One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 273: Clima-Tact



Three dozen kilometers away from Dressrosa on the sea.

"Are we being chased, Brook?" Nami called up to the crow's nest, some trepidation in her

tone.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I do not spy with my little eye any enemy ships following behind! Of course, I don't have any eyes to spy with! Yohohohoho!" Brook joked.

Brook's usual nonsense did a lot to lift the mood of the ship; such was the job of the crew's resident entertainer.

Nami let out a sigh of relief. They had used the Coup de Burst three times in a row to ensure they got a good lead in case Akainu's steam ship followed them.

However, Franky had mentioned that they couldn't just keep using it over and over. For one, it took time for Cherry's Fizzy Pop revolver to refill the barrels. More importantly, no matter how tough the Thousand Sunny was, there was only so much strain from the Coup de Burst that the ship could take before it started falling apart.

Without Franky and Cherry on board to find and fix any damage, that was a genuine concern they had to keep in mind.

Now that Brook had confirmed that they weren't being chased after, he went ahead and had a good look around the horizon for any other anomalies.

"Ah, I see a ship off the portside bow!" Brook called out.

The ship in question, he quickly realized, was enormous in size. A Man-o-War, in fact, was exceptionally rare to see in the Grand Line. That was mainly due to the chaotic weather patterns; such a large ship had limited maneuverability to dodge cyclones, maelstroms, and the like.

The reason these people dared to sail such a massive ship on these dangerous waters became quickly apparent. It turned to face them with unnatural speed, making it clear that they had spotted the Thousand Sunny as well.

At the front of the Man-o-War, the figurehead was a big goofy face wearing a crown. Though Brook could not hear it, the face moved its mouth in a way that gave Brook the impression that it was singing a song.

The body of the ship was styled to look like cake and candy, and upon the main sails of the ship was a jolly roger wearing lipstick and large letters reading "BIG MOM".

"BIG MOM?!" Brook shouted in alarm.

"""BIG MOM?!?!?!"""The others parroted in shock.

"Well that isn't good." Jinbe said, already turning the ship to starboard.

"What are we going to do?! We can't fight Big Mom!" Nami screamed.

"It isn't very likely Big Mom herself is aboard that ship, if that makes you feel better," Jinbe said. "Big Mom has an infamous appetite; one that can't be as easily sated while out at sea. She only leaves her territory when she has to."

That did make Nami, Chopper, and Momonosuke feel better, but only a little bit. It was still Big Mom's crew that was chasing them after all.

At this point the ship came into view for those on the main deck as well. Cresting over the horizon was a behemoth of sweets, the happy go lucky figurehead's smile seemed much more menacing than it was with the massive ship as a backdrop.

"Oh, that's the flagship." Jinbe said. "The chances that Big Mom is aboard are a bit higher then."

"Stop it, Jinbe! You're gonna jinx it!" Chopper pleaded.

"In my experience, talking about jinxing makes the jinx more likely. That's what happened to my old crew, Yohohoho!" Brook spoke cheerfully, but with an unusually serious undertone.

Chopper quickly bit his tongue.

"Bahhh." Merry commented.

"What do you mean 'We can take them!'?! Look at the size of that ship!" Chopper replied. "Bahhhh Baaah!" Merry countered.

"It doesn't matter how bloated it is, we're outgunned!" Chopper insisted.

Nami looked out to the seemingly empty ocean before them contemplatively. "Jinbe, turn another 15 degrees starboard."

"Aye." Jinbe assented immediately. He hadn't had much of a chance to see her navigational skills for himself, but the others had practically gushed over her expertise in that particular area. As such, he trusted her judgment without question.

"We hardly changed directions at all. How will this help, O-Nami?" Momonosuke asked, curious and hopeful.

"There's a cold front coming in from this direction." Nami spoke mysteriously, gripping her Clima-Tact till her knuckles went white.

Caesar, who had been quiet till now, spoke up with widening eyes. "You aren't going to... That isn't possible, it won't work."

"It'll work." Nami smiled, both confident and nervous.

A few minutes later, the Big Mom Man-o-War was steadily gaining on them. The crew aboard the monstrous ship shouted and jeered at them. The occasional warning shot was fired in their direction, but they were still outside the range of their cannons.

"Hand over Caesar, Bon! If you do this, we'll even let you go on your way!" The voice of someone was projected to them from Big Mom's ship. Cherry would recognise the voice as Tamago if she were here.

"Don't do it! I'm the world's greatest scientist! I'm worth keeping for yourselves!. Just don't give me to that woman!" Caesar pleaded when he realized he was the target.

"Don't pay any attention to them. Just keep going." Nami said.

"Thank you!" Caesar said, almost half genuinely.

"I'm not doing it for you!" Nami snapped at him. "Now be quiet, I need to focus!"

Nami wielded her Clima-Tact and began to launch heat balls to the right, left, and behind the ship. Streaks of plasma were left in the wake of the heat balls as they landed in the water, releasing vast amounts of boiling steam in the air.

On the Queen Mama Chanter, Pekoms and Tamago watched Nami's actions closely. They wouldn't dismiss her actions out of hand just because she wasn't one of the strong members

of the crew.

"It seems that they're getting desperate. She's creating fog to cover their escape, Bon." Tamago surmised.

"Gao! I'd agree with you, but for some reason my instincts are tickling the back of my mind. In any case, we should be careful of that weapon. It can probably set the ship aflame with just a

touch." Pekoms said.

Nami was soaked in sweat. No matter how short a time she was close to each heat ball, she had still thrown a couple hundred of them so the temperature was getting to her.

"Come on, come on! Just a little more... THERE! Prepare to Coup de Burst immediately!" Nami screamed at them.

Hearing the urgency in her voice, they moved quickly. Fortunately, the most time consuming part of the process, replacing the cola barrel, wasn't necessary. Fizzy Pop had refilled the

barrels by now.

The familiar warbling could be heard by the Big Mom pirates, but they could not see what was going on. They prepared for battle, in case the Thousand Sunny came out of the fog to fire

some manner of weapons at them.

Pekoms shot out of his chair. "Get us out of here, RIGHT NOW GAAAOOORRR!!!"

The Big Mom pirates were momentarily stunned by his sudden outburst, but quickly went to

follow orders.

"What is wrong, Pekoms? Bon." Tamago asked with trepidation.

Pekoms didn't need to answer his question, as it soon became very apparent.

The sky grew darker.

A tinge of green filled the atmosphere.

The fog cover started to swirl.

Everyone on both ships, with the exception of Nami, shouted in unison...

"CYCLONE?!"