Chapter 123: Turntables
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Hashirama was annoyed seeing Marianne snatch the fruit and eat it. Worst of all, it was the Mythical Zoan fruit – he could have given that to Rebecca. Maybe.
However, the annoyance soon passed when he realized this situation's 'wrongness'. The Nine-Tailed-Beast Zoan Fruit wasn't supposed to grant any sort of Chakra to the eater, and Marianne herself certainly didn't have chakra to make Tailed Beast Bombs, so this was an odd situation where fandoms merging. The unknown force that brought the Senju and Uzumakis into this world perhaps brought this beast here too.
Perhaps, if someone without Chakra ate the fruit, they wouldn't have gained anything beyond the usual stuff shown in the canon. Surely, Catrina Devon had eaten this fruit in the canon timeline, and only had one Mythical power outside her Zoan transformation; the power to take on the appearances of people. Yet, Marianne's chakra reserves had grown to a level where she could call forth Tailed Beast Bombs!
Certainly, since Tsunade already had a devil fruit, and Hashirama wasn't planning to eat one, it was Marianne who was most suitable for this Mythical Fruit. So, Hashirama's initial annoyance burst into laughter as he enjoyed the destruction.
"W-what is wrong with her?!"
Hashirama, a clone of the Main, reached the wall of the waiting room and leaped through the open window. He was immediately confronted with a question from Rebecca, who pointed a finger at the giant Nine-Tailed Fox whose raging tails have turned the audience seats into dust.
People were running, fleeing, and some nearly dying only to be saved by the few strong people who were in the audience from the get-go. Namely, the Kuja Pirates who were in the audience all along, the crewmates of the Senju Pirates, and the Blind Swordsman Issho.
"Too much is happening to explain," Hashirama said. He theorized the sudden spike in chakra might have caused Marianne to go insane, and would require a beating to calm down. "I need to go stop her first before someone super strong gets mad and kills her."
To begin with, Issho had already cut a lot of fur from a few of her tails. If this continued, she might lose one of her tails altogether, it would be troublesome.
"Quick. Choose one."
Hashirama said, just as another clone of himself landed beside him. He held a treasure chest in his arms just as the first one did.
"W-wait, didn't you say you'll choose for me?"
Rebecca looked unsure as she stared at the chests nervously. Hashirama quickly shook his head.
"I chose the Mythical Zoan for you in my head, but uh-" he turned to look at the Fox in the arena. "Anyway, choose one chest. Leave it up to your luck."
"O-okay... then, I choose this."
She pointed at the chest that the first clone was carrying, and Hashirama quickly opened it to reveal the Logia: Resin Resin Fruit.
"Good pick."
Hashirama handed it to her and turned to Beidou who was just there. He grabbed the other fruit from the other chest, the Turquoise-Turquoise Fruit, and handed it to her.
"Don't eat this yourself. It's not as impressive as it sounds, Turquoise isn't as hard as diamond. Give this to someone else, I don't know, anybody works."
"I don't plan to eat a devil fruit anyway, but thanks."
Beidou accepted it and nodded, and Hashirama thought of what to do next. While thinking, he observed as Rebecca ate the Logia fruit in large bites, grimacing at its taste. Gears rolled in his head and he got an idea.
"You two go support the Kuja Pirates, the Marines, and my Senju Pirates. Do whatever they are doing, fight the enemies, and beat them up. See you later."
Saying so, both of the clones took off in the air again, flying toward the Demon Fox.
* * *
Chaos was reigning throughout the nation. Doffy's Birdcage covered the entire island, and he also turned off the Live Broadcast. Dressrosa was now separated from the world, and only the winner would leave it alive.
Doffy flew across the sky with his strings while wearing a scowl. Hashirama, that little piece of shit ruined everything!
When he summoned hundreds of clones of himself, everyone in the guest room went silent in shock. When he leaped to the water to steal the devil fruits, however, Doffy rose and leaped at him.
Tsunade Senju moved at the same time, her punch just inches away from Doffy, until King the Wildfire stepped between them. The Vice-Admiral and the Commander flew across the sky after that, while Doflamingo continued chasing one of the clones.
Only for that clone to get attacked from behind by Tsunade's subordinates, and then a bunch of other clones flew after him to stop him from killing that marine girl.
A minute later, here he was, flying across the sky after turning off the broadcast. He approached the battle between Tsunade and King the Wildfire.
"King!" He yelled. "Leave her to me, you should switch places with Smoothie! I am not trying to order you around, but neither I nor she is suitable for Boa Hancock."
King looked pissed, as he was having an equal match with Tsunade Senju who had turned into a fire demon. King hadn't gone all out, he was still in his humanoid form, but on the other hand, Doffy believed that Tsunade was in her strongest form.
If that's how strong she was, Doffy was confident in taking her on. Though that'd only happen if King agreed to leave.
Thankfully, King the Wildfire understood what Doffy was implying. Hancock was just a broken unit on any battlefield, and she had to be taken out before she could cause too much destruction.
With that, King turned around as his large wings flapped, and left.
"Oh, you're gonna stay with me."
Doffy crackled a laugh and stood in front of Tsunade, even though she hadn't tried to go after King. To begin with, both of them knew her real target was Doflamingo from the get-go.
Since she was so fond of using Fire, and she was in a full-on fire form, Doffy decided to start with a similar technique.
"[Overheat]!"
