Daybreak…
That was the deadline for Captain Kuro and his planned attack on Syrup Village; but with Usopp's clever thinking and a few barrels of oil, the team were able to slick up the slope where the pirates were planning to attack from. "Now, this is what will become of that Butler's crew…the moment they try to climb the hill, they'll slip up on this oil and I can pick them off with my most devastating move; "The Lead Star"!" Usopp explained with glee as he jangled his bag full of ammunition.
"I gotta hand it to you, you know how to make a crafty trap." Zoro complimented Usopp as he rested his hand on his sword; "Any stragglers come through then they can taste the edges of my swords." He mentioned with a battle hungry smirk.
"And on top of that, I can kick their collective ass if they get too close…I've been wanting to see how my skills work on a mob rather then just one or two people." Morgan chimed in, with a wide grin plastered on his face but then turned to Usopp; "You said that this guy was bad news…Any idea on this Kuro guy?"
"Yeah, but most of this is just what I heard…Captain Kuro runs the Black Cat Pirates and he was known for being a master strategist but three years ago, it was announced that he was put to a firing squad…though it looks like that was either fake or he had something planned…" Usopp explained to the group
"Why couldn't I have gotten a group of normal people to navigate, no psychotic clowns or murderous butlers?" Nami groaned internally as she looked to the three; "Meanwhile I will be watching and waiting for the right time to sneak past and steal their loot on whatever ship they got~" Nami said with glee as she could easily imagine that the chaos of Morgan and Zoro could distract them long enough for her to swipe.
Usopp would then jump in with a straight face; "And while that's happening, I can hide." he remarked, making both Zoro and Morgan roll their eyes.
"You're helping too, remember?" Morgan pointed out; "Even if we can do our part, we can still use your help for traps." He elaborated further as he looked to Usopp while the sun was going up; "Daybreak's here…but no one's showed up…"
"That…that can't be right, they said they were attacking at daybreak before anyone could wake up." Usopp was getting confused and quickly changing to concerned but then realised when he and Nami heard the distant roar of a pirates' attack; "Shoot! I thought if they were planning it all here then this was where they were…they must be landing at the other shore in the north!"
"THAT'S WHERE OUR BOATS ARE!" Nami shrieked in realisation; "THEY'LL BE ABLE TO GET MY TREASURE IN THERE!"
"Then we have to move it, now!" Morgan warned as he sprinted off to the north…or at least where he thought the north was.
"You heard him, we have to get going!" Usopp yelled out as he ran in the right direction with Zoro getting dragged backwards on the oil as a result of Nami grabbing onto him when she slipped on the oil.
—A Few Minutes Later at the North Beach—
Usopp and Nami were both watching as the wave of Pirates were unloading onto the shores with everything from hammers and axes to basic guns and swords. But with his Village and the desire to protect Kaya burning him; Usopp stood at the top of the slope with a proud glare: "BY THE ORDER OF CAPTAIN USOPP AND HIS 800 MILLION MEN, DEPART THIS ISLAND AND GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM!" Usopp would bellow out for the other pirates, including Jango to hear with varying degrees of scepticism.
"800 Million?"
"Does he think we're that dumb?"
"Even a kid has a better lie to use then that!"
"Usopp, I think if there was any time to use this, now's the chance!" Nami would whisper to him as she grabbed a bag by her waist.
"Yeah, I guess you're right….but where are the others! we could use the muscle right about now!" Usopp whispered back as he grabbed his pouch and unclasped it; "On two….ONE!"
"TWO! NEEDLEPOINT HELL RAIN!" Nami and Usopp yelled out as they threw the bags upward and while the pirates were making their rush up the hill, they were immediately overcome with pain as they found themselves stepping on dozens and dozens of tiny caltrops. Despite them being briefly stopped; it didn't bode well for the two non-close range fighters; "Come on, you two….I hate to say it but we really need you over here right about now!" Nami grumbled
—Meanwhile….Somewhere—
"DAMN IT USOPP! WHICH WAY IS NORTH?!" Morgan yelled as he ended up running into a tree in the forest
Zoro meanwhile was still trying to climb back up the oiled up slope, using his sword blades as climbing gear; "Damn it Nami! I'm gonna make you pay for this!"
—Back at the North Shore—
Usopp aimed another Lead Star at a set of pirates and nailed them between the eyes, however with his move down to grab more; one more pirate that was armed with a stone mallet slammed down on Usopp with a heavy sounding hit.
