_________ POV Narration_________
The heat melted everything, and Zoro was forced to cover his blades in haki almost instantly to prevent them from going soft.
Although his blades were all named, they weren't indestructible, and steel alone couldn't withstand such temperatures. Even if it was tempered like the Meito's he was wielding.
The first one to move was Oven, stepping forward as the ground underneath him turned soft with every step he took, bubbling and sizzling as his facial expression shifted into anger.
"You Straw Hats just had to ruin everything..." Oven gritted his teeth as he proceeded to step onto the ground heavily, at that moment, he dashed at a speed that both Zoro and Sanji had to roll to the side to avoid.
The Sweet Commander's body whizzed past them, the heat searing their skin slightly as they both twirled and attacked Oven.
"Poêle à Frire: Spectre!"
Sanji hopped into the air, circling around Oven as his legs moved at unbelievable speeds, sticking at the sweet commander's body and sending ripples through his flesh and muscle.
Zoro wasn't about to be outdone either. But he was still judging his opponent's strength, so instead of a close-quarter attack he went directly for his strongest flying slash.
"Senhachiju Pound Ho!(1080 Pound Cannon!)"
His flying slash circled in the air, blowing away all of the accumulated magma in front of the swordsman and slightly cooling off his surroundings.
Oven had already put out his hand and had started blocking Sanji's kicks by that time, upon noticing that Zoro was already launching an attack, he quickly rushed to grab the StrawHat Cook by the leg and threw him towards the flying slash.
"Tsk! Stupid cook, stop getting in the way!" Zoro shouted as he shifted his blades slightly.
To Oven's surprise, the flying arc slash seemed to bend around Sanji's hurtled body and rush directly towards his chest.
He skidded backwards as a cut opened up on his chest. He whizzed as he clenched both of his fists and narrowed his eyes at his opponent.
Sanji had already stopped himself in mid-air and panted a bit.
"This guy's bad news... He barely even got cut." Zoro clenched his blades as he eyes Sanji, only to see that parts of his pants were burnt off just from being in proximity to Oven.
"You tell me? I felt like I was kicking a stone wall..." The Cook landed on the ground right to his side and complained a bit.
The fight had only just started, yet he already felt his ankles burning a bit with pain. Especially the part that Oven had grasped directly.
"We need to take things seriously..." Sanji muttered as his legs seemed to burn even brighter.
"Don't act like you weren't going all out already!" Zoro scowled at his partner, he was about to continue scolding the 'stupid cook'. But their conversation was cut short by Oven's fist.
The gigantic man appeared right above them in the blink of an eye, his fist was already aiming to crush them into the ground.
Both Zoro and Sanji moved to block it.
The Swordsman directed all three of his blackened swords to stop it, while the cook kicked upwards with impressive force.
"HAAH!" Both Sanji and Zoro shouted and grunted as their muscles struggled against those of Oven, who scowled at their efforts before pushing his fist further down.
The cook and swordsmen were once again forced to dodge, each rolled off to one side.
Oven's fist sunk into the ground and shook the remains of the castle they were currently on.
A wave of heat assaulted both Sanji and Zoro as they were forced to cover their eyes.
Oven no longer wasted any time, he decided to no longer give them any time to recover, and immediately turned his head towards Zoro first, judging him to be the bigger threat.
"Molten Wave!"
Oven's fist that had been impaled into the ground immediately grabbed at the molten earth, his muscles twitching as he flung it upwards.
Zoro recovered in time to see a gigantic wave of molten earth rising up to swallow him into the ground.
His blades immediately moved, and three distinct flying slashes cut through the wave of magma, splitting it apart and sending magma flying everywhere.
"Oi, stupid cook watch it!" Zoro's warning wasn't unfounded.
The second Oven distracted him, he dashed towards Sanji.
Zoro was the bigger threat, so in Oven's eyes, the cook was the weaker link, so he had to go down first.
Sanji didn't even need a warning though, he could feel Oven's approach just from the unbearable heat that came with being close to him.
That heat had already become a warning to Sanji, so he didn't need an audible cue to know he needed to dodge.
