(AUTHOR'S NOTE: As of the time I'm writing this note it's just the bare ending of October 31st so-HAPPY (lil late) HALLOWEEN! I hope you all are had fun and were safe! I was originally going to go to a party but I've been kind of out of it all day so I opted to stay home instead. BUT, I did have a costume that I wore to a costume party earlier this month-AND I WENT AS THE FUTURE KING OF THE PIRATES HIMSELF, MONKEY D. LUFFY! It's pretty makeshift and really is the most closet of closet cosplays but I had fun wearing it that night, also forgive me that the scar isn't on my face because I didn't have anything at home to draw it on with. I was also originally planning on making a Halloween doodle for this chapter but art block go brr-so instead I'm showing y'all my costume. And this chapter's a long one so be warned! I hope you enjoy the chapter and I'll see y'all later!)

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Chapter Ten:

" The Power Of Pink Makes A Comeback !"

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(NO POV)

Meanwhile, Nami and Usopp, the two who got to the correct shore first, had been able to hold off the pirates for a bit until Nami realized she'd thrown some of the caltrops they'd thrown at the pirates behind them too. Usopp got hit in the head with a hammer by a pirate and was on the ground, "Do you really think you can stop us?" The pirate asked tauntingly. Nami looked at Usopp's body on the ground in horror, "Let's go, guys! Captain Kuro is waiting!" The pirate shouted to his comrades. He went to start walking but felt Usopp's hand grab his ankle, "Let go you bastard! You want more than what I already gave 'ya!? HERE!" He stepped on Usopp's head before Usopp said, "I'll never...Let you step foot in that village..." He slowly propped himself up on his elbows, "Because all I did was lie as usual, the villagers think it's gonna be another normal day...So you and your cronies will never set foot in there!"

"SHUT UP, KID!" Another pirate with a sword shouted about to strike Usopp down again when Nami struck him first. She got into a quick fight with another who then took her down, "Give up, you two! I won't tell either of you again!" Jango the hypnotist from behind then shouted at his men, "Quit playing with these brats and get going already! Or have you forgotten this is Captain Kuro's operation!? If anything or anyone should interfere he will kill all of us! Do you dumbasses understand that!?" 

"C-Captain Jango's right!" 

"Let's head to the village!"

The pirates began running up the slope again, Usopp weakly trying to get them to stop and even attempted grabbing at another one's ankle before getting kicked off. 

'Please don't kill them...Leave this village alone! They're good people, they don't deserve this! I love this place...Please.' Usopp hopelessly thought to himself. He then opened his eyes as he felt the sunlight obscure and saw all the pirates being flown back, crying out. Usopp slowly sat up to see the cause of it, "What is this, Captain Jango!? Nobody mentioned killers like those were gonna be here!" A pirate cried out.

"Finally..." Nami muttered. 

"Was that the best those pirates could dish out?" Zoro asked unsatisfied. 

"Don't look at me! I was hoping for a challenge!" Luffy replied.

"I'm just surprised I came out of that unscathed. Uh-I'm not too heavy or anything, Zoro?" Isaac asked. "Light as a feather, Pinky!" Zoro replied. "USOPP 'YA BIG JERK YOU NEVER TOLD ME WHICH WAY WAS NORTH!" Luffy shouted at Usopp. "Who are these guys?" Jango pondered aloud. Usopp looked at the beat-up pirates and then back toward Luffy and Zoro, "Y-You guys are that strong!?" He exclaimed, to which Luffy nodded. "What took you guys so long!?" Nami complained. "You're the one who pushed me down that oil spill so you could get out!" Zoro shouted, "It was an accident! It couldn't be helped! You get it, right Isaac?" Nami asked the pink-haired male on his back who shot a glare at her, "FUCK NO NAMI, YOU LEFT ME DOWN THERE TOO! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT!? MAYBE ZORO COULD GET OUT ON HIS OWN BUT I FOR SURE CAN'T!" He shouted in anger. "Well, you seem to be doing fine now, isn't that what matters?" Isaac raised a brow, "What do you mean by-" Nami then gave him a nod to look down which made Isaac remember where he was and he quickly hopped off Zoro's back. "Wh-Whatever man!" 

