Chapter 218

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"Mind sparring a bit?"

Zoro frowned at the white-haired girl's words. He didn't like someone intervening in his battle, not at all. More so, the girl with snow-white hair even called him a newbie…

But... he gritted his teeth and endured the words of both women. He had to hold on for his captain. Luffy was so strong, but that girl defeated him so easily. Without the white-haired girl’s intervene, the same would have happened to him and Sanji, as well.

This made him recall that girl, Kuina. His first friend. She always thought girls were weak, he recalled. But what was this? These two girls were pure monsters.

Zoro sighed. 'Either way-'

"Hic!"

Suddenly, hearing a sobbing hic, he looked behind him, his jaws almost agape.

"T- two beautiful women… fighting for me?!"

Zoro almost went unconscious seeing Sanji's teary eyes and touched face. How can a person be so delusional?

Though this served Zoro to loosen his muscles a bit. While the black-haired girl was strong, the white-haired one seemed to be a step ahead. If she was truly taking their side, this meant they now had a chance to escape.

—

"You want to spar? Bitch, do you even know where you're standing right now?"

Raki stared at the girl, the annoyance clear in her eyes. She could see her power level… but that only served to annoy her even more.

"Oh, I am just curious. I have heard about you before, you see."

The girl, who called herself Yamato, stated. Completely fine with being called a bitch.

"From the look in your eyes, you seem to be wanting to fight me, too?"

At this, Raki's annoyance changed to a smirk. "Just because you have Conqueror's Coating, you think you're some big shot?"

Yamato shrugged.

Raki snickered. "Okay, fine, let's do it your way then."

Again, purple Haki jumped out of her swords, while a half-transparent aura encircled it.

"Let me show I will one-shot you."

Yamato curled her lips upwards and coated her own weapon, the spiky club, with Conqueror's Haki. An aura of black lightning surrounded it.

They both jumped back into a distance, then kicking the ground, they rushed towards each other causing wind to rise and killing intent to cover the whole area.

Being under such pressure, some of the spectators almost fell on their knees and backed off, giving the two monsters some space.

Both girls had a grin on their faces as both their weapons were about to clash with each other, but just then… purple lightning crackled between them.

Bztch~

Before they could clash with each other, from the sky, an El-Thor of Purple Lightning slammed to the ground with a huge rumble in the sky - barely avoiding Zoro, Sanji and Luffy.

Boom!

From the sky, the figure of an annoyed Amon appeared with a dissatisfied look on his face.

Looks like his plan was too laid back since he didn’t consider the other possibilities.

….

From far, atop of a tower, a small Automata, Shortmotor heaved a relieved sigh.

"Phew, he came at the right time. Luckily I managed to send the electrical signal just in time, just like last time with Big Mom."

If not for him, wouldn't all the spectators have died? As much as he loved his Queen, it was still stupid for Raki to start fighting such a strong person whose strength was confirmed by her .

«—(★)—»

Later,

Luffy abruptly opened his eyes and jumped up on his feet.

"Where are you, woman!?"

He yelled, to which he heard a groan from behind.

Looking back, he found Zoro standing up with the help of his sword.

"Zoro! Where did that girl go?!" Luffy cried. "We are in a different place than before, too!"

Zoro, stood up, rubbing his head.

"Haah…"

His eyes wandered around the place he was in.

It was a huge white hall. It seemed to be like a training hall...? Pretty dope, he thought.

Stopping his gaze at a corner of the room, he talked. "You're right, Luffy. Though there seems to be someone who knows that answer."

His eyes locked on the tanned skinned man sitting on the chair at the left corner of the hall while polishing the spear in his hands.

Luffy turned to the corner and also noticed him, a smile forming on his face. "Oy, you! Mind helping us a bit?!"

The guy, noticing the call got up and walked closer.

"Oh, you guys are up?" He smiled. "I am Wyper. You see, the annoying guy who I work for asked me to beat you two hard, while making sure you don't die." His smile turned sadistic. "So… when do you want to start?"

After the initial surprise, Luffy and Zoro exchanged glances as they prepared their fighting stance.

«—{★}—»

At the same time,

Sanji's eyelids twitched as he slowly opened them.

Putting a hand on his forehead and rubbing it, he groaned. He had a headache.

The last thing he recalled was seeing a purple beam of lighting hitting the two girls in front of him. The beam didn't reach him nor Zoro, so he was confused at what exactly knocked them out.

'It was as if my spirit was being crushed by something…'

Suddenly,

"Ah, Sanji, you're up."

Sanji frowned. Whose voice was that? He turned to his left as his eyes went wide.

Wearing a white shirt with a pink ribbon on the collar, she had plump pink lips along with pink hair that had a bang covering one of her eyes. In the single eye that was visible, the brows that he started at, looked just like his own.

The girl smiled at him and picked up a bowl of soup from the table behind her.

"Reiju..?" his voice was filled with disbelief.

The girl smiled. "So you do recognise me? I guess the hate you have for us is that strong…?"

Sanji's body trembled.

One of the main reasons he got angry when he learned that Big Mom's daughters were being used as prostitutes – was her, Reiju, his older sister.