The cook's eyes were still closed, but he still managed to step into the air and dodge to the side, avoiding a blade that popped out of the Sweet Commander's kneed and threatened to slice him in half.
Zoro's blades were already onto the Sweet Commander as well, this time, the swordsman attempted a classic draw sword skill.
But before he could even get close, Oven sensed him and his mechanical arm unfolded into a cannon, immediately blowing a cannonball towards him.
Zoro scowled as his blade cut the cannonball, only for it to explode in his face, the blast pushed oven towards the fleeing Sanji, who had already made a beeline for the sky.
Now, Oven couldn't really fly, but he could surely jump well.
And jump he did. His legs arched and straightened up instantly as he turned into a bullet fired at the sky.
Sanji was taken by surprise, as soon as he opened his eyes and got accustomed to the heat, Oven's gigantic form was in front of him.
'There's no heat?!?' Sanji's eyes widened as he realised that his opponent had purposefully stopped using their devil fruit in order to approach him without being detected as easily.
At that point, Sanji had no chance of blocking the gigantic fist that covered half of his body. He did try to put his leg in front of it but was sent flying nonetheless.
Well, it was more accurate to say that he was sent crashing to the ground at breakneck speeds.
"Oi, Sanji!" Zoro's concerned voice broke through the battlefield as he immediately prepared to use his strongest attack.
From the clouds, Enel sighed as he felt the Straw Hat's struggling against Oven.
He wasn't about to start helping them either. He knew that Sanji and Zoro were both really resilient.
What bothered him most was that he couldn't feel how Luffy's fight against Katakuri was going in the mirror world.
Although Enel felt that Luffy was stronger than in the original, he also felt that Katakuri had grown a lot stronger.
And he still remembered Katakuri essentially manhandling Luffy at the beginning of the assassination attempt, which somewhat made things feel a bit bleak for the Straw Hat captain.
'If anything... Is it possible that Katakuri ends up awakening Nika instead?'
Katakuri was far from an enemy at the level of Kaido or any emperor really. Well, he was likely one of the strongest men alive with the exception of Emperors and figures of that level.
He definitely was a match for most admirals, with the exception of maybe Akainu and Aokiji. Even if he couldn't win against any of them, he could still hold out pretty well.
But maybe he could end up being the one to awaken Luffy... Although it seemed a bit too farfetched.
Luffy hadn't even learnt Conqueror's coating yet. He still needed to get bodied by Kaido a few times for that to happen.
'Whatever... Luffy will be fine. Even if he isn't, he still has Brook and Robin with him. Together they should all be fine.'
It was better that Katakuri was stronger anyway. Luffy needed more strength if he wanted to face Kaido.
In the first place, Kaido was stronger now if Shank's report was anything to go by.
An awakened Mythical Zoan was not something to joke about. Hell, now that Kaido was awakened he was likely stronger than both Shanks and Big Mom.
Luffy was still far off from facing off against Big Mom, let alone Shanks or Kaido. He needed all the tempering and training he could get.
"Nine mountains and eight seas make one world! One thousand worlds make one chiliocosm! One chiliocosm to the power of three and there's nothing I can't cut!"
Enel blinked a few times as he looked down once more.
The scene below him had totally shifted.
Most of that part of the island was completely melted, Sanji and Zoro were both looking haggard and injured... But Oven was still looking quite fine.
He had a few bruises and a few more cuts on his body, but it was nothing to someone with his endurance. He had at least inherited that much from his mother after all...
Still, it looked like the Straw Hats were now preparing to deliver their most powerful strikes.
Zoro was spinning his blades in front of him, and Sanji was hopping in the air and also spinning his body creating a scary amount of momentum.
Enel's eyes narrowed as he realized Oven could actually be injured seriously if he was hit by those two attacks.
'But he should be able to either dodge or block one of them and tank the other... Shouldn't he?'
And Oven attempted exactly what Enel had expected him to.
He moved to block the most pressing one putting up a hardened shield in front of Zoro's attack as he prepared for it while deciding to just take Sanji's kick.
It was at that moment that he seemed to... Lose his footing?
