
The only positive about my situation was the fact I've experienced falling to my death so many times that it wasn't scary; however, as we began to approach the island down below, out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly saw Scar darting through the sky as he approached me, causing me to sigh in relief.
'Wait a second… That's not Scar.' Thought Trenza lightly as she gazed at the blonde-haired, curly-eyed eyebrow pirate.
"TRENZA-SAAN!!" Yelled Sanji with a fierce gaze as he propelled himself through the sky, speedily dashing towards Trenza.
While I wasn't expecting Sanji would be the one to save me, it wasn't all that surprising when you consider his intense love and passion for women; besides, I definitely wasn't going to ignore his goodwill. Feeling Sanji's arms wrap around my body as he embraced me, my freefall was promptly brought to a halt as I gazed up at Sanji while breathing a sigh of relief.
"Trenza-San, are you hurt?" Asked Sanji softly as he glanced at Trenza, who shook her head while patting his shoulder.
"No, I'm fine, though; thanks for helping me. I don't know how I would've survived that without your assistance. I would kiss your cheek, but I'm in a relationship with Diddy… Wherever the hell that fool is." Replied Trenza with a shake of her head as she rolled her eyes while sighing, causing Sanji to nod, only for his expression to turn sour.
"Tsk, Kong." Muttered Sanji with venom as he furiously stared into space before shaking his head.
After a few moments, there was a loud explosion as the island we were previously fighting on crashed into the middle of the cove below; following that, Sanji gently landed on the ground before setting me down beside him.
"Thanks again. Now, do you have any idea why that suddenly happened?" Asked Trenza as she brushed her single braid behind her ear while glancing at Sanji, who shook his head only to leap into the air.
"No, but if you'll excuse me, I'll need to check up on my own crew; if you need me, just yell. I'll drop whatever I'm doing and come help you, Trenza-san." Remarked Sanji with a confident smile as he stared at Trenza, who nodded while waving her hand, watching him head to the other side of the crumbling Island.
'Speaking of a crew, I should also check on mine. Well, mainly Janet, everyone should've been able to easily survive that.' Thought Trenza as she dashed in the direction of where Janet had previously run off to.
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Pushing the boulder off me with a grunt, I rubbed my head while glancing to my left, where Mael melted whatever stone had collapsed onto him, while Sebas had just lifted everything off him.
"Tsk, what the fuck was that about? That interrupted the thrashing I was giving you two." Said Freyja lightly in annoyance as she dusted her body off while stepping onto the more even ground, only for Mael to scoff.
"Hmph, what thrashing? That wound would say otherwise." Said Mael with a grunt as he glanced at Freyja, eyeing the cauterized slash on her torso, causing her to spit on the ground.
"Tch, this isn't enough to defeat me." Replied Freyja as she narrowed her eyes at Mael, whose body surged with scalding plasma in response to her provocation.
"Will you two children ever learn how to behave in a civilized manner?" Asked Sebas with a deep frown as he shifted his focus between Freyja and Mael, prompting them to both look at him in annoyance.
"How many times must we teach you this lesson, old man!?" "Shut the hell up! Stop butting your nose in other people's business." Stated Mael and Freyja, respectively, as they eyed Sebas, who sported a cold smile while chuckling in anger.
"Hoho, I suppose aggression and violence are the only thing foolish children will ever understand." Said Sebas in displeasure as he looked down upon Mael and Freyja, which only seemed to further annoy them.
Just as I was about to attack Sebas in hopes of permanently shutting up his mouth, a booming voice echoed throughout the island, gathering our attention as we shifted our focus to the large man in the distance; he was tall, large, and muscular, capable of giving Grand a run for his money, though overall I would still say his physique was superior. However, what instantly caught our attention wasn't the man himself, but who he was squeezing within his hand; scowling, I clenched my fist and spread my wings as I ignored Mael and Sebas.
"Hey fucking bastard, release Janet." Stated Freyja with a scowl as he dangerously eyed Bullet, who ferociously grinned while further squeezing her, causing her to grunt in pain.
"Hehe, I see the pirates haven't become too weak over the past decades." Stated Bullet with a grin as he eyed Mael, Sebas, and Freyja, only for his eyes to glance at multiple other prominent pirates who stepped onto the even ground.
"I suggest you follow the words of our Vice-captain; you'd do best not to anger her." Said Sebas calmly as he narrowed his eyes at Bullet and pointed his two fingers toward the sky, causing numerous pieces of earth to be lifted into the air.
"Heh, anger? I want her to feel anger! Same with every other pirate here!" Stated Bullet with a ferocious grin as he squeezed Janet even further, causing her to scream in pain.
Clicking my tongue, I flexed my wings, prepared to lunge directly at this idiot, though before I could, I heard Sanji's furious voice echo through the air as he spat profanities I'd never heard him utter; however, before he could near us, the island suddenly began to rhythmically shake, causing me to smirk as I lowered my hands while stepping to the side.
"How dare you to harm a wom-" Yelled Sanji angrily as he glared at Bullet, only for him to be knocked into the distance by a large man of pure muscle coated in a layer of dark black haki.
Grand didn't say a single word and merely charged toward the enemy with fury I'd never seen from him in all the years I'd known him; his every step caused the island to shake as if his wrath seeped into the world itself.