𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ➳ 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 (one piece fanfic)

Chapter 94

Aokiji had to say he didn't enjoy fighting against Konan. It was like fighting against a slippery eel. She was swift in her escapes and crafty in her attacks. One might even say underhanded. If he had to guess, he would say she was buying time and saving energy by not going all out.

Konan avoided another attack, allowing the blade to graze her cheek before she swiftly grabbed it, letting her papers spread from her hands all the way to his own arm. He quickly let go but some sheets already spread on his body, slithering all the way to his mouth to suffocate him. He immediately froze them before they advanced further than his throat.

He glared at her, she had just imitated his previous attack—and judging from her smirk, it was fully intentional.

"Glaring at someone is bad manners you know," Konan commented, stepping on thin air to appear over his head, a giant sword swung down at him.

He parried with another ice sword, grunting at the sheer force pressuring him down before he stepped aside.

Konan jumped back down onto the roof, her sword dematerializing into a flurry of black papers aimed at him. Similarly a giant ice spike appeared behind him.

They both let go at the same time, the papers merely gliding around the spike. Aokiji managed to freeze half the papers in the air, the other ones going too fast to be frozen. He had to carefully avoid them, swinging his swords to destroy them at the same time.

Meanwhile, Konan merely dematerialized to let the spike pass through her. She was about to taunt him again when she heard a shrill cry from behind her—a baby's. Despite feeling Aokiji approach her, she turned his back on him, aiming her hand at the building behind her. In a mere second, a flurry of papers flew toward the spike, grabbing it just before it was about to collide with another building—from which people were screaming.

At the same time, an icy sword pierced through her right side. She gasped for air, the sharp pain momentarily blinding her senses. Still, she didn't let go of the spike, glancing down at Kizaru before throwing it in his direction.

She then forced herself to jump away from her opponent ignoring the sudden loss of blood. She put a hand over the newly formed wound, forgoing the burning pain and the sudden dizziness. Papers formed to bandage the area.

After a short second, she managed to regain her composure, using chakra to ground herself. "That hurts... you know," she mumbled with a bitter resignation. She could feel her old wounds beginning to act up again.

"You could have avoided that," he responded. There was something in his voice she couldn't really decipher—a feigned disinterest covered the whole.

"Maybe."

"Why did you save them?" He asked, glancing at the people crying in the other building, probably a family that hadn't evacuated yet. "Going as far as getting injured for them..."

"If all I wanted was to avoid injuries I would have chosen a peaceful house and retired by now." She had enough money to afford buying an island and a few villas to go with it. "But some things are worth getting injured for."

"How... heroic of you," he chuckled, pointing his sword at her, "Maybe you should have chosen a different career path."

"Well I didn't exactly choose to be a pirate."

"But you chose to remain one." He sighed. "How unfortunate, you would have made a good marine."

Konan grinned, coughing back some blood at the same time. "Maybe in another life."

A flash of light was all the warning she had before a blinding kick appeared right in her field of vision. Having somewhat expected it, she simply dematerialized, appearing in the sky with a pair of wings.

"Two versus one, that's low..." She complained with a smile, shaking her head. Maybe provoking Kizaru wasn't that good of an idea but seeing how things were going down there, he probably wouldn't have been kept there for much longer.

"Nice to meet you, Konan I presume," Kizaru greeted politely, looking up at her with a grin.

Konan nodded back, using that short pause to check in on Luffy and his crew.

Similarly Kizaru received a call from his Den Den Mushi, "Uncle!! Damnit-"

Konan frowned as she tilted her head in the general direction of Luffy. Straining her ears, she could hear some traces of battles. Her butterflies sent reports from Luffy's current battle, he was fighting against a Pacifista. They were managing to damage him but that wasn't enough, the Pacifista was one of the weakest opponents they would have to face on this island.

"You're distracted," Aokiji commented, clashing his sword against hers.

Konan hummed, sighing in relief when Luffy's crew managed to beat the Pacifista only to frown when another pair appeared. Sentoumaru and another Pacifista. They wouldn't be able to beat them with their current strength.

"I must absent myself now," Kizaru apologized before disappearing in a flash.

"No,' Konan mumbled, knowing he was probably headed towards Sentoumaru, the Straw Hats would be wiped out at this rate. She let herself get hit by Aokiji right in the stomach, grabbing his leg and letting her black papers spread around his whole body rapidly.

Once she saw he was somewhat restrained she also disappeared, it wouldn't keep him there for long but she would take that.

Left alone and restrained, Aokiji chuckled, "Seems like I've been... dumped." He didn't seem in a hurry to break free from his binds.

Luffy was bleeding and despairing. He watched as Kizaru appeared, holding his leg at point blank above Zoro. "Zoro!!!!" He shouted, trying to run in his direction but it was useless. Zoro was about to die. And there was nothing he could do. He wasn't strong enough.

Then something no one expected happened, Rayleigh appeared and blocked Kizaru's leg.

Konan, who had just appeared, overlooked the situation from above. The 'Dark King' had decided to intervene it seemed. She had never been more thankful to Luffy's ability to gain unlikely allies.