No, it was more apt to say that his prosthetics had finally had enough.
Both his mechanical arm and leg finally broke, his leg melting underneath him and part of his mechanical arm falling off, which in turn led to him losing balance and his footing, falling to the side.
Both Zoro and Sanji noticed that, and they forged on with their attacks.
"Santōryū Ōgi: Ichidai Sanzen Daisen Sekai!(Great Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds!)" Zoro's blade cut towards Oven's uncovered torso.
It happened right at the same time that Sanji's attack came down.
"Concassé!" Using all of the momentum he had built up, the cook slammed his burning heel covered in haki towards the Sweet Commander's head, aiming to put a dent in it.
Oven's face morphed in fear as he realised that was his end.
But then a flash of light blinded all of the people present, and before any of them could even react, Enel was crouched down on Oven's shoulder and smiled with amusement.
Both Zoro and Sanji failed to react in time as two drums from the disk floating on the Emperor's back departed and blocked their strikes.
The drums didn't even move as they stopped the two Straw Hats in their tracks, Zoro's sharp blades trembled as he tried to push forwards, only to be unable to move the drum for even a hair's distance.
And Sanji tried to press his heel down, only to feel pain through his entire body as he felt as if he had hit an unbreakable and unmovable object at full force.
Both of them then felt a strange pulse course through them, and they were pushed away instantly.
Sanji spun backwards into to sky as he clutched at his leg, while Zoro tumbled backwards as his blades flew out of his hands and mouth.
Zoro eventually regained his balance and dug his hand into the ground to come to a stop. He panted as he looked at Oven, who was slumped over, with Enel still sitting on his shoulder.
"... Weren't you on our side?!?" He asked as he slowly stood up.
In the opposite direction, Sanji also landed on the ground, he limped slightly as he grit his teeth and slowly looked at Enel too.
"I knew Robin-chan was wrong to trust you... So you're betraying us after all!"
Sanji seemed to be off in his own world, so Enel ignored him and just answered Zoro's question.
"Oven here is a friend of mine, so I won't let you kill him. The two of you can go, he won't get in your way anymore..." Enel crossed his hands and bobbed his head to the side, one of his earlobes pointing in the distance and telling the cook and swordsman to screw off.
Zoro seemed a bit frustrated, he clenched his fists and seemed to want to refute the Emperor, but he couldn't really bring himself to. Especially not when he remembered seeing Big Mom's helpless state against him.
Currently, Enel could likely dismantle their entire crew much like Kuma had done at Sabaody all those years back. Thankfully he wasn't an enemy.
Rather he was more of an ally.
So Zoro ended up relenting, he walked forwards and grabbed his blades unrestricted.
Sanji seemed to still want to start some beef with Enel, but Zoro ended up dragging him off. Enel just hoped that Sanji would take the lead at some point so the two of them would be able to actually reach their ship.
Oven seemed to be quite annoyed at having to let them go, but going against Enel's words wasn't something he could really do either.
He knew that the Straw Hats were under Enel's protection technically, he wasn't expecting to be killing any single one of them.
But he did want to let off some steam after seeing his siblings getting injured while fighting them.
Unfortunately, it seemed that his time in jail led to him forgetting to get his prosthetics checked up on, and they weren't properly coated in the thermal-resistant solution that he normally used.
It needed to be applied regularly and it was expensive, but he had been able to do that without any issues when on the Sky Islands.
At home/while in prison, one could guess that Big Mom didn't care to provide him with that solution. So he was just left to rust for a while to think about what he had done.
In the end, he only really lost because of that. Otherwise, he would've won in the end against the two straw hats.
'Still... Both Sanji and Zoro seem stronger... This fight was good for them.
Let's just hope Luffy also somehow squeaks out a win. I don't plan on helping him out.'
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter!
I kinda liked writing Oven as a stronger character, he still lost but that's just cuz the straw hats are also stronger than their original counterparts.
Still, he went from getting no diffed from Sanji in one hit in the original to almost defeating both a stronger version of Sanji and a stronger version of Zoro at that time, so yea.