A thick string came out of his palm, it was red and orange, glowing with heat. It could cut through buildings like butter, and now he waved that towards her.
The heated string, moving fast like a whip, rushed to her neck. Doffy was confident that if it hit, it was sure to sever her head. Yet, she caught it midair, casually in her hand.
"That's it?"
Her hand heated up, like the bright sun, and his strings... evaporated into smoke.
She patted her hands to clear the dust, though no dust remained. Her fiery body returned to normal, as wind whirled around her to keep her afloat.
She cracked her knuckles. "You don't understand the situation, Doflamingo. You are not as strong as King the Wildfire, and I am not as weak as you think. The reason why I let King go away is simple. He beats up Hancock, but I beat up you. Hancock's defeat isn't an issue, but your defeat will make your entire army lose morale. Then, Marines take care of your army, while I take care of King. The few remaining problems, such as Smoothie, will be taken care of by that Hashirama brat."
Tsunade gave him a toothy smile. "It's the end of your era, Joker."
Before Doflamingo knew what was going on, a fist that could destroy mountains rushed at him like a meteorite. He couldn't even react as it hit him in the chin and his head just... exploded.
"Huh?"
Yet, not even a drop of blood spilled. White strings burst out from his head, and even his body broke apart into white threads.
"A... string clone?"
Doflamingo played smart. He hadn't come himself and sent a clone. Was he inspired by Hashirama, or what?
Whatever the case, Tsunade had to find him before King finished with Hancock. She couldn't go support Hancock instead since Doflamingo and Smoothie might gang up on her from behind, along with other people, and it would be too much of a mess to control.
"Coward."
Tsunade couldn't help but grin, reminded of that day when it was her who was forced to flee. How the turntables.
* * *
The situation inside the Colosseum was outrageous. The once home of Gladiators was nothing but ruins now, all thanks to the gigantic demon fox. All the civilians have been evacuated, and the strong forces were too busy fighting among themselves.
Issho observed the situation grimly. Most of the clones of that young man, Ra, have been destroyed by either the foot of the fox or the enemies they have attacked, that being the five defenders of Doflamingo and Ulti. Though all of the five defenders, too, have been knocked out of the battle in the process, and now only Ulti and a few dozen clones remained in the vicinity.
The Kuja Pirates and those five girls that were sitting behind him before, were out of the arena now, busy clashing with the other members of Beast Pirates, Big Mom Pirates, and Donqixoute Family.
Only the clones, Ulti, and Issho remained inside the Colosseum. They understood that the fox had to be taken care of, otherwise its rampage would extend to the entire nation, killing millions of innocent lives.
"Let me fight it!"
Though Ulti, the dinosaur girl, cared less so about the innocent lives, and more about brawling the beast in a head-on battle. Unfortunately, she didn't understand that the fox was above her league.
"How frustrating."
Issho grumbled slightly. His hand was on his sword, and he was deflecting the tails that came to attack him every now and then, following a random pattern since the fox wasn't intentionally attacking anybody.
If it was, he would have severed its head by now. However, Issho didn't want to hurt an innocent who didn't even have control of their body. He wished he could call forth a meteorite to make the fox unconscious, but the Birdcage above their heads would slice all meteorites into a million pieces.
The only thing Issho could do was to, even if he didn't like torturing the Marine girl like this, call forth the pressure of a thousand tons over her body. The gravity might not make her paralyzed, but her movements would be slowed. Then-
"Stay back!"
Suddenly, one of the Ra clones yelled.
Issho's Observation Haki allowed him to focus on the fox, and at the same time notice what Ra was doing. The remaining clones hugged each other and merged into one. They grew large, their many bodies fusing to form only one, as he grew a bit over 10 feet.
Then, be leaped at the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Ulti who was planning to attack around the same time, thus Ra's yell earlier, paused in her spot as she sensed a threat. Issho froze too.
Even amidst its mindless frenzy, the Fox Demon sensed the incoming danger and looked at Hashirama who had taken off to the air. He was flying up like a bullet, and the fox demon opened its mouth to charge another purple ball of destructive energy.
It was then that Issho felt why the young man felt dangerous. He raised a hand, and a ball of bright blue sun formed on his palm. It was smaller in size, but no less lethal.
"Rasengan!"
He reached near the fox's mouth, and his blue sun collided with the black hole of the fox.
The world shook, more than ever the entire nation of Dressrosa trembled as everything exploded from the impact point.
Ulti was sent flying out of the Colosseum due to the air, and even Issho was the same. Though the future admiral managed to get a hold of himself using his fruit, floating in the air with his spiritual eyes wide.
"What power..."
And that wasn't even the real deal, that was just a bunch of clones together.
Ultimately, the two beams exploded into one another, and smoke filled the area. Not that it obscured Issho's vision; he managed to see as the Nine-Tailed Fox fell to its side, and its body shrunk into a human form to lay naked on the broken arena.
The Night-Tailed Fox met its defeat.
Yet, the clone-man remained. Damaged he sure was, with cracks running down his wooden body, but he stood over her with the aura of a victor.
Issho hesitated when the clone leaned over and picked up the girl that had been the fox a moment ago, but decided not to intervene when he covered her body with a banana leaf. The clone then took off into the air with the girl in his arms.
"...What a fascinating young man."
The immense life energy that he exhibited made Issho put back his sword, he decided to trust the young man in this situation.
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