Grand Voyage- Log 31

Log 31: Dahlia Part 12
The rebels moved frantically, boarding the spare lifeboats the royalty had left behind. They quickly pushed off and caught up quickly with the other escape boats used by the townspeople. A leader grunt stood up, waving his hands.

“Hey, we’re here too!”

The regular citizens responded immediately... or rather, began whispering and puttering about immediately.

“Should we let them on?” asked one, “they’re the Resistance. For all we know, they could have caused this.”

“Not possible,” said another, “they’re running away just as scared, and just as suprised! Get them on!”

“Did you here about Mr-”

“SHUT UP!”

The rebels’ innocence quickly became the general consensus, and the citizens began ferrying the rebels onto the main boats, Calico and Chima included.

“FORMER KING-?!” the crowd began to yell in shock.

“I know, I know,” Chima responded, raising his hand to quiet them before slumping on one of the benches that lined the decks of one of the boats, “but we need to get out of here first. Questions later.”

“Naga Naga no Lightspeed!”

Knave hurled himself into the air, landing on top of one of the still-intact houses. He frantically looked around, just in time to see Art pull himself up. “You okay?” he called.

The Majin jerked his head up, startled. “Knave?! How the hell did you-?!”

“Long story!” his captain said frantically, “let’s get moving! I know how to beat that thing!”

“There, done,” Stormy said, finishing her ad-libbed operation on the Marimos’ navigator.

“Finally!” Sid said, leaping to his feet, then stopped, as though shocked. He whipped around, his eyes assuming the likeness of hearts.

“STORMY-CHWAN!” he gasped, leaping towards here, “I’M SO SORRY FOR MY WORDS! I WAS CAUGHT UP IN THE MO-”

Stormy’s foot once again met his face, and he dropped sadly to the ground. “Just go save your damn captain,” she growled.

“Right!” Sid said, returning to normal, “I’m coming for ya, Kna-”

“Oh, Sid, you’re here!” Knave said happily, as he and Art dashed around the corner, “come on, we have to attack again!”

“Wha-?!”

“ATTACK THE ROOTS! GO FOR THE ROOTS!”

Sid responded almost immediately, leaping into the water and using Geppo to push himself rapidly downward, the root already in sight. Just a few more meters.... he thought to himself.

And that’s when the veins came out of it.

“Naga Naga no Lightspeed!” Knave yelled again, jetting up into the air, quickly flying above Dahlia. “Naga Naga no- EEYAH!”

He dropped to the side as several tentacles immediately flew towards him. Art used his fingers, launching himself off the ground, his feet delivering a massive blow to the appendages. “DAHAMA!”

“Naga Naga no Rapid Fire!” Knave yelled as he fell, swinging his hand in the air in a slapping motion. Large blasts of the white flame energy flew forward, peppering Dahlia’s face. It roared and shifted again, but by that time Art was at its head as well.

“DAHAMA RAS!” he yelled, as he shot forward, his feet embedding themselves into the burnt surface of the monstrosity’s face. It let out a small growl, immediately bringing its tentacles towards its face.

Art used its head as a launching point and backflipped off it, right as the tentacles soared past him and smashed the beast in the face. It roared in frustration and once again began whipping its tentacles around at incredible speeds, catching the Majin. Art quickly raised his legs to block, then screamed as several tentacles made impact, as the tendons in one of his legs were ripped to shreds.

He was flung into the water.

“Bastard!” Knave yelled, his white aura flaring around him yet again, “NAGA NAGA NO LIGHTSPEED!” With an incredible burst, he appeared directly behind Dahlia’s head. “NAGA NAGA NO BLAST!”

This time, however, the creature was ready, as its tentacles wrapped around the energy, suffering damage but managing to redirect it. It smashed harmlessly into the water.

“Hey!” Knave said, peeved, “how the hell did you do tha-”

A large tentacle slapped into him, sending the marimo lad hurling into the sky, flying into the distance.

''Rankyaku! Rankyaku!'' Sid thought frantically as he released dozens of tempest kicks at the vines flying towards him. They cut through them like butter, but more and more rose up in their place, and the navigator was running low on air.

At that moment a group of vines binded together into a fist, then shot forward, nailing Sid in the stomach. His mouth flew open and he released all the air he had, it flying into the sea in the form of bubbles. The fist continued, however, and smashed him against the seafloor.

Shit! Sid thought to himself, rapidly losing consciousness, how do I-?!

At that moment, D’Artagnan flew into the water, smashing into the vines and sending the fist-shaped formation into the sea floor beside him. Sid, sensing opportunity, immediately activated his Geppo, and leaped out of the sea, into the air. Taking a large, gulping breath, he held it in once more, and dove back in.

Once re-submerged, he fired off even more Geppos, sending him hurtling towards the roots. Almost there.... he consoled himself.

As soon as the thought was finished, dozens of vine-fists emerged, plowing into the navigator with incredible force. His eyes went blank, as he, too, slipped into unconsciousness, allowing his upward momentum to carry him back towards the surface.

With his last thought before blackness, he seized the back of Art’s robes.

Knave crashed into one of the escape boats, causing the civilians around him to cry out and quickly scatter. Luckily, this was the one with Calico and Chima on board, and the two of them quickly hurried forward, readying their weapons.

Knave pulled himself out of hte small crater his impact had created, spitting out wood shavings. “Gah,” he muttered, wiping his mouth with his wrist, “stupid plant!”

“Marimo!” Calico said, dropping down and pulling his ally to his feet, “are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Knave replied, straightening up all the way, “it just might take awhile to-” He spotted the mast that held up the sails. An evil grin formed on his face. “Hey, you guys mind if I take that?”