Story Shoutout: The Final Desperation
Discord, again: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)
_________ POV Narration_________
The heat melted everything, and Zoro was forced to cover his blades in haki almost instantly to prevent them from going soft.
Although his blades were all named, they weren't indestructible, and steel alone couldn't withstand such temperatures. Even if it was tempered like the Meito's he was wielding.
The first one to move was Oven, stepping forward as the ground underneath him turned soft with every step he took, bubbling and sizzling as his facial expression shifted into anger.
"You Straw Hats just had to ruin everything..." Oven gritted his teeth as he proceeded to step onto the ground heavily, at that moment, he dashed at a speed that both Zoro and Sanji had to roll to the side to avoid.
The Sweet Commander's body whizzed past them, the heat searing their skin slightly as they both twirled and attacked Oven.
"Poêle à Frire: Spectre!"
Sanji hopped into the air, circling around Oven as his legs moved at unbelievable speeds, sticking at the sweet commander's body and sending ripples through his flesh and muscle.
Zoro wasn't about to be outdone either. But he was still judging his opponent's strength, so instead of a close-quarter attack he went directly for his strongest flying slash.
"Senhachiju Pound Ho!(1080 Pound Cannon!)"
His flying slash circled in the air, blowing away all of the accumulated magma in front of the swordsman and slightly cooling off his surroundings.
Oven had already put out his hand and had started blocking Sanji's kicks by that time, upon noticing that Zoro was already launching an attack, he quickly rushed to grab the StrawHat Cook by the leg and threw him towards the flying slash.
"Tsk! Stupid cook, stop getting in the way!" Zoro shouted as he shifted his blades slightly.
To Oven's surprise, the flying arc slash seemed to bend around Sanji's hurtled body and rush directly towards his chest.
He skidded backwards as a cut opened up on his chest. He whizzed as he clenched both of his fists and narrowed his eyes at his opponent.
Sanji had already stopped himself in mid-air and panted a bit.
"This guy's bad news... He barely even got cut." Zoro clenched his blades as he eyes Sanji, only to see that parts of his pants were burnt off just from being in proximity to Oven.
"You tell me? I felt like I was kicking a stone wall..." The Cook landed on the ground right to his side and complained a bit.
The fight had only just started, yet he already felt his ankles burning a bit with pain. Especially the part that Oven had grasped directly.
"We need to take things seriously..." Sanji muttered as his legs seemed to burn even brighter.
"Don't act like you weren't going all out already!" Zoro scowled at his partner, he was about to continue scolding the 'stupid cook'. But their conversation was cut short by Oven's fist.
The gigantic man appeared right above them in the blink of an eye, his fist was already aiming to crush them into the ground.
Both Zoro and Sanji moved to block it.
The Swordsman directed all three of his blackened swords to stop it, while the cook kicked upwards with impressive force.
"HAAH!" Both Sanji and Zoro shouted and grunted as their muscles struggled against those of Oven, who scowled at their efforts before pushing his fist further down.
The cook and swordsmen were once again forced to dodge, each rolled off to one side.
Oven's fist sunk into the ground and shook the remains of the castle they were currently on.
A wave of heat assaulted both Sanji and Zoro as they were forced to cover their eyes.
Oven no longer wasted any time, he decided to no longer give them any time to recover, and immediately turned his head towards Zoro first, judging him to be the bigger threat.
"Molten Wave!"
Oven's fist that had been impaled into the ground immediately grabbed at the molten earth, his muscles twitching as he flung it upwards.
Zoro recovered in time to see a gigantic wave of molten earth rising up to swallow him into the ground.
His blades immediately moved, and three distinct flying slashes cut through the wave of magma, splitting it apart and sending magma flying everywhere.
"Oi, stupid cook watch it!" Zoro's warning wasn't unfounded.
The second Oven distracted him, he dashed towards Sanji.
Zoro was the bigger threat, so in Oven's eyes, the cook was the weaker link, so he had to go down first.
Sanji didn't even need a warning though, he could feel Oven's approach just from the unbearable heat that came with being close to him.
That heat had already become a warning to Sanji, so he didn't need an audible cue to know he needed to dodge.
