[Chemistry in Motion]

Simiao breathed in and out slowly, rotating his arms by each of his elbows carefully, creating a strange windmill-like effect to his sides. It built up a small sweat, but this quickly returned beneath his skin, moving back through the pores and rehydrating him. It was a simple change in chemistry, changing an aspect of the water that otherwise caused it to be repelled by the skin surface into something akin to mercury before changing it back from its poisonous form. It was a simple thing to do – so long as the sweat was still on his skin or in his body, he had complete control over its composition.

But that was just a side effect. Utilizing his full strength in this way would otherwise drain him excessively. The use of Haki would be enough by itself to wear him down, and much as he could control his sweating with some ease, using it in combat would require him to be in good shape, especially if he had to face down CP9.

If he had his way, he would have avoided combat altogether, but as it stood, his orders were the same as the rest of the crew: make as much noise as they could. Long John was assaulting the main gate, and good on him – let him tango with the more troublesome ones. Making a hole in one of the side walls might distract some of their attentions, but Simiao was pretty certain that a fire-breathing dragon would attract most of them more than what he was about to do.

He slowed the windmill until his arms were barely rotating at all and then, retaining that slow but persistent rotation, he moved both fists forward, applying only a small amount of Haki to the all too slow punch. They touched the wall.

Brick and mortar exploded outward in incredible waves, shooting in all directions at once away from him. Several dozen of the marines on the other side were engulfed in the blast, forcing them far back away from the site. A massive hole now appeared through the wall, providing easy passage as he continued to rotate his arms, this time in the opposite direction and with increasing speed.

Such an attack was certainly powerful, but absolutely incapable of doing what was necessary in combat to matter. Without actually touching something, their damage couldn't be doled out in the slightest. He was actually quite weak in combat when it came right down to it – the strength of his arms was much decreased as his movement rate increased. It was an annoying downside to his training.

“Damnit! Get up and fire you miscreants!”

One of the officers on the other side was coughing, but up and active. He was trying to rouse the others, who were slow to reach their feet, several leveling their firearms while the majority were searching through the rubble for theirs. It was so troublesome. He began to sweat with increasing volume, his body no longer absorbing the moisture.

“Yūgai Misuto.”

As the droplets fell to the ground below him, they sent up a deep green gaseous mist that quickly obscured him from view. Several of the soldiers quickly fired, but their shots hit nothing but air. A spray of sweat exited the plume, and small plumes appeared beneath most of the soldiers. A few moved away, but most were still searching for their weapons or trying to fire again. These were quickly caught in it, grasping their throats with their eyes watering as they hit the floor. The officer seemed more resistant, though his coughing seemed to worsen as he inhaled it.

“I've spent time as a gaoler at Impel Down. This is nothing to me.”

“Oh? So you met Magellan then, I take it? Well, I'm not a Poison Man like him. All I'm capable of is manipulating my sweat.”

“Then you've come to the wrong place...”

The officer charged forward, his movements a blur and a mace suddenly appearing in his hands. He charge directly into the largest plume. His body whirled, and suddenly stopped, his mace caught on something. The plume whirled away with him, Simiao having leapt into the air above the swing.

“Oh, a strong one.”

He made to swing the mace upward. Simiao extended a hand glistening with sweat outward and quickly flicked his fingers out. His opponent moved to swipe it away but as his hand came into contact with them, the droplets of water exploded in colorful bursts of flame. It startled him, making him blink spots form his eyes. His elbows started jutting out at odd angles, throwing small shockwaves from each extrusion. The officer grimaced, quickly pulling into a retreat as the ground around him was slammed with their widespread force. Simiao landed carefully, though he made himself appear to stumble to carefully shake loose a few hidden vials.

“Dangerous, dangerous! Come now, we're both civilized men. Can't we solve this without violence?”

It appeared not. The man quickly made his move, using Soru to appear on Simiao's right side. A blow with the mace met his right arm at an odd angle, though even the glancing blow knocked the Pharmhand hard to his right. He frowned, tossing a vial with his right. The officer quickly dodged it, and even as he closed the gap between them, Simiao looked with dismay as the vial shattered, leaving a burning, black spot on the ground. Such a waste. He was on top of him before Simiao could process the thought, but all he had to do was raise an arm and meet the blow head on. This time, he didn't move. The larger officer trembled.

“I really should be at a disadvantage to you when it comes to pure strength. Strange, then, that you should find yourself in this predicament.”

The officer's muscles seemed to grow lax, and the world pitched before him. Was that really his full strength? It had felt so slow, as though the force of his swing wasn't under his control.

