𝗢𝗛 𝗗𝗘𝗘𝗥-! ᴼⁿᵉ ᴾᶦᵉᶜᵉ ˣ ᴼᶜ

22 - Beasts

“Aren't you one of Alligator's subordinates?" Xuri, who was behind the man, asked him. He physically shivered, jumped and screamed from the sudden voice behind him. A ghostly smirk appeared on Xuri's face as she stared at him with glowing cyan eyes.

"Y-yes Ma'-am!! Mr. 3 at your s-service, Ms. White F-flame!!" Mr.3 shreeked in response while doing a salute. Xuri almost snorted but held it in, "All right, I expect good work from you...?" 

Xuri, Luffy, Buggy and Mr.3 were all running away from the monsters of level 2 while defending themselves.

"DAMN IT!! THESE MONSTERS JUST KEEP ON COMING!!!"

"WHOA!! The giant centipede just exploded!!"

"WHAT-?! THAT'S DISGUSTING!"

"That thing's made up of lots of smaller puzzle scorpions!!! They're extremely poisonous!"

"GRAHHHHHH!!!!"

"...Come to think of it, I heard the boss of the level two beasts was some kind of lion monster…is it one of those things?!" Buggy asked Mr.3

"I'm afraid not! Those are man-eating lions with human faces…'Manticores'!! If they catch you, They'll devour your bones and all!!!" Mr.3 replied. The Manticores started to talk in human language which weirded all 4 of them out. 

"Hey, you said just now you'd help us out, right?" Luffy looks at Mr.3

"But of course! We should all work together to escape this place!!" Mr.3 replied, catching his breath from running.

"Good…which way do we go down to level 3?"

"Huh…" Mr.3 was confused at Luffy's question since he expected him to ask the way out of this prison. "You're not going to escape?!! You're not heading for level one?!! You want to save 'Fire Fist' Ace first?!?!!" yelled Mr.3

"You people are crazy!! I'm leaving!!" Before Mr.3 could run away, his feet seemed to not move. Behind him was Xuri radiating a mild yet dangerous aura that nearly made him pee his pants.

"Hahaha…I was just kidding! Alright, let's go together!" Mr.3 trembled before running into something huge.

All 4 of them looked up to see a huge Sphinx who started to talk about the types of noodles there were. The Sphinx slams its paw to the ground which made the 3 men fly away except for Xuri who looks tired and pissed of the new 2 recruits Luffy got.

The Sphinx roared out loudly but stopped when it got a look at Xuri who was looking at it with a frown. The Sphinx then tried to sweep her away with its paws.

No matter what the Sphinx does, it seems like he couldn't even get to touch a single strand of her hair. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Buggy yelled, panicking while Luffy was amazed how the Sphinx couldn't touch her. 

"My turn." Xuri said in a low voice before jumping high in the air then slams her heel on top of the Sphinx's head. The ground shook and began to crack in which it created a huge hole.

The 4 of them and the Sphinx fell into the hole. Buggy, Luffy and Mr.3 were screaming, Xuri was dusting her clothes and the Sphinx had a humongous bump forming on its head as it fell unconscious.

"Oww!!!" Buggy and Mr.3 couldn't keep their feet on the ground from how hot it was. "The floor's like a freaking frying pan!!"

"It sure is hot…and awfully quiet too…!!" Luffy said as he began to sweat alongside Buggy and Mr.3 who looked like he's going to completely melt anytime soon. Xuri hummed in agreement to what Luffy said, it is rather quiet on this level. 

She was sitting on top of the Sphinx, fiddling with her dress that Hancock gifted her just today. It was a off-shoulder black medium length dress that had a slit covered in ruffles going up until the right side of her mid thigh. The bottom of the dress was not tight and was flowy which allowed her to fight in it. It had black embroidered lotus designs all over. 

Hancock said to Xuri that she made matching dresses for them, her's in white and Xuri's in black. Xuri accepted her gift since it is really pretty and she'd rather die in that dress than in any other clothing.

Buggy had a cheeky grin on his face as he just imagined what Xuri must be doing right now in this heat with a faint blush. He then went to Mr.3 and whispered to him what he's been imagining. Mr.3 blushed at what Buggy said, they both counted to 3 and looked behind them to find Xuri perfectly fine, not even sweating from the intense heat as she fanned Luffy with his straw hat, trying to cool him down.

"Not a chance, Bubbles. Get that image of me off your head, I know what you're thinking." Xuri retorted, not even sparing a glance at Buggy nor Mr.3. "EHHHH??!! HOW DO YOU NOT HAVE A SINGLE DROP OF SWEAT??!!" Buggy yelled in shock.

"My fire is hotter than this, even hotter than Ace's. Hence why I can handle the heat." Xuri smirked. The other 3 jaws' dropped at the new information. 

"Hotter…" Buggy began.

"Than…" Mr.3 continued.

" 'Fire Fist' Ace??!!" They both exclaimed in unison.

"REALLY?! COOL!!" Luffy's face lit up after looking like he was about to pass out.

——— ♡ ———

Slow updates, ik 😓
Btw check out the collab fic my friend and I made :  https://www.wattpad.com/story/355846564?utm_source=android&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_reading&wp_page=reading_list_details&wp_uname=zurikain&wp_originator=Zp2tGX5dIF6sdYFpUkyM7ccrXz2pIjYy66HhuOF0C3%2BJnMCAT%2FzM2C%2FQI3j6kNAKBAH%2B%2FsUuzRgvckyn82dsQ8oYysw6NKq6PhVatkII2IV0r6pzyXFxOkWiI0NkBal3