The cook's eyes were still closed, but he still managed to step into the air and dodge to the side, avoiding a blade that popped out of the Sweet Commander's kneed and threatened to slice him in half.
Zoro's blades were already onto the Sweet Commander as well, this time, the swordsman attempted a classic draw sword skill.
But before he could even get close, Oven sensed him and his mechanical arm unfolded into a cannon, immediately blowing a cannonball towards him.
Zoro scowled as his blade cut the cannonball, only for it to explode in his face, the blast pushed oven towards the fleeing Sanji, who had already made a beeline for the sky.
Now, Oven couldn't really fly, but he could surely jump well.
And jump he did. His legs arched and straightened up instantly as he turned into a bullet fired at the sky.
Sanji was taken by surprise, as soon as he opened his eyes and got accustomed to the heat, Oven's gigantic form was in front of him.
'There's no heat?!?' Sanji's eyes widened as he realised that his opponent had purposefully stopped using their devil fruit in order to approach him without being detected as easily.
At that point, Sanji had no chance of blocking the gigantic fist that covered half of his body. He did try to put his leg in front of it but was sent flying nonetheless.
Well, it was more accurate to say that he was sent crashing to the ground at breakneck speeds.
"Oi, Sanji!" Zoro's concerned voice broke through the battlefield as he immediately prepared to use his strongest attack.
From the clouds, Enel sighed as he felt the Straw Hat's struggling against Oven.
He wasn't about to start helping them either. He knew that Sanji and Zoro were both really resilient.
What bothered him most was that he couldn't feel how Luffy's fight against Katakuri was going in the mirror world.
Although Enel felt that Luffy was stronger than in the original, he also felt that Katakuri had grown a lot stronger.
And he still remembered Katakuri essentially manhandling Luffy at the beginning of the assassination attempt, which somewhat made things feel a bit bleak for the Straw Hat captain.
'If anything... Is it possible that Katakuri ends up awakening Nika instead?'
Katakuri was far from an enemy at the level of Kaido or any emperor really. Well, he was likely one of the strongest men alive with the exception of Emperors and figures of that level.
He definitely was a match for most admirals, with the exception of maybe Akainu and Aokiji. Even if he couldn't win against any of them, he could still hold out pretty well.
But maybe he could end up being the one to awaken Luffy... Although it seemed a bit too farfetched.
Luffy hadn't even learnt Conqueror's coating yet. He still needed to get bodied by Kaido a few times for that to happen.
'Whatever... Luffy will be fine. Even if he isn't, he still has Brook and Robin with him. Together they should all be fine.'
It was better that Katakuri was stronger anyway. Luffy needed more strength if he wanted to face Kaido.
In the first place, Kaido was stronger now if Shank's report was anything to go by.
An awakened Mythical Zoan was not something to joke about. Hell, now that Kaido was awakened he was likely stronger than both Shanks and Big Mom.
Luffy was still far off from facing off against Big Mom, let alone Shanks or Kaido. He needed all the tempering and training he could get.
"Nine mountains and eight seas make one world! One thousand worlds make one chiliocosm! One chiliocosm to the power of three and there's nothing I can't cut!"
Enel blinked a few times as he looked down once more.
The scene below him had totally shifted.
Most of that part of the island was completely melted, Sanji and Zoro were both looking haggard and injured... But Oven was still looking quite fine.
He had a few bruises and a few more cuts on his body, but it was nothing to someone with his endurance. He had at least inherited that much from his mother after all...
Still, it looked like the Straw Hats were now preparing to deliver their most powerful strikes.
Zoro was spinning his blades in front of him, and Sanji was hopping in the air and also spinning his body creating a scary amount of momentum.
Enel's eyes narrowed as he realized Oven could actually be injured seriously if he was hit by those two attacks.
'But he should be able to either dodge or block one of them and tank the other... Shouldn't he?'
And Oven attempted exactly what Enel had expected him to.
He moved to block the most pressing one putting up a hardened shield in front of Zoro's attack as he prepared for it while deciding to just take Sanji's kick.
It was at that moment that he seemed to... Lose his footing?
