One Piece: Reborn as Enel

Chapter 284: Mind of a Conqueror, Pity and Shaking Atmosphere

____________ POV Narration ____________ 

Shiki didn't move for a second, observing Francisco as he dashed towards that last Seraphim.

He seemed to want to go there himself, to face his former captain one last time. But the earth prison he had trapped his opponents in seemed to start cracking.

Those cracks quickly gushed out blue flames, leading to the cracks to widen, before the entire compressed construct broke down completely, shards of it blowing everywhere as the two Seraphs jumped out of it and towards Shiki with angry looks in their eyes. 

'Damn, that didn't last anywhere near as much as I expected. I guess Francisco can deal with him...' 

Shiki immediately batted away two slashes from the Seraphs, before manoeuvring around in the air and slipping past them. 

'These pieces of shit are a lot stronger than I thought they'd be... I guess Xebec was always a monster.

They seem to have a decent mastery over his fighting style and even haki, whilst being able to use the genetic traits of Lunarians. Rather scary combo.' 

Shiki was still able to avoid their flying slashes in the air, as it was his territory. But soon enough, the Seraphs seemed to sheath their blades.

'Finally going all out, huh?' Xebec had never been a true swordsman... Brawling was where he excelled, and Shiki was about to be reminded of that, not that he could ever forget. 

Now that he had his hands full, he couldn't afford to pay any further attention to Francisco.

The blonde swordsman in question had already arrived next to the Seraphim that held Xebec's soul.

The blonde swordsman scowled as he walked forward, circling the clone with a curious look in his eyes.

The younger version of Xebec didn't move, but its eyes somehow seemed to follow Francisco, gaining a hopeful light whilst also displaying a rather haughty attitude. 

It seemed like he couldn't talk... Nor move. 

"Seems like your willpower's still intact. At least it allows you to disrespect direct orders for a while, seems like you're struggling though..." 

Francisco quickly took some mental notes, wondering if killing the Seraphs would lead to it switching to a different one. 

Still, within that small android body, the blonde swordsman could feel a lot of anger and rage. 

"... I see." Francisco sighed, although unable to hear his captain, he completely understood the emotions, the colour of his soul spoke volumes of how he was feeling.

His entire life, Xebec had fought hard to oppose the World Government, and done countless atrocities for that reason. And it was all simply because he dreaded the thought of ever ending up back in his current situation.

'A slave without any will of his own.' 

It was a fate worse than death for a conqueror like Xebec.

He had overcome his slave origins long ago, he had grown to the level where the very institution that enslaved him saw him as a balance-shifting threat... 

But now, after his death. He was brought back to life only to serve as a tool, nothing better than a slave, for the ones that he had fought so hard to oppose.

It was beyond demeaning, and Francisco could feel the repressed Conqueror's Haki whirling within the small Seraphim's body.

"It's better if I put you out of your misery then." 

Francisco had a tinge of pity in his voice. It couldn't be helped, but he couldn't bring himself to outright hate Xebec. 

Even if he had the time to lose his loyalty to the Rocks Captain during his long tenure of being tortured in captivity, he still couldn't bring himself to hate Xebec.

The blonde swordsman may now disagree with a lot of what they had done, but he still remembered the good times as well.

The times they were huddled around campfires, speaking of their life stories, their aspirations... Before even the beginning of the Rocks crew. 

Xebec used to be a much calmer person at least to Francisco. The two had shared a long journey. 

'And exactly because of that... There is no better person to put him out of his misery now.' 

In an instant, Francsico pulled out the original Xebec's Saber from the hilt on his hip, he slowly walked behind his former captain with a resolute look in his eyes, before shaking his head and slowly walking to the front.

'Even after all those years, I can't bring myself to 'backstab' him...'

Normally, a Lunarian's resilience would have made the young version of Xebec hard to injure.

But its lack of resistance, as well as the sharpness of Francisco's haki, made the situation a lot smoother.

With a quick wave, the clone was immediately decapitated. 

'A lunarian wouldn't die from a stab to the heart, at least not quickly. This is the most painless method...' 

Francisco continued to look his former captain in the eye, up until the point where the light vanished from them.

"Rest in peace. A relic from a past era... Maybe I'll join you soon enough." The Swordsman slowly sheathed his blade and moved his sight to some of the other battles happening around.

He had a straightforward mission... And that was to assist anyone that was struggling. His job was to try and minimize the casualties on their side. 

And he immediately jumped away, running to get a vantage point that would better help him scout the situation in the other battles.

The entire war had been split out everywhere across the holy land and beyond, the fights with the Elders had all spread out across different parts of the Red Line.

Currently, the most difficult battle was near the shores of the Holy Land, where the entirety of the Marines were fighting Saint Saturn and Kong. 

But there were a lot of heavy hitters there already, so Francisco wasn't outright needed there. Instead, he decided to rush to Big Mom's assistance, as she was facing Saint Warcury mostly alone, the strongest of her children were still with her.

People like Cracker, Smoothie, Perospero. But they could at most try their best to block off some attacks for their mother, they were a bit out of their depth.

Oven and Katakuri had gone on their battles, trusting their mother enough to protect their siblings and herself against the Boar Demon Elder.

Thankfully, Big Mom wasn't left without assistance for long, before Francisco even reached the place, someone else got teleported in, courtesy of Law.

Just as the gigantic Boar Elder rushed to Headbut Big Mom, almost making full contact, the gigantic Empress was replaced by a much smaller, burly man.

In an instant, the Elder's advance was stopped, all momentum being stolen away from him with a simple touch.

"Kuma..." Elder Warcury scowled hatefully, his horns suddenly turning into blades.

"Ursus Shock..." 

Before the elder could put his sharp tusks to use, he was immediately propelled backwards, a gigantic paw-shaped shockwave rushing out of Kuma's palm, returning all of the momentum from earlier to the Elder.

Kuma slowly clenched and unclenched his fist, which trembled slightly.

'As expected of an elder... What absurd power.' 

 "I didn't need your help, Warlord brat!" Big Mom's voice sounded out, as she landed back in the middle of the battlefield, her fiery hair shining as her entire figure was engulfed in conqueror's haki and lighting. 

"I shall provide you with assistance regardless. I can at least take a few more hits for you, so you can attack without worrying." Kuma's voice held little emotion, but it was resolute.

He slowly glanced towards the Elder, his curly hair slightly moving in the powerful wind surging around them still.

Big Mom continued to scowl, before she slowly reached out and grabbed her large saber from the ground, animated with another piece of her soul.

This display made Francisco stop in his tracks, and reassess the other battlefields, realising that Big Mom should at least be able to continue to stall Warcury for now with the help of the others.

'I guess I'll go help elsewhere...' 

As he hopped off, he, as well as everyone else on the ground.

Felt a large shift in the atmosphere around them. Followed by a sickeningly high increase in temperature.

'It's almost as if someone's brought the sun closer to the earth...' Francisco marvelled as he looked up, blinking a few times.

Many did the same as him, only to witness an otherworldly scene. 

Two gigantic blackened hands, they had extended long out of the boundaries of their planet's atmosphere, towards the sun, and they had clearly grasped... Pieces of it.

Pieces of it were then dragged down to their world. 

'Shit... Things are getting serious up there...' 

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Hope you liked the chapter!

My bad for the delays lately. Literally just finished moving out then went on a vacation, yesterday was the day of arrival, and I was too tired to write and kinda just slept the whole day.

I have my laptop with me tho, so I'm hoping the change in scenery will help me put out some good chapps

Story Shoutout: 

Discord, again: 

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