Steel Heart

Ch 96 - How to Ignite the Flames

The straw hat swayed slightly on his back with every strangled breath that Luffy took. Blood dripped from each of the clenched fists that he held at his side. His knees, elbows, even his whole body seemed to be bent in rage as he stared down at the man at his sandalled feet.

Bellamy was his friend. He was a good guy. He didn't have to do this. It didn't have to come to this but he was pushed. He had no other choice but to fight and Luffy knew that. Bellamy had to as a man. It wasn't his fault. It was Mingo's.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Luffy screamed as he straightened up his body to yell up to the heavens, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Doflamingo!"

Kaboom!

A wall from the left side of the room exploded into pieces and a familiar silhouette of a woman and a hammer formed through the debris.

"I thought I heard your voice," Nana said with a smile and then she raised an eyebrow when the dust settled and her eyes met the darkened ones of her captain, "What did I miss?"

"Mingoooo!" was all Luffy could scream. He turned on his heels and shot out an arm towards the opening in the roof.

Nana opened up her wings and flew up after her captain. "Tch! Wait for me!"

While in air, they spotted Doflamingo and Trebol standing amongst some debris towards the edge of the roof.

"There you are," Luffy shouted as he pulled back his arm and clenched his fists, "Nana! I got Mingo!"

"Got it! Leave the blobby bastard to me," Nana said. She held tightly to her hammer and swept down towards Trebol.

"Beta Beta Chain!" Trebol unleashed a chain of mucus directly at Nana, who dodged it easily, "Beto Launcher!"

A string of mucus spheres came hurtling towards Nana, who veered again to the side but wasn't quite fast enough. One of the spheres grazed just the tip of one of her wings.

Kaboom!

The sphere ignited and caused a chain reaction with the other spheres and Nana found herself engulfed in flames. She fell down on the roof in a smokey pile.

"Shit," she coughed.

"Oh my...Sounds like your nakama is having real trouble back there," Doflamingo laughed while engaged in battle with Luffy.

"Nana can handle herself," Luffy said.

"Ne ne ne ne?" Trebol taunted, "Where's your gloves? Did it break? Your not so tough without your glove."

"Shut up," Nana snarled as she got up to her feet, placed her hammer on her back, and dusted off her knees with her bare hands. Her gloves were back safely in her backpack.

Nana was feeling good as new thanks to Princess Mansherry but the Heal-Heal Fruit did nothing in terms of fuel restoration for her equipment, "I might not have the power to use my gloves but me and the Tontattas just freed Princess Mansherry. You can't use her anymore. We're both playing without our aces now."

"Eh?! You guys took Princess Mansherry?!" Trebol gasped and from the sidelines, a vein in Doflamingo's head pulsated.

"Oy! Tra-guy! Why are you bleeding so much?" Luffy's frantic cry tore Nana's gaze away from her opponent and she looked over towards her captain.

The amount of blood she saw pooled underneath the body of the shot up Heart Pirate felt like the same amount that drained from her face. "L...Law?" she whispered and ran over to him, easily passing by Doflamingo, who was to amused by their distress to attack.

She knelt next to her captain and gaped at the bullet wounds that punctured the back of Law's coat. A whole pistol barrel was unloaded into the Heart Pirate and to make matters worse, his whole right arm was missing.