No, it was more apt to say that his prosthetics had finally had enough.
Both his mechanical arm and leg finally broke, his leg melting underneath him and part of his mechanical arm falling off, which in turn led to him losing balance and his footing, falling to the side.
Both Zoro and Sanji noticed that, and they forged on with their attacks.
"Santōryū Ōgi: Ichidai Sanzen Daisen Sekai!(Great Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds!)" Zoro's blade cut towards Oven's uncovered torso.
It happened right at the same time that Sanji's attack came down.
"Concassé!" Using all of the momentum he had built up, the cook slammed his burning heel covered in haki towards the Sweet Commander's head, aiming to put a dent in it.
Oven's face morphed in fear as he realised that was his end.
But then a flash of light blinded all of the people present, and before any of them could even react, Enel was crouched down on Oven's shoulder and smiled with amusement.
Both Zoro and Sanji failed to react in time as two drums from the disk floating on the Emperor's back departed and blocked their strikes.
The drums didn't even move as they stopped the two Straw Hats in their tracks, Zoro's sharp blades trembled as he tried to push forwards, only to be unable to move the drum for even a hair's distance.
And Sanji tried to press his heel down, only to feel pain through his entire body as he felt as if he had hit an unbreakable and unmovable object at full force.
Both of them then felt a strange pulse course through them, and they were pushed away instantly.
Sanji spun backwards into to sky as he clutched at his leg, while Zoro tumbled backwards as his blades flew out of his hands and mouth.
Zoro eventually regained his balance and dug his hand into the ground to come to a stop. He panted as he looked at Oven, who was slumped over, with Enel still sitting on his shoulder.
"... Weren't you on our side?!?" He asked as he slowly stood up.
In the opposite direction, Sanji also landed on the ground, he limped slightly as he grit his teeth and slowly looked at Enel too.
"I knew Robin-chan was wrong to trust you... So you're betraying us after all!"
Sanji seemed to be off in his own world, so Enel ignored him and just answered Zoro's question.
"Oven here is a friend of mine, so I won't let you kill him. The two of you can go, he won't get in your way anymore..." Enel crossed his hands and bobbed his head to the side, one of his earlobes pointing in the distance and telling the cook and swordsman to screw off.
Zoro seemed a bit frustrated, he clenched his fists and seemed to want to refute the Emperor, but he couldn't really bring himself to. Especially not when he remembered seeing Big Mom's helpless state against him.
Currently, Enel could likely dismantle their entire crew much like Kuma had done at Sabaody all those years back. Thankfully he wasn't an enemy.
Rather he was more of an ally.
So Zoro ended up relenting, he walked forwards and grabbed his blades unrestricted.
Sanji seemed to still want to start some beef with Enel, but Zoro ended up dragging him off. Enel just hoped that Sanji would take the lead at some point so the two of them would be able to actually reach their ship.
Oven seemed to be quite annoyed at having to let them go, but going against Enel's words wasn't something he could really do either.
He knew that the Straw Hats were under Enel's protection technically, he wasn't expecting to be killing any single one of them.
But he did want to let off some steam after seeing his siblings getting injured while fighting them.
Unfortunately, it seemed that his time in jail led to him forgetting to get his prosthetics checked up on, and they weren't properly coated in the thermal-resistant solution that he normally used.
It needed to be applied regularly and it was expensive, but he had been able to do that without any issues when on the Sky Islands.
At home/while in prison, one could guess that Big Mom didn't care to provide him with that solution. So he was just left to rust for a while to think about what he had done.
In the end, he only really lost because of that. Otherwise, he would've won in the end against the two straw hats.
'Still... Both Sanji and Zoro seem stronger... This fight was good for them.
Let's just hope Luffy also somehow squeaks out a win. I don't plan on helping him out.'
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter!
I kinda liked writing Oven as a stronger character, he still lost but that's just cuz the straw hats are also stronger than their original counterparts.
Still, he went from getting no diffed from Sanji in one hit in the original to almost defeating both a stronger version of Sanji and a stronger version of Zoro at that time, so yea.
Story Shoutout: The Final Desperation
Discord, again: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)