"Alright, now he's done with…We can move on!" The victorious pirate roared back to the others who were getting to their feet.
"You heard him! We're on a tight schedule and he's held us up long enough already!" Jango would order as he watched the mobs start to march past the injured Usopp who was trying to yell and stop them in place.
But to most people's surprise, the Black Cat Pirates would see the first few people who made it passed were almost immediately sent back flying to the slope; At the top of the hill were a very annoyed looking Morgan cracking his knuckles and an angry looking Zoro. "You guys made it, what happened with you two?" Nami would ask as she was a little tired out.
"NAMI! YOU GOT ME STUCK ON THAT HILL!"
"USOPP! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME WHICH WAY THE SHORE WAS!"
Usopp looked at them both from the ground; "You ran off with such confidence….I didn't know…You needed directions.." He replied weakly before he saw that the pirates were backing down.
"Those two…they're a lot more tougher looking then those trap throwers…If I know Kuro, he'll slaughter us all if we're late, so I might have to pull out some big guns." Jango mused as he reached into his coat pocket.
"C-Captain Jango, you're talking out loud again." One of the nearby pirates said before noticing the pendulum that their captain had pulled out.
"Alright everyone! Take your focus on this right here…Once I say "One, Two, Jango!" then you will become stronger than you have ever been before, your wounds will heal and you'll fight with more vigor than ten men!." Jango announced as he started swinging the pendulum.
"The hell's that guy doing? He's just swinging that thing around…" Zoro asked in confusion before looking to Usopp; "You know him?"
"ONE!"
"I-I don't know! it could be a throwing weapon, so hit the deck!" Usopp would say pressing himself to a tree.
"TWO!"
"Whatever it is, just look out!" Nami yelled as she decided to start running towards a rock for cover.
"JANGO!"
The beach was silent and only the sound of the waves could be heard crashing against the boats; Then a crescendo of almost rabid sounding roars broke out from the pirates as their eyes rolled back and they broke into a feral sprint up the cliff path towards the still standing duo on the peak of the cliff.
"Alright, it looks like we have to…Oi Morgan…what's going on?" Zoro turned to his captain once he realised that the snark and the planning stopped…only to notice why.
Despite all his talk about being able to see a bluff or not getting blindsided, it didn't do squat when Morgan didn't know how hypnosis worked; Morgan was similarly growling like a wild animal and clenching his fists until they turned white, lowering his head down with a loud roar and fully sprinting down the hill towards the oncoming pirates.
"Wait, if he's running in all wild like that, he's not going to be able to use that martial art of his!" Zoro would think before getting into a defensive stance.
"SWIFT STYLE KENPO: ARMADILLO STAMPEDE!" Morgan yelled out as he started to move faster and faster; he rolled forward to stand on his hands before catching the first two pirates with his heels and then sprung off of his heels when they hit to hit the next few pirates with a twohanded hammer strike on the next pirates. This cycled repeated itself, becoming faster and faster until the Strawhat Captain looked like a spinning green and brown wheel of hits knocking down pirates left and right in his frenzy.
Nami watched in stunned shock; "Even unconscious; that guy is a monster! Wait…Now's my chance to get to the boats!" she thought to herself as she ran past the unconscious pirates towards her boats though she still got caught in Jango's sights with his pendulum.
"Oh no you don't, you're not going anywhere!" Jango would say as he retracted the string and held the pendulum in his hand like a chakram…wait, it WAS a chakram; swinging it forward while Nami ran past, cutting it in deep as she yelped in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching her shoulder.
Hypno-Morgan in the meanwhile was now at the shore and running past the other pirates who were smart enough to realise that Morgan wasn't worth messing with.
"Where the hell do you think you're going? Get away from our ship!" Jango demanded as he saw Morgan's arms wrap around the stem of the ship; "SIAM! BUTCHIE! FRONT AND CENTER, WE NEED THE HELP!"
Morgan grunted through grit teeth as he gripped in tighter and Nami could swear she saw his muscles bulge under the strain, the creaking of the ship could be heard as Morgan started to pull…and pull.
"Wait, is he trying to…oh no…" Jango quickly realised the combo of this powerhouse plus his hypnotism was a real bad mix, though this got cinched when he saw the front of the ship crack and splinter before an almighty roar rang out and Morgan was carrying the stem of the ship with the giant cat's head attached to it like a giant club.
