Chapter 299: Last Struggle, End and ‘Celebration’
_________ POV Narration _________
Aramaki coughed up some blood and teeth as he struggled to stand back up on his legs. The deep imprint of Garp's fist was left on his left cheek, whilst the palm imprint of Zephyr was left on his stomach.
The duo had sent a series of internal shockwaves within the Forest God's body whilst the other combatants were countering any attack that Aramaki might've mustered up and thrown at them.
Still, Aramaki got up, vitality whirling around his body as he took one look up, towards the now-empty skies.
Enel, Luffy, and IMU were no longer anywhere near the sight of the men on that planet, they were mere blips of light among the stars now... But the last of the World Government's forces was still struggling to protect what he believed was right.
Aramaki was all that remained now, he didn't know it yet, but he could feel it.
The isolation, as he felt enemies closing in on all sides. The powerlessness, as the ground underneath him, suddenly started shifting and he even lost his footing.
As soon as Shiki arrived on their side of the battlefield, the ground itself moved to uproot any roots that Aramaki might've plunged into the ground.
No longer could he take any of his opponents by surprise by skewering them with his roots from beneath the earth. Not only that but his attacks and roots got a lot slower as soon as Fujitora figured out how to suppress them accordingly, this made it all the easier for Law to help others dodge attacks.
That was how Garp and Zephyr had gotten close enough to Armaki to strike him. Law's abilities were impossible to overcome, it allowed for instantaneous movement for all of the people on Enel's side of the battlefield.
Kizaru and Sengoku had taken it upon themselves to protect Law with their lives as well, which made him virtually untouchable.
The Straw Hats joining into the fray was really the last straw though... Brook's movements were fast, but coupled with Law it made him a sharpened blade that Aramaki constantly had to be on guard due to him.
Franky's body had also already tanked quite a few hits, and Robin's many sprouting limbs made movement difficult at times, at least for now.
In essence, even with his superior strength, the Forest God was simply stunned, unable to do anything.
"He's been on his last legs for a while now... What annoying endurance." Kizaru sighed as he randomly sent forward a beam of light, which was blocked by a branch that came out of the Forest God's hand.
"Indeed, he's much worse than Kaido even, at least that bastard couldn't damn near revive himself constantly..." Akainu scoffed, smoke coming out of his body as he pondered on a strategy to better use his powers.
His magma had stopped burning Aramaki, but its weight and his power were still able to keep the Forest God's attacks at bay, so his role was still quite important, especially when coupled with Fujitora.
Oven's heat was about as ineffective as Akainu's magma. Even though Oven seemed to put out greater temperatures when exerting himself further than usual, his prosthetics would start to melt, and the result seemed just as ineffective on Aramaki.
Momonga and Wyper were both able to injure the sturdy god's body, but the marks they left were nowhere near as deep as those that Shiki, Garp or Zephyr could leave.
Kidd recovered as well eventually, another Damned Punk was in order, but they needed to make sure that the Forest God wouldn't avoid the attack.
Shiki did his best to keep him in place, but Aramaki was hard to deal with, and when he realized that he could break Robin's arms and actually injure her, things got a tad more complicated.
Throughout the struggle for his life, Aramaki had been progressively getting stronger and stronger, as a freshly awakened god, his potential was boundless after all...
And now, the God was on his last legs. That was when he decided to finally leave it up to his instincts.
A full-on offensive from the Forest God was what ensued. A last-ditch attempt as some would say, it certainly looked like that to Sengoku.
Roots and branches sprouted from all over Aramaki's body as it grew bigger and bigger, eventually turning into a taller tree.
Roots were sent out all across the battlefield, trying to kill and/or maim as many people as possible.
It was far too much for Law to be able to help them dodge alone. There were too many of them on the battlefield now, too many people for the Death Surgeon to focus on constantly.
Zephyr lashed out in an instant, punching one of the roots apart and turning into into splinters before he looked around to help the others.
That slight fraction of a second was his mistake.
Those splinters of wood turned into bullets and pierced his body in a fraction of a second. Dozens of small holes opened up in the former admiral's body.
"Master Zephyr!" Fujitora shouted, gravity around them all increasing, attempting to slow down the roots even further. But there was only so much that he could do without also affecting his allies.
Law acted just as quickly, sensing him getting injured. He pulled Zephyr away from the fight and right by his side to administer some kind of treatment.
Chopper was also there to help now, so they could better stabilize the fighters present.
The former admiral was in pretty bad condition. But even worse was when his body started sprouting roots...
Law's eyes widened at that moment, and he immediately transported Zephyr away, just before his body turned into a live shrapnel bomb of wood.
"WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T GET HIT!" Law shouted as he now focused more and more on helping others dodge.