“Chemical Juggling: Circus Assault!”

Pink-and-purple orbs began crashing into Dahlia’s tentacles, causing massive burns to arc up them, as funny smelling smoke quickly rose from them. The plant beast retaliated by unleashing even more, attacking the young woman who had thrown them.

“Damn you, damn you, damn you!” Stormy growled as she darted between buildings, desperatley avoiding the tentacles, “why do you have to kill everything-?!”

Sid exploded from the sea near her, crashing down onto the floor, Art quickly following, held tight by the back of his robes by the navigator’s hand. The two lay there like slain cattle, unable to move.

There was only one thing Stormy could do. She ran forward and prepared to treat them.

“Of course you can’t!” Calico and Chima growled, delivering twin punches to the top of Knave’s head. The pirate boy let out a small moan, rubbing his head unhappily.

“Why?” Knave said, “I just want to use it to kill the thing!”

“Well,” Calico said, “WE need it to run away!”

“Run away?” Knave almost growled, seeming to teleport to his feet, “you gotta be kidding.”

“We’re not,” Chima said, “there’s no choice. Dahlia is too strong.”

“You’re gonna run away,” Knave seethed, “after ALL you’ve done?! Without even TRYING to fight back?! How can you do that?!”

“You don’t understand,” Calico began, “it’s too-”

“Shut up!” Knave growled, walking over to the mast, and wrapping his arms around it, gripping it, “we’ll just do this ourselves.”

“Y-you’ll die!” one of the citizens gasped, “w-we’ll all die if you do that!”

“So?” Knave said, suddenly flashing a grin, as he simply ripped the mast from its place and held it like a spear, “at least I’ll die without regrets!”

“NAGA NAGA NO LIGHTSPEED!” Knave yelled, flying into the air and spinning the mast around in his hands like a nunchuk. He quickly crossed the distance and neared Dahlia itself, muscles straining.

“F-f*ck....” Sid gasped, as he dropped to the ground once again, the tentacles retracting, blood pooling from his wounds, “w-we’re so screwed.”

“Ditto,” Art muttered, toppling to the floor, his wounds reopening, “I-I can see the Sanzu River already.”

Stormy stumbled back, in awe at the power of this incredible thing. Dahlia snarled happily, its tentacles poised for the killing blow.

“GGGOOOOO!!” Knave cried, as, with all his strength, he hurled the mast at the Dahlia, the broken off part first. It plowed through the water, and speared the beast right through the roots!

THIS got a reaction, as Dahlia let out a truly massive roar, filled with pain and anguish, it’s tentacles shriveling up and retracting. It writhed angrily, it’s veins popping, grimacing horribly with its ‘eyes’.

Knave landed on the edge of the mast still poking out of the water, his knees straining, as he launched himself back in the air, once more behind the monster’s head. “NAGA NAGA NO-” he began, but didn’t get the chance.

Enraged and in pain, the Dahlia threw all of its mass at its attacker! Knave couldn’t even make a sound as he was crushed by the full force, and silently flew across the island, smashing into a very deep crater on the very edges of the island, eyes blank, unmoving, blood pooling beneath him.

“Crap!” Calico gasped, eyes widening, “he lost!”

“We’re dead!” the civilians began crying, running around, “we’re dead! We’re dead! It’s gonna kill us all!”

Chima watched silenlty as the monster continued to writhe, the pain still hurting it terribly. His eyes narrowed. “Do we have cannons on this ship? Do the other ships have cannons?”

“Y-yeah,” Calico stammered, rubbing his head.

“Then tell them to fire all they have at that thing.”

Calico looked up, realization dawning in his eyes. He snatched yet another Den Den Mushi, and began barking in it to speak to all of the ships.

“IF THOSE DAMN PIRATES ARE WILLING ENOUGH TO FIGHT AND DIE FOR THIS ISLAND... WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT US?! THE ONES WHO LIVE HERE?! ARE WE GONNA LET PIRATES SAVE US?! FIRE ALL CANONS AT IT!”

Silence reigned for several moments, and then, slowly, cries and cheers began rising up from the boats, as the cannons began to be prepped. Chima grinned reuflly at the resistance leader.

“You know... you’re a lot better at inspiring the people than Beerus ever was.”

Cannon fire ripped through the beast’s body, tearing off large chunks of it. With its root now critically damaged, the beast could no longer totally heal, and it cried out in pain as it took more and more damage, fire spreading across it as it let out moan after moan.

However, it finally pinpointed the location of the attackers! It’s remaining tentacles lifted into the air, then charged at the ships, the monster giving its all to kill the bothersome gnats who dared oppose it!

Knave stirred, then pulled himself up, growling. Energy began pooling in his hands. “Stupid.... monster...” he said, pulling himself up. He threw his hands up, the energy spiraling and taking form, into a massive line of pure energy.

“JUST DIE ALREADY!” he yelled, hurling the bolt with all his strength. “NAGA NAGA NO LANCE!”

The bolt flew at incredible speeds, then collided with the beast’s head, which exploded like a watermelon hit with a hammer! Green gunk flew everywhere, as the beast began rapidly “deflating”, air and guts pouring out of it.

With a final moan, the beast slid to the ground, an empty skin which quickly sank into the water.

Knave smiled slightly at his success, then pitched forward, collapsing to the ground, unconsciousness claiming him.

Slowly, cheers began to rise up on the boats, as the townspeople threw their hands and arms into the air, rejoicing at their victory, at their final triumph against the shadow that had covered their island for so long.

“KANPAI!” they cried, “KANPAAAIII~!”

~End of Log~

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