Since Big Mom's daughters were being used like that, what guaranteed that Reiju wasn't going through the same fate?? After all, she was also Amon’s enemy. The sheer possibility of that angered him to his core.

But now…

"Hm? You look shocked."

She seemed fine...?

She walked closer to him and sat down in the bed he was laying on.

"I was surprised when I learned you became a Pirate, but I assume you finally found something to put your passion in other than cooking. Though I am again surprised to find you here, in Skypiea."

Sanji stared. Her tone was normal… no, it was sweeter than he recalled from the past.

Has she… changed over time? Has she regained some of her emotions by being in this place?

On a side note, she was holding a bowl of soup. Is she going to feed him…?

The next second, she put the bowl down on the small table beside the bed.

"Ah, well, I would have liked to feed you, but you see, Amon would probably hate me feeding another man, even if it's you. He's obsessive like that, hehe."

"..."

Sanji clenched his fist, feeling something strange. His sister was fine, even joking with him. Did that mean everything he was scared of before was just a fantasy of his? Did that mean she was enjoying a satisfying life here?

Sanji was in a dillema.

…

Though he would never know that a brainwashed person is always satisfied.

«—[★]—»

In another room, Nami, the Cat Burglar's eyes twitched similar to Sanji, as they parted open, letting light invade her eyes.

Opening her eyes, she realised the light was different than usual… it had a golden shine to it…?

How can light be golden? Isn’t it already present in that colour? She wondered.

The first thing she realised after that was that she had gone unconscious by a strange power. Most likely a devil fruit…? And now she was here, in this room.

Looking around, she found that the room only has one bed where she was laid.

So… were the Strawhats separated by one room, or did something else happen?

She didn't want to think of the worst and got up, walking to the window in the room.

Walking by the window, Nami's eyes widened under the blinding golden shine as she felt losing strength on her legs.

"Whoa…"

In front of her was a city… a Golden City.

Houses and skyscrapers, coffee shops and restaurants, street lights and cars – everywhere her eyes went to was… gold.

Everything was made of gold…?!

Expect for the trees and the black street, everywhere her eyes went, everything she could see was made of gold.

"So this is the famous City of Gold?"

She thought that was just a myth. But she was seeing it with her own two eyes.

Nami felt her heartbeat rising, her hands shaking while her eyes shined with extreme greed.

"Careful now," suddenly a hand fell on her shoulder. "The guy ruling this place is an Omniscient God, I am sure you wouldn't want him to sense your thoughts."

Nami froze as a trail of nervous sweat dripped down from her head. She turned to her left slowly, meeting eyes with… Honey Queen.

"Ah…" Nami released a breath she didn't know she was holding. "You almost scared me to death, Honey."

Honey Queen laughed it off. "Yeah, I guess. Though I was not lying. That guy is Omniscient, at least I believe he is."

Nami had a tense look on her face at this. She trusted Honey Queen's words a lot. If a strong woman like Honey was saying something with such conviction, that must be true.

Honey laughed at this. "Don't worry too much, I am sure he hears those types of thoughts every day. After all, who wouldn't feel greed seeing such a beautiful spectacle?"

Nami nodded slowly, while Honey asked herself… ‘Who wouldn’t?’

Honey Queen looked outside the window with a distant gaze. There was a time when she would have felt greed at this, too. But now… mortal desires like greed was barely inside her.

She guessed that's what happens when a person gets directly trained by Amon. He clearly wouldn't want greedy people under him… or maybe she was different because she is an undercover agent?

On second thought, the latter seemed more plausible.

"Anyway," Honey Queen giggled. "It looks like most of us are up, we should leave quickly before the Sky Emperor changes his mind."

Nami looked at her. "He is allowing us to leave even though we caused problems in his territory?"

Honey Queen smiled nervously. "Well…" she sighed. " We are certainly lucky, but we did have to pay something for it. Both Zoro and Luffy's left legs were broken as a punishment. But I am sure you can tell this can't even be considered a punishment…"

After a slight shock that came from the fact that the strongest of her crew lost, most likely without even giving a proper fight, Nami thinned her lips and nodded. At least now Sanji would think twice before doing something like this later on…

«—«★»—»

Meanwhile,

Above giant Jack, Amon was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed while looking down in front of him.

In front of him, Raki and Yamato were on their knees with their hands tied behind them with sea stone shackles.

"Why am I tied? It's her fault, she started the fight." Raki complained, frowning.

"Um… I just wanted to fight, I was curious." Yamato mumbled, looking at Amon with a shameful face. She did what she said she wouldn't, causing problems in his territory - more so, in his base.

Amon shook his head and started calculating how he can make this situation useful to him.

Straw Hats got the fight he wanted them to have, even if the one fighting them has changed, so this wasn't that big of a problem. More so, he can always use Yamato…

He has many uses for a strong female such as her. Last time he didn’t have many options in his hand other than asking her to stay out of the War… but after she dared to do what she said she wouldn’t, a lot more options have been opened in front of him.

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Author’s Note:

Well, the epic fight of Raki vs Yamato can stay in my head… for now.