"Night is long gone now...And that means that Captain Kuro's patience is thin." Jango said before shouting to his men, "Get up! Don't tell me those brats did all of you in!" All of the pirates slowly stood up, "Listen! We don't have time to dilly-dally here!" Jango began putting his hand in his coat, taking out his ring. "If our enemy is strong, then we just need to be stronger!" 

He began to sing the ring back and forth, "Now watch the ring closely...On the count of 'one, two, Jango' you will become strong! Your wounds will heal and you will grow stronger still!" 

Isaac squinted looking at the pirates from afar, "I don't know a lot about hypnotism but...Is that actually how that works? Can he actually do that?"

"One...Two...Jango!"

The pirates began shouting battle cries and one of them punched the cliff and a chunk of it fell off, and Isaac flinched. "OKAY, I GUESS HE CAN!" He cried worriedly before looking to his captain, "Luffy what are you gonna-Luffy?" 

"NOW GO AND CRUSH ANYONE IN YOUR WAY!" Jango shouted and the pirates began charging. "You three get back! Luffy and I will take it from here!" Isaac hesitantly inched closer to Luffy, "L-Luffy? You-uh-you there, Cap?" Luffy was growling before looking up and shouting. "Don't tell me you let that freak hypnotize you too!?" Zoro shouted annoyed. Isaac backed away from his captain and the swordsman, "Yeaaaah I ain't messing with that. I'll help Nami with Usopp..." He then slung Usopp's unoccupied arm over his shoulder. "Uh-Good luck Zoro!"

With a single use of his 'Gum-Gum Gatling' Luffy sent all the pirates on their backs again, "Damn you, Captain Kuro...You made one Hell of a miscalculation! These guys are no ordinary brats!" Jango exclaimed. The pirates looked at the boy in the straw hat briefly before running away with Luffy chasing after them, the pirates then tripped over one another and Luffy dashing towards Jango who put his hands up as a defense waiting for painful impact, but instead, Luffy ran past him and toward the boat. "Where's he going!?" Zoro exclaimed. Luffy grabbed the front of the ship, tearing off the cat-themed head post. Isaac laughed, "Aw Hell yeah let's go! Mess them up with a piece of their own ship, Cap!" "Yeah! Go Luffy, tear it down!" Nami cheered. 

 Luffy began to stalk towards Jango and his men with the head post, causing the pirates to scream in terror and run away. Jango quickly took out his ring and swung it, "On 'one, two, Jango' you'll fall asleep!" He shouts panicked. 

"One...Two...Jango!"

Luffy then passed out, falling over and dropping the head post, crushing himself and about a dozen pirates along with him. "Looks like those guys are just about wiped out, don't ya think?" Nami asked, and Zoro shrugged, "I guess so." Usopp looked worriedly at the straw hat pirate underneath the figurehead, "Maybe, but Luffy's still trapped underneath that cat, look!" And Isaac gave him a reassuring look, "Don't worry Usopp, after seeing him survive a fall from cliff, I'm not as worried about him getting crushed by that big ol' ship part. Honestly, I'm more worried about you, Bud."

Jango slowly got up, "Damn that brat! Now the plan's really screwed up! If Captain Kuro sees this, we're all gonna be slaughtered!" He rambled in a panic, clutching his hat. "Hey, Butchie! Come look, there's some bad stuff going on!" A voice shouted which brought a smile to Jango's face, "Yes! We still have a trump card!" He cried out hopefully. "Come forth, Meowban Brothers!" He called to the voice and two figures jumped into view, a skinny man with a hunched back and slightly curled green hair accompanied by a bigger man wearing a purple cape. Both of them had cat ears on their heads and gloves resembling cat claws, as per the theme of their crew. "Did you call for us, Captain Jango?" The skinny man asked, "Well, did you?" Asked the other man. 