"H-He just broke the ship!" One Pirate yelped in horror.
"He's gonna crush us with that thing!" Another realised the plan as the loud and shaky stomps could be heard while Morgan carried the ship part like a gigantic warhammer.
"Not good! REALLY NOT GOOD!" Jango was starting to panic as he lowered the chakram back into a pendulum; he had to work fast otherwise Morgan was going to turn them into paste along with him; "O-Okay, You'll hear "One, Two, Jango!" and you'll be back to normal! ONE! TWO! JANGO!" Jango would yell out frantically as he tried to rush the hypnosis breaking.
Morgan snapped back like he had just been daydreaming; "Wuh…What happened? When did I-WHOAWHOAWHOA!" Morgan said groggily before he fell forward with the weight of the stem, crashing it down into the sand and luckily for the other Black Cat Pirates….missing them by a breadth.
"Good, you're back to our regular weirdo." Nami mumbled hazily and trailed off when she noticed Morgan's shirt now open when the splintered and broken ship stem had ripped apart Morgan's gi and undershirt. She could see the years of hard work and training engraved on his body; well defined muscles and the sheen of the morning sun glistened on his skin was making her heart pump faster. "I don't know if it's the blood loss or something…but wow~" Nami thought to herself but to other people, she just had a goofy smile on her face.
"Nami! What happened to you, are you okay?!" Morgan asked as he knelt by Nami as she was reaching up, her left hand extended out to him but then moved down to start gripping her shoulder to stop the bleeding.
"Jus….Just fine…kick their asses….and do it for the treasure!" Nami yelled weakly as a battle cry while Morgan got up to face up against Jango.
"Yep, you're still you..alright weirdo, you're not doing any more of that weird mumbo jumbo!" Morgan warned as Jango was flabbergasted by his opponent's resilience.
"And you're not going anywhere! We've got a schedule to keep with our captain and like it or not…We're going to that village!"
"You're late….We have a plan to keep to…SO WHY ARE YOU ALL STILL HERE!" Said Captain was standing at the top of the hill with a bag in hand and looking very, very angry at the sight of carnage on the beach in front of him.
"C-Captain….I-I can explain…this wasn't our fault!" Jango was timidly attempting to explain but he was quickly interrupted by his recent requests for help.
"We normally just guard the boat…what do you want, Captain Jango?" a short green haired man in a cat suit by the name of Siam asked Jango as they hoped into the shoreline.
"Das' right, you got them all out here…why'd ya need us?" a bigger, burlier man with a bell around his collar called Butchie added…the Meowban Brothers had shown up on the scene.
"G-Good timing, you two…you see that swordsman up on the hill? Go take care of him for Captain Kuro!" Jango ordered them both.
"Wait…Kuro's back?" Siam would ask in disdain when he saw the suit wearing butler glaring down at them; "I thought he was retired."
"Jango's captain now…and Kuro's just been coastin' all three years long! Getting all soft and docile while we've busted our humps to get better at being pirates." Butchie sneered and turned his focus.
"Listen! You two are to deal with the sword guy! Captain's orders and his plan remember?" Jango warned them both, however it seemed that not all of the Black Cat Pirates were that scared as the Meowban brothers rushed past to get at Kuro.
"PUSSYWILLOW MARCH!" The two yelled out as they lunged for the butler with a flurry of claws to scratch him to bits.
What they found however was a ripped up bag…and Kuro missing; "Where'd he g-" Butchie questioned but quickly found himself paralysed with fear alongside Siam as they had Kuro's Cat claws poised at their throats with him behind them.
"You are right….I have gotten soft." Kuro growled as he had them shaking like leaves in his hands; "Five minutes….I'll give you all five minutes to clean this mess up and get to the village…fail that…and I'll just slaughter you all myself." Kuro gave his remaining crew an ultimatum; "Do as he asks…get the swordsman...and Jango, you go into the village and get the girl, I've already spent this long trying to play along...but I'd much rather not get pulled into a fight...I just want peace." Kuro would say before finding his head snapping back as a rock collided with his head; smashing one of the lenses in his glasses.
Morgan however was smirking as he tossed a second rock up and down in his hands; "If you wanted peace, then becoming a pirate was a big mistake for you!"