“As I said, I'm not a Poison Man. Poisoning is very restricted. You see, the idea of a poison is to degrade or do damage. Mine aren't meant to accomplish such basic feats. If anything, they're meant to increase the signals going through your neurons. For someone like them *gestures to everyone around them* that caused instant sensory overload. For you, someone who is used to the degenerative effects of a poison, it must have felt so minimal at first. It probably would have remained as so much noise if only you had restricted your movements to basic necessities. But you chose an all out, rapid assault. Couldn't have made it any easier.”

The larger man sunk to his knees, strength going out of his body as his eyes turned downward. Simiao raised a hand in a fist to the other man's face, manipulating his elbows in slow circles before slowly bringing them to a stop. Then he flicked the other man in the forehead. The force propelled him backward with such savage strength that he crashed deep within a building, nearly breaking through the wall on the other side. The broken mess of a man didn't stir from his rest.

“Ah, but that is so dull. I haven't really found a way to improve such a simple solution. How about we try a new one?”

He pulled a vial out of his sleeve with a distinctive teal color to it, waving it around. Those few who were still standing were slowly backing away, their weapons forgotten.

“Anyone? You see, my friend Long John up there is likely to reduce this place to rubble with enough time as it is, and we should really be able to manage-”

“Rankyaku.”

Simiao alighted, quickly flipping backward and using his arms to get extra distance as a series of air blades carved their way into the stone beneath his feet. He looked up at the figure standing on a building nearby.

“Hey now, I'm not one of the strong ones. Why don't you go and face Long John over there? I'll stay quiet.”

“Liar. If you're going to attack such a bastion of the World Government as this, then at least have the decency to believe in what you are doing.”

“Oh? Is this World Government territory? And here I thought I was just wandering in on a group of willing subjects. Would you be mine next?”

The man frowned. “What's your name, pirate?”

Simiao carefully pushed his glasses up his nose with one finger before responding. “They call me the Pharmhand, Simiao!”

He said it with a flourish. The man across from him didn't seem impressed. Simiao chuckled lightly.

“You see what I did there? I used 'pharm' instead of 'farm,' because I'm a chemist you see.”

“...Delightful. My name is Waver, and they call me the Axe of War. You will soon learn why.”

“I really don't like that. Come back later.”

“I'm afraid...” He appeared next to Simiao in an instant. “...you don't have a choice.”

He jabbed towards Simiao's eye with a finger. It hit the eye and barreled through, the skin shattering before his attack. He frowned.

“Whew! That was a close one! You could put someone's eye out with that thing.”

Waver spotted him out of the corner of his eye, tossing two vials in the air in a single hand and catching them in a small display of juggling prowess. Sweat came in torrents from his skin as he drank from a large canteen.

“Waver, was it? I hope you won't mind if I take a bit of a drink. Dehydration often gets the best of me.”

By decreasing the ratio of water removed from his skin, Simiao could produce more sweat, though only in short bursts like this. It would still drain him of essential minerals, and as such, he had special concoctions he drank that replenished a good deal of them. The sweat pouring off of him quickly disappeared between cracks in the ground. Waver raised an eyebrow.

“Is this your idea of a joke?”

Simiao put a finger to his chin. “You could say that. But then...”

He gripped the rock next to him hard, his voice deepening. Meanwhile, Waver and everyone around them, dead or alive, rose into the air, hovering several meters above the ground.

“...the joke's on you.”

[Enies Lobby; Tower of Justice]

“Wazzat?! What’s going on?”

Vincent “Manifold” Drake woke up to the sound of distant explosions and cries, which would probably disturb anyone’s sleep. He was lying across a couch in the office belonging to the director of CP9, Spandack, who sat behind his desk with a sour expression etched into his face.

Looking around, Vincent saw that he and Spandack weren’t the only ones in the room. “Mountain Wind” Kaku sat on the couch nearby, arms folded tightly over his chest as his cap shadowed his eyes. Ran Fall was sitting by Spandack’s desk, sighing with exasperation as she saw that Vincent had come to.

“Hey boss, what’s going on?” Vincent wondered aloud as he straightened his posture, stretching his arms out casually. “I’m pretty sure I went to sleep in my room. How’d I end up here?”

“Krieg brought you here.” Kaku responded simply with a toneless voice. “Since the alarm didn’t seem to be enough to wake you up. Frankly, I would have just tossed you into the sea and be done with it.”

“Alarm? What’s going on?”

Vincent continued to look dazed and confused, only now registering the business-like atmosphere in the room. Spandack sighed once more, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly.