The skinnier one did a pose, "Sham!" followed by the other exclaiming, "Buchi!" before together they announced, "Together we are the Meowban Brothers!" Jango looked at the brothers, "Sham! Buchi! We absolutely must get past this hill, but as you can see our pathway is blocked. Get rid of that obstacle in our path over there!" He pointed at Zoro and the brothers flinched, "We-We can't do that! He looks too strong! Right, Buchi!?" The skinnier one looked at his brother who nodded vigorously, "Yeah, he's way stronger than us!" Zoro, Usopp, Nami, and Isaac looked at the brothers in confusion, "Besides, we're just supposed to guard the ship, not fight!" The hunched-over one continued, "We're really not the guys you wanna send into battle." Said the other brother. 

"So they're a couple of cowards. Guess they're not the trump card after all." Usopp said. Jango frustratedly looked at the Meowban Brothers, "Sham! Just do it already!" He demanded and the hunched one, Sham cried, "Why me!?" Only to get yelled at Jango again and so he pathetically nodded, "Okay, okay! Just stop yelling." He pleaded teary-eyed. "He's in tears! What's he trying to do!?" Nami exclaimed as Sham started running at Zoro, shouting and crying out about how he was gonna hurt him real bad. Isaac narrowed his eyes, "But why would Jango call them his trump card...Unless..." He and Sham briefly made eye contact, making his eyes widen in realization. "You come any closer and I'll cut you in half! I'm not joking, I'll do it!" Zoro shouted with a hint of hesitance because of his opponent's show of fear. Isaac looked at the man running towards Zoro and he then went to shout, "ZORO WAIT IT'S-!"

"You can certainly try!" And Sham's claws clashed with Zoro's sword, "Too bad! It seems you underestimated me, didn't you!?" Sham said with a smirk and newfound cockiness as he jumped back. "I'm impressed you could block me after my brilliant performance! Don't let your small amount of skill have you underestimate Sham of the Meowban Brothers!" Zoro looked at Sham before looking down, "Are you missing something? Not that I know about it..." Sham said mockingly.

"Give me my swords back!" Zoro shot a glare at Sham, "Swords? But you already have a sword, how greedy can you be?" Sham held up Zoro's two other swords, "Bye bye, swords!" Before throwing them behind him and licking his gloved hand, "There! Now I'm much lighter." Zoro growled and slashed the cat-man with his remaining sword, "You're supposed to take care of other people's things!" He shouted enraged, running to get his other swords before getting jumped on by Sham. "You should really be faster, because I'm agile as a cat!" He pushed Zoro down on the ground and called to his brother, "Buchi, you're up! Get in here!"

Buchi nodded, "I'm on it!" And he jumped up really high shouting, "CATASTROPHE!" but Zoro was able to break away just in time to avoid getting jumped on again. "Dammit he got away! Hold him down tighter this time!" Buchi scolds his brother, "My bad, it seems he's stronger than we thought even without all his blades."

Zoro stood back up, sword in hand, "I'm not that great at the One-Sword Style, but hey-what the Hell." The Meowban Brothers got ready to strike again, "Let's go Buchi/Sham!" the brothers exclaimed in unison before attempting to strike Zoro multiple times with their claws with Zoro working on blocking every advance. "This isn't good! They've got him on the defensive!" Nami shouted and Usopp raised his slingshot to attempt to shoot one or both of the brothers, "Usopp, what are you doing!?" Nami exclaims in surprise, "He's not gonna get anywhere booking those guys' attacks! I'm helping him! LEAD STAR!" And he shot down at the fight, Usopp's 'Lead Star' hitting Zoro in the back rather than at either of the brothers. "Now's our chance!" Sham exclaimed and he and Buchi slashed Zoro's chest multiple times, Zoro shouted out in pain as he was cut before he moved back from them.

 "USOPP WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING I THOUGHT YOU WERE AIMING FOR THE BAD GUYS!" Nami yelled, Usopp looked down at the 3 in combat narrowing his eyes, "I was...It seemed like he let it hit him on purpose..." Isaac looked in Zoro's direction, confused, "But why would he do that?" Zoro looked up at Usopp, "You dumbass, don't help me! Do you want to die!?" He then got back up, dodging more slashes. "You don't suppose...We're the ones who got saved? Had you hit one of those guys, they would've come after us instead. And none of us would've had a chance at holding up against that!" Nami explained, "All this time...he was worried about us?" Usopp mumbled. 

