Growing Heart

Ch 9 - A Second Chance

"Oh no," Sid murmured. She whirled around to face her fears.

Enel slowly pushed himself up to standing position. "You...you fools," he coughed, "Is that all you've got? Once you're gone, the world will be mine. Once again, everyone will fear me, worship me, and revere me. This is my world and you vermin are no match for me! To me...nothing is impossible! I am the Almighty God!"

Whatever air he was breathing seemed to be vastly different from Sid's because he regained his strength with every pause in his sentence.

"Feast your eyes, rubber boy, on the falling island's despair," he taunted, "Listen, Shandian, to the cries of your people."

Sid's fist clenched and her skin started to turn black again but it didn't go any further than her knuckles before retrieving back to its normal state. I...I need to stop him...Please...Great Warrior Cagara...Grandmother...Someone...help me bring God's Armor back...

"The lives of the angels will be terminated. No one can stop it any longer. Of course, that includes you!" Enel continued. He raised his hand, covering it with sparking electricity.

"Stop it!" Luffy clenched his fist once more and ran towards Enel, who smirked and put his hand behind him.

"Grom Puddling!" Enel yelled. He melted the metal behind him using electric heat and then molded it into a golden ball right in front of him. It happened so fast that Luffy couldn't even pull back in any way. His fist went right through the center of the hot metal.

"LUFFY!" Sid and Nami cried.

"HOOOT! OW! Damn it. It burns! AHHHHH!" Luffy screamed. He fell the ground and his whole body writhed with pain while he tried to pull his arm out of the metal, which had already hardened, "It doesn't come off! Dammit!"

"Yahahhaha," Enel laughed as he walked over to Luffy, "In honor of the good fight you put, I'll give you this gold."

"What?" Luffy asked.

With a hard kick to the ball, Enel sent it sailing right over the edge of the ship. The weight and force of the ball was too much for the rubber boy and even though his arm continued to stretch behind him, he was pulled right to the side of the ship, no matter how hard he fought against it.

"AHHHHHHH!" Luffy roared. He threw his free hand over the side and used all his strength to keep himself upright and on the ship.

"Yahaha. Once I get rid of you," Enel laughed, "The world will be mine just as it was before. There will be no one in the world who can defeat me!"

"No one in the world?" Luffy repeated with sweat dripping down his face, "There are lots who can! In the Blue Sea, there are tons of monstrous fighters. Someone like you is-"

"Enough!" Enel yelled. He came at Luffy with lightning speed and used the force of it to punch the railing right under Luffy's arm.

"Someone like you is-," LUffy tried again as the railing splintered into bits and sent him tumbling out of the ship.

"LUFFY!" Sid and Nami screamed.

"Damn you!" Luffy's voice echoed through the air.

"He should be fine, right? Cause of that..rubber thing?" Sid hissed at Nami.

Nami nodded numbly while she clutched Luffy's hat to her chest. "Ah...The fall shouldn't hurt him but..."

"THAT'S LUFFY! Boo! Horsey-Bird! Luffy's falling!"

"Son of a-" Sid growled as she raced towards the railing and poked her head over the edge. "AISA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?!"

The little girl seemed to shrink even smaller against the glare of the healer but she kept her hold on Pierre's neck firm while a now awakened Boo was draped on her shoulder. Then she gulped and looked defiantly up at Sid. "I...I AM A WARRIOR!"