“Some pirates are attacking Enies Lobby for who knows what reason. They haven’t been identified yet, but from the looks of things, we can say it’s an entire crew of pirates coming at us full force.”

“What? So it’s just some idiots, right? The government agents and marine officers down there will take care of things. Wake me up when things get serious.”

Vincent stretched his legs to prop them up on the table as he sat back, sighing deeply as he readied himself to go back to sleep. But just as he closed his eyes, a sandaled foot connected with his chin and sent him flying straight up into the ceiling above with merciless force.

“Waver and Krieg already went down to go check on things.” Ran spoke calmly as she lowered her foot with an indifferent expression on her face, not the least bit worried as Vincent crashed down onto couch once more, a pile of debris collapsing on top of him. “The majority of the crew doesn’t seem like a big deal, but they must have some reason to be so confident. I don’t want to take any chances, so we’ll need about a dozen Vinces running around to help out where needed.”

“Eeeeehhhhh?” Vincent moaned as he clawed his way out of the debris, frowning with dissatisfaction. His whining attitude didn’t mix well with the continuous sound of fighting coming from afar. “But I like being alone! It’s so peaceful with only one consciousness; I wish you guys would have told me sooner about this ‘normal’ stuff.”

“Just shut up and do as you’re told!” Spandack yelled as he hopped to his feet. “Enies Lobby is being attacked! We don’t have time to deal with your stupidity!”

Vincent simply frowned at Spandack belligerently, muttering darkly under his breath.

“Kaku. Do it.”

Spandack had barely said this aloud before several air slashes slashed through the debris piled on the couch, carving long paths that converged in one spot. Limbs and other body parts were thrown through the air, lacking the blood to make the scene gruesome, and Kaku struggled to hide his satisfied smirk as he sheathed his two swords back into their wooden sheaths.

“Ouch! Give a guy a warning next time!”

“Ugh. I came from the armpit. Do you know how wrong that feels?”

“I can’t believe anyone would cut up their ally so easily. I mean, we’re friends, right? Right?”

Spandack clicked his tongue as a chorus of complaints filled the room. The twelve Vinces who stood in the room quickly registered his annoyed look and smiled apologetically. One—probably the originally—stood up and held a hand out to the other Vinces.

“At attention! Single-file line! Aaaaaand…Forward march!”

Every Vince marched out of the room in a perfect line, as if doing a military drill. Each of them made a ‘hup hup hup’ sound as they left and Spandack resisted the urge to throw something at them.

“I’m cutting his pay. Immediately.”

“Go ahead.” Ran said indifferently as she took out a magazine and opened it on the desk as she returned to her seat. “I think it would be fun to see his miserable reaction when he realizes we won’t continue to tolerate his idiocy. Or better yet; maybe he’ll die today.”

“No, that would definitely be a problem. We need his numbers.”

Ran merely shrugged indifferently as she flipped the page indifferently. Spandack had to resist the urge to say ‘you’re just as bad’ to her face.

Kaku hopped up from the couch, gripping both sheathed swords tightly in his hands as he headed to the door.

“I’ll go patrolling as well. I feel restless sitting around here.”

“Just stay close by. There’s no telling what may happen and you need to be around to protect me.”

The door slammed shut and Spandack sighed once more.

“I get the feeling that some of you guys hate me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Spandack. This is just how we show our love. Can’t you tell?”

No. No he couldn’t.

[Enies Lobby; strip of land between Main Gate and Main Island Gate]

“Get the hose! We need to put out the fire!”

“We’re trying, but he keeps stoking it with more flames every time we make progress!”

“Then take him out!”

“Easier said than done! That’s a mythical zoan-type devil fruit! We can’t get near him!”

The front gate was in absolute chaos. Marines government workers were piling forward in droves, creating a pass of black and white uniforms as they intercepted the approaching pirates without hesitation. Using sheer numbers, their firepower was able to hold back the outlaws in a deadlock between small fry. But the marines had trouble maintaining their advantage when they kept being scattered by streams of flames that descended on them, followed by a long tail and fierce claws that mercilessly whipped through their ranks, knocking them away.

This tore the marines and government officials between forcing the pirates back, putting out the dangerous flames, and somehow fighting against the massive dragon. Cannons had seemed like the optimal answer at first, but the user of the zoan fruit simply became a full scale dragon once more, sporting scales that blocked the explosive cannonballs with ease.

“Hehe! You’ll have to do better than that to pierce my scales!” Long John’s voice pierced the air much like a dragon’s roar. “And get it right; this is just a zoan fruit, not a mythical zoan fruit!”