Isaac growled in annoyance, 'Yeah but if he's busy worrying about us, then who's gonna worry about him!?' He internally shouted before getting up, "Isaac where are you going!?" Nami looked at Isaac concerned about his sudden look of anger. "I'm getting Zoro's swords! If I can at least get one of them back to him then it'll all be worth it to me!" He said. "Izzie, no! Let me get the swords!" Usopp protested and Izzie gave him a serious but determined look, "No, I want to do it. I need to! You're injured but you're also a better combatant right now than I could be so they're gonna need you more than me! I've barely brought anything to the table since joining this crew, so the least I can do is try to make myself useful at my own expense!"

"Wait." Nami put a hand on Isaac's shoulder, "None of us would want you getting hurt too bad over this, so I'll come with you as backup, but I'll let you get Zoro's swords back to him. Okay?" Isaac sighed before nodding, "Okay." The two jumped down from where they and Usopp were and Isaac ran to where Zoro's swords were with Nami following, and just as Isaac had picked up one of them he heard Nami grunt behind him. "NAMI!" He cried as he saw Jango had cut her with his ring which appeared to also be a form of blade and she fell down to the ground, Isaac immediately went to her side to make sure she was alive. "Nami! Nami, are you okay!?" 

"What do you need swords for?" Jango sneered before facing forward and screaming. Everyone turned to where he was looking and saw Klahadore aka Captain Kuro himself standing in the pathway, furious. "No! I-I'm sorry! I can explain!" Jango begged, and Kuro pushed his glasses up, "The night has long since passed, so why is it that you've made no progress on the plan!?" The remains of the pirates from earlier were frozen in fear, "C-Captain Kuro! He'll kill us all!" One shouted. 

"To think that these brats have held you back, oh how the Black Cat Pirates have fallen...What do you have to say for yourself, Jango!?" Kuro shouted in anger. "B-B-But you said letting that kid go wouldn't cause any problems!" Jango chuckled nervously, "I did say that, but what's the point? He's an idiot, so I knew no one would listen to his warnings and that he'd try to take a stand against us. But what I didn't take account of was your inexcusable weakness!" Kuro exclaimed. "Watch what you say, Captain Kuro!" Buchi piped up, he and his brother's focus moving from Zoro to their captain, "You used to be quite the killer, but that was 3 years ago! And we haven't been partying while you were gone!" Sham explained, "Yeah! We've attacked lotsa towns and sunk lotsa pirates!" Buchi added. Kuro's expression didn't change, "You finished?" Sham grinned, "No! You've been doing nothing this whole time while we've continued killing!" Buchi nods in agreement, "There's no way you could beat the Meowban Brothers of today!" The brothers then ran past Zoro in order to attack Kuro. 

"No! Don't!" Jango cried as they reached their claws to pounce, "You're our captain no longer!" Sham shouted, "Sorry, but now we have to kill 'ya!" Kuro began rapidly tapping his feet before vanishing from the view of the brothers, confusing them. Kuro appeared behind them, his gloves now with long blades in between his fingers, "Who were you going to kill?" He asked in a serious tone. The Meowban Brothers went after him again but after once again rapidly tapping his feet he disappeared from sight, "There it is! The Pussy Foot Maneuver!" He gasped. Nami's eyes opened and she looked up, "Nami! Thank God you're okay!" Isaac cried, "What's the Pussy Foot Maneuver...?" She mumbled. Kuro then reappeared behind the brothers, his blades near both of their throats, "You're right, I do feel a little sluggish..." He smirked, "Though you should consider yourself lucky, because I'm actually feeling rather merciful. Maybe these 3 years on dry land have made me soft...I'll give you 5 minutes. If you can't take care of things here in 5 minutes...Then I'll kill every last one of you." He raised his blades, "Have I made myself clear?"

Jango tipped his hat, "Y=Yes! Five minutes should be enough, thank you for being so forgiving! All we have to do is take care of this one and we can get past this hill!" The Meowban Brothers' attention returned to Zoro, "We'll definitely be able to cut him up in 5 minutes!" Buchi exclaims. Nami slowly stood up, holding her right shoulder and she looks at Isaac, "G-Get Zoro those swords, dummy..." She said. Isaac nods, "Got it!" He quickly picks up the swords and makes a dash for the swordsman. Jango notices the pink-haired boy's movement and says, "Not on my watch!" And goes to swing his ring blade Isaac's way, "Isaac, watch out!" Nami shouts. Isaac's about a few feet away before he turns around and yelps before putting a handout and shouting, "Stop!" 

Jango's mouth fell open as his ring was frozen in midair with a pink aura glowing around it, the only thing distancing it from Isaac's face being his extended arm. "What the Hell just happened!?" Jango exclaims, and Isaac stared at his hand and the ring that both had the same pink glow, "It's just like back in Orange Town...Well that's convenient." Isaac quickly but cautiously lowered his hand, causing the ring to fall to the floor and ran to Zoro's side. "Zoro! Here! I got your swords!" He huffed holding them out, and Zoro smirked, "Nice one, Pinky! I owe 'ya one." He put his 3rd sword in his mouth and got in a stance for one of his attacks.

"Two extra swords won't help you against us when your skill levels' the same!" Sham exclaimed as he and Buchi began to pounce, "You still don't get it do you?" Zoro asked confidently before moving swiftly past them and striking them, Isaac watching as the Meowban Brothers flew over his head. "Wow..." He whispered, "Four minutes." Kuro said. "Just having 3 swords means nothing...Unless you know 3-Sword-Style!" Isaac looks at Zoro and averts his eyes, 'Why does he have to be so effortlessly cool!? It's making it a lot harder for me to not...' His face flushed. "I'll-uh-I'll get out of your way now! Keep up the good work!" Isaac went back to Usopp's side to stay out of Zoro's way, and Jango had at this point retrieved his ring.

Zoro laughed and pointed a sword towards Kuro, "Don't worry, I'll crush every one of you before your 5 minutes are up!" Klahadore pushed up his glasses again, "3 minutes left..." Buchi gripped Jango's ankle, "I'll...I'll slaughter him!" He choked out. "Hypnotize me! P-Please Captain! Just do it!" He pleaded, Jango kneeled down beginning to hypnotize Buchi as he asked, he slowly stood up and growled before facing Zoro again. "What? You back for more?" Zoro asked. Nami then ran to where Luffy was sleeping, "I gotta wake up that lazy jerk while I still can!" Jango then turned to see her and thinks, "What's that crafty girl up to?" He flung the ring in Nami's direction.

"NAMI LOOK OUT!" Isaac and Zoro called out. 'I don't think I can pull off the same trick as before from this distance!' Isaac thought panicked, Nami went to step on Luffy's face, "WAKE UP YOU BUM!" She yelled at him before hearing the cries of warning from her friends and Nami then fell to the ground as Luffy stood up, holding her foot and yelling back at her, "NAMI YOU CAN'T JUST STEP ON PEOPLE'S EYES!" And the ring flew into Luffy's mouth.

"How is that twerp still alive!?" Jango scowled, Luffy crushed the ring to bits in his mouth, "Luffy!" Nami cheered sitting up. Luffy yelled out in pain for his teeth, "That hurts you jerk!" Nami glared up at him, "Hey that wasn't me! I-It wasn't me..." Nami clutched her shoulder and collapsed again. Luffy looked down at Nami concerned, "Nami, are you okay? What happened to your shoulder?" Nami smiles weakly, "It's nothing...I'm fine. I'm leaving the rest to you..." She raised her fist, "We can't lose...No matter what! Do it for the treasure!" Luffy raised a brow, "Well, alright. Sure?" He said. "Try hard and protect my treasure!" Luffy nods putting on his straw hat, "Yeah yeah, treasure, I get it..."

