Zoro launched one of his attacks from inside the ground and Fujitora had to stop the force of gravity he was exerting and avoid the cut.

Zoro came out of the hole and immediately launched a huge attack towards the Vice Admiral who had buried his Nakama, his axe got in the way but it split just as easily as the earth and a huge cut on his chest appeared.

He turned around and parried the cut from Fujitora's sword but his missing arm took its toll and he ended up taking damage.

zorro jumped away to rest a bit and checked the wound on his abdomen "it's not very big but it's deep " he grunted with discomfort "it looks like he hit an important organ"he whispered as he felt his blood pressure dropping.

His sight went black and he almost fell to the ground, the blood loss must also be affecting "surrender pirate hunter and you can live " said Fujitora approaching calmly.

"Surrender? "zorro asked smiling "that's not an option."

"Then this is where it all ends"muttered Fujitora preparing his attack.

"So be it "whispered Zoro in the same way preparing his last attack, the most powerful one, he sent all the Haki he could muster to his swords and positioned himself "Kuina I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise."

They both rushed forward their attacks collided a flash of light enveloped them and it was all over when they were back to back.

Zoro put away two of his three swords and collapsed with a huge spurt of blood, Fujitora put away his sword more calmly and sighed "what an excellent swordsman"Fujitora whispered when his sword clicked a big wound appeared on his chest that made him stagger and kneel down "a very powerful one"

Fujitora lay down to rest, he had no more strength for anything, definitely the Mugiwara were the strongest pirate group in the world, and just with the demonstration of their captain's power they were completely impressed, but his crew was no slouch.

There were their low points, more for being cowards than for being weak, but the whole crew was impressive, if they had had a few more companions they would not have been able to defeat them, most likely with more crew members everything would have ended sooner than expected with them dead and Monkey D. Luffy declaring himself the new Pirate King.

Luffy felt how the penultimate of his Nakamas died, his eyes cried but he could do nothing to stop it, and the worst of all was that he felt how he himself began to fade away.

luffy blows were no longer as strong, his speed was not the same, he had to undo the Gear Second faster each time because he felt how it burned the more he used it and it required more energy to maintain it, only he and Nami, the navigator, were left.

He wasn't very savvy when it came to romantic relationships, his grandfather had told him never to mess with a woman because it was doom, and his brothers made him sound like the most disgusting thing in the world.

But even so, he had noticed how as time went by his attention for Nami mainly, but also for Robin grew.

He stayed longer than required watching them, or outlined their curves, he wondered how it would feel to hold their breasts in his hands, it felt weird when he had seen them naked, the few times he had seen them naked and not been beaten to a pulp.

It was as if his devil fruit was working without his consent, and now he couldn't do anything, he had lost his best friends and if he died he would lose Nami too, he had to protect her no matter what.

The navigator had not been as weak as she thought, she had managed to hold her own very well against the last remaining Vice Admiral and a few Marines that had escaped her, but she knew that soon her defenses would be penetrated, she could see it even now.

"You're more interested in that girl aren't you" Akainu growled looking at Nami "she's the last one"he smiled a little and pointed his magma fist at Nami.

luffy opened his eyes in fright, activated the Gear Second and rushed to where his partner was "Nami!"he shouted in desperation, the orange-haired girl looked back at her and immediately noticed how the boiling lava was approaching at an impressive speed.

She remembered something similar, only it happened some time ago, it was more or less the same situation, she stretched her hand to try to reach her captain's "Luffy"she muttered with fear "you a...."

The lava reached it melting everything in its path, the Tact Weather flew out and he could smell the burned hair and flesh, Luffy screamed in pain before the explosion reached him and sent him flying, he had no strength for anything else, he was tired and he had lost everything he wanted.

He felt how his body relaxed completely and lost all the strength he had, seconds later he felt the cold water on his back and how he began to sink, since he was a child he had known that the worst death for someone was by drowning, it was slow and tortuous, it was like fighting against something unstoppable and immovable at the same time, the sea was so big and powerful that not even the King of the pirates could do anything against it.

Slowly luffy closed his eyes, letting himself crawl and waiting for death to reunite with all his loved ones.

When he opened his eyes he was in a cavern, humid and large, he could hear the pattering of drops against a puddle and he could smell a strange aroma, fruity but at the same time rancid.

His body ached like hell, he slowly moved his head to see where he was and found an old man.

An old man sitting on a rock and it looked like his arms and back were part of a huge tree, he could see the fruits hanging on the tree in different colors and shapes, there were more fruits scattered on the ground, he noticed a nearby black one with white swirls all over it.

luffy knew right away that those were not normal fruits, they were devil fruits, a bunch of devil fruits "where am I?"luffy asked disoriented.

"Brat, I don't know who you are, but you are damn lucky to end up here," said the old man, raising his head.

His hair was extremely long and his beard was dirty and disheveled, his skin was extremely white but his eyes, his eyes were a stunning black that exuded power "who are you?"luffy asked softly.

"In my time they called me Iesu "he mentioned amused "Pawā D. Iesu, I was the most powerful pirate of my time until I was condemned to this life."

luffy sat up slowly because his body did not respond and looked at Iesu "condemned?_

He nodded with an absent air "I ate the Ōpun, Ōpun not My a sacred fruit "seeing the questioning look in Luffy's expression he sighed "I open what I want, I even open time passages, I could travel in time and correct what went wrong in my past, being a bled fruit it was forbidden to eat it and therefore I am here condemned to guard the devil fruits until I die."

"What is this place?"asked Luffy looking around.

"Have you heard that the devil fruits are reborn somewhere when the user dies?"Luffy nodded remembering what he learned in Dressrosa "in theory it's true, the fruits are reborn here, I take care of the tree, once the fruit falls to the ground my job is to open a passage for the fruit to appear somewhere in the world."

"Why are there so many then? "Luffy asked picking the black fruit near him.

He shrugged, moving the tree slightly and causing a fruit to fall to the ground "I haven't received directions to send them "they were quiet for a moment "who are you and how did you get here?"

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy"luffy answered while he looked down, he didn't even have his hat anymore "how I got here?, no idea, I was fighting with the Admirals, my team died, I'm the only one left, I let the sea swallow me up."

Again they were silent for a moment, Luffy didn't want to talk about what happened "another D"muttered the old man"it's no coincidence that you got here, I guess you have a devil fruit."