Long John slashed through the nearby buildings with an outstretched arm as he flew by them, sending debris raining down on the marines below to bury them mercilessly.

“Now let’s keep moving forward!” Long John called toward his fellow pirates as he continued to soar through the air. “We still have a long way to go before we reach the heart of the island! We’ll have to do more than just knocking loudly on their door to really shake these people up!”

The pirates roared with excitement and began rushing forward with weapon in hand, but were forced to a stop as rocky debris suddenly flew at them, as if thrown. Several of them were caught between rock slabs and nearby buildings, forcing them back as the heavy objects continued to fly through the air.

Long John was taken aback as a particularly large part of a broken building flew straight into the air toward him, nearly slamming into him. He swiped his wings through the air to force a quick serve, barely evading the attack as he descended toward the ground, his body returning to its hybrid form at the same time.

“You have some guts to charge Enies Lobby directly like this. You’re probably just a decoy, but we can’t have you destroying important buildings all you want like this either way.”

Long John narrowed his eyes toward the approaching figure who’d somehow blocked the debris he’d thrown on the marines and thrown them back so easily. It was easily make out the figure’s large body, sporting a black karate outfit and black belt that swung around in the wind.

But boy was this guy big. He seemed to be even bigger with every step forward he took. And the muscles seemed to be even more defined as well.

“I’ll take you on myself.” The large man offered as he folded his arms across his broad chest. “I’m sure that suits you just fine, since none of these guys seem to be able to match you.”

“And just who are you?” Long John frowned as he looked this guy up and down. A CP9 agent, no doubt. He didn’t seem to be holding a weapon; had he used tekkai to block the solid concrete with his body?

“Krieg “Iron Fist” Lector. You are?”

“They call me Long John; I’m the commander of the Dragon Lance Pirates. Doragon Enkou!”

Long John ended his introduction with a stream of white hot flames that he sent directly in Krieg’s direction. He mostly expected the CP9 agent to evade with soru or geppou and circle around to approach Long John. What he didn’t expect was for the man to walk straight through the flames, shrugging them off as if they were nothing.

“Your flames only carry heat! That’s not enough to even make me wince!”

Krieg rushed forward, crushing the ground beneath him with the recoil of his movement. He shot straight toward Long John with a fist raised, smashing one foot into the ground for leverage as he stopped right in front of Long John at point blank.

Long John evaded the straight punch by digging his claws into the ground and forcing himself out of the way, feeling the hard wind that passed by. The punch didn’t have any flamboyant explosion around it, but a heavy slam echoed through the air as if the force of the punch had somehow connected with the air to punch it. This resulted in a shockwave that flew out behind Long John, blowing away several pirates as a mere secondary effect.

“Doragon Tsume!”

“Too slow!”

Long John’s clawed hand whipped out to slash at Krieg’s side, but Krieg had already positioned him to counter Long John’s counterattack. Long John’s claws slammed into Krieg’s raised forearms, but failed to dig into the skin, merely scratching uselessly at the surface.

“Tekkai?!”

Krieg simply snorted as he slid one foot back to brace his body and suddenly thrust his entire body forward. Though he only moved an inch, the force behind the movement sent his elbows into Long John’s body, which resulted in Long John flying back haphazardly, crashing straight into the wall of a nearby building, causing it to collapse on him.

Krieg relaxed his position, breathing out slowly as he lowered his arms.

“Tekkai isn’t necessary when my muscles are hard enough on their own to block attacks. You’ll have to hit me a hundred times harder to make me deign to use my rokushiki.”

A chuckle could be heard from the rubble and several heavy slabs were pushed away to show Long John, who was covered in scales. Two scales in particular over his chest were dented heavily from the previous blow.

“You sure don’t pull any punches. I can see why they call you ‘Iron Fist’. On top of that, you can even fight through flames and keep up with a zoan fruit user.”

“I often practice against zoan users for sport. I’ve yet to lose even against mythical zoan fruits, such as my colleague or another one of my colleague’s relatives. X Drake, I believe his name was before he left the navy.”

“Don’t know him.”

Long John stood up and grinned as the scales on his body reformed themselves, the dented ones being traded for healthy ones. Krieg lowered his center of gravity and clenched his fists tightly.

“Let’s do this, CP9.”

“Let’s see if you can handle this perfect body of mine, pirate commander.”

Introducing 2 new characters for my next post.

Name: Legacy D. Soul
Age: 59
D.o.b: July 24th
Gender: Male
Personality: Calm and collected, easily annoyed
Dream: Protect