"One minute...and counting," Kuro said and the other pirates were panicking and began shouting at Jango and Buchi to hurry, before turning and seeing Luffy walking towards them, not wanting to face his wrath they all stepped aside for him. "Buchi, kill that 3-Sword bastard! I'll handle the bendy freak! I'm coming for you Straw Hat!" Jango shouted and Kuro lowered his blades, "Time's up. You knew the deal, and now you'll all die."

Rapid footsteps were approaching, causing Usopp and Isaac to turn and be shocked to see who it was coming towards the conflict. "Don't ever sneak up on me...Unless you want to die!" Usopp quickly got up and moved in between the person behind Kuro and Kuro himself, "KAYAAAA!" He shouted moving her out of the way and shielding her. Kaya sat up on her knees, "No, Usopp! Are you okay?" She asked him worriedly, "Kaya...What are you doing here?" Usopp asked weakly and Kaya frowned, "Oh Usopp, I don't know how you could ever forgive me...I just couldn't believe it, that Klahadore was a scheming murdering pirate." 

"N-Nevermind that! Why are you here!? I told you to run away because you're life's in danger!" Usopp said, Kaya tearing up and crying out, "I won't! You're still out here fighting, I won't run!" She sniffled, "Even though I treated you so horribly, and you've been hurt so much, but you're still so brave...I just..."

"This is no place for a lady...Madam, why are you here?" Kuro spoke up and Kaya glared up at him, "Stop this! Stop this right now, Klahadore!" She stood up, "I know what you're up to, Merry told me everything...Please, Klahadore! If it's my fortune you want, you can have it! Just please leave this village, right now!" Kaya begged. "I'll gladly accept your fortune, Miss Kaya. Thank you. But, there's one other thing I want...What I want is peace." Kuro explained, "You want peace?" Kaya asked and Kuro nods. "Yes, just simple peace. I've spent the past 3 years earning the trust of this entire village, and to be honest I found this new sense of peace and tranquility comforting...So when this plan is done and over with, I will have this peace of mind..." 

Kaya stepped back slowly, her hand reaching into her coat pocket, "Yes! The glorious comfort of a peaceful life, will be mine forever and ever! In short, these pirates are coming!" He pointed his claws at Kaya, "And you will leave your fortune to me, and die. These two things are absolute." Kaya's eyes widen in horror, "N-No...You can't...You just can't be!" Usopp gripped Kaya's ankle, "Kaya run! Run away! There's no use talking to him, get out of here!" Kaya pulled out a handgun from her coat pocket and pointed it at Kuro, "You're not Klahadore! You're not! Leave this village and never come back!" 

"Oh, you'd point a gun at me?" Kuro asked, "Stop it, leave right now!" Kaya shouted causing Kuro to sigh, "I see, you're all grown up now. So much has happened in the last 3 years...Miss Kaya, do you remember all the things we went through? We spent so much time together, even before your parents passed away." He begun taking off his gloves and pushed his glasses up once more, "You were more than my master, you were my best friend...So many memories, together we suffered and together we rejoiced. I would take you shopping in the city, whenever you had a fever I constantly looked after you, and we used to talk for hours and hours..." Kaya was starting to tear up again as Kuro reached out for her, placing a hand on the gun in her hands. "I was devoted to you for so long, and for so long...I endured it. I suffered quietly just so today I could take your life and everything I deserve!" Kuro declared, successfully taking the gun from Kaya and dropping it to the ground."

"I, who was once the feared Captain Kuro, had to smile humbly for some snot-nosed girl, it went against every fiber of my being..." Kuro lamented, tears streamed down Kaya's cheeks and Usopp on the ground was getting visibly angrier, grabbing the gun and immediately getting on his feet and shooting Kuro. Kuro dodged and put his gloves back on, "Thank you for reminding me..." He surrounded Usopp's head with all the blades of one hand, "Usopp, I owe you for hitting me, so let's get even." A stretched-out fist then punched Kuro hard enough to knock him down. Isaac could finally release a breath of relief, "Thank God! Luffy's back in action!"

Luffy's arm retracted and he grinned, "If he hates getting hit that much, then he's about to have a really bad day!"

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TO BE CONTINUED...