But he was a tad too late, as in the meantime some others had been grazed by or hit by the wooden splinters...
People like Ussop and Yassop were left in a bloody mess. Ussop was the luckier one out of the two as his father had realized something was wrong and cut off his arm before kicking him away.
Yassop was too far gone though.
Ben Beckman had also fallen, being hit at around the same time as Zephyr whilst doing his best to shield some of his comrades.
Among the victims, there was also Franky, who was simply not fast enough to dodge two roots that pierced straight through his cyborg body.
The large roots retracted, leaving behind only some splinters, and those splinters expanded to blow up Franky's cybernetic body to bits.
Thankfully death was not as final for the cyborg as it was for Zephyr... But things were still looking grim.
Some of Dragon's lieutenants who had quite literally just arrived to help were also slain.
Ivankov was almost dead at the very least. Karasu, the soot devil fruit user, and Morley, the woman giant, were too far gone. Flowers had grown out of their eyes and roots were sticking out of their guts.
Robin had tried to use her arms to block some attacks to help the others, but she could only do so much.
The roots coupled with Aramaki's wild Haki were too much for her.
The injuries accumulated in her arms, to the point of making them unusable after a while.
She was about to die as well, just as her arms fell limply to her sides, thankfully she was not yet alone on that battlefield.
Brook blocked those attacks with his body and blade. Even when enhanced with haki, the Skeleton's body still broke completely, collapsing just as soon as Robin was taken away by Law, and to be healed by chopper.
But Brook was not one to die easily... Rather, he had been dead for a while now, death was the last thing that could scare him in that wide world.
What he found most fearful was that he would not be able to help, forced to watch his comrades die whilst his broken body was stuck unmoving...
But his soul could still fight.
The skeleton breathed out a green cloud that turned into a storm, immediately covering most of the battlefield as the others retreated.
No matter how much he tried, Aramaki could not see through that cloud, his gaze squinted and his mouth twisted into a frown.
The next thing he saw was the green aura that washed over him, in an instant, the Forest God felt... Nothing?
He could no longer feel the blistering heat of Akainu's magma, nor could he feel the heat exuding off of Oven. He could no longer feel Gravity Itself pressing down on him, nor could he feel the wind around him whirling.
It was all void.
Then it crept in. A biting chill that almost froze his heart in an instant.
The cold of the underworld was what Aramaki was feeling, despite not ever dying before for good, he still understood what it was.
In an instant, his roots frosted over and fell apart, his entire body was frozen as Brook gave all of his soul into freezing him in place, immortalizing him there forever.
But, despite his panic, Aramaki knew he could break out of there... He just needed time.
"Damned Punk!"
The Forest God only had the time to widen his eyes when he heard the spiteful voice of Eustass Kid, the Wrath of Vegapunk's given name.
Just as quickly, Aramaki's body was enveloped by that gigantic laser for one last time. In a moment, the Forest God felt the ice covering him vanish, he felt as if he could still crawl away with his life as long as he dodged from the middle of the Damned Punk's laser.
But he didn't even have the time to form another thought as the other people present on the battlefield moved to overwhelm him in an instant.
"Devine Departure!" "Sever!" "Galaxy Impact!"
Shanks's blade sent a flying slash that cleaved through the space in front of it, bisecting Aramaki's body with fury.
Francisco's blade did much the same, but his severing blade aimed to separate the God's torso from his legs.
And Garp came in from above to finish him off with a great impact, pressing him into the ground whilst Kid's damned punk continued to disintegrate the God's body.
By the time the beam ended, and Kid's body was once again overheated and smoking, there was no longer anything left of Aramaki.
Nothing resembling a person, nothing resembling a tree, nothing even resembling ash.
"... We've done it." Garp's gaze was cold, as he clutched at his chest before falling on his ass, his hands both shaking slightly as he gritted his teeth.
Shanks and Francisco both sheathed their blades, they had been the fastest to arrive there among the people facing the elders, and their arrival was certainly at a good time.
But seeing the state of their allies, as well as counting the dead, made them unable to celebrate their victory.
The Marine forces were in shambles, the leaders were still standing at least, but plenty had fallen, the Revolutionaries had suffered more losses among regular soldiers, and the pirates had likely taken on even more losses, both to heavy hitters and soldiers.
But it was done. The fight was over. At least their fight was.
Francisco couldn't help but sigh internally, his gaze turning to the sly as he wiped the sweat off his brow.
'The rest is up to you, Captain...'
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Hey there, sorry for the delay!
I've officially started writing on the original story more seriously, and already have like 5 chapters ready at this point(written over time obv)
I wanna build a proper backlog before I start uploading on that one :))
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Final chapter as it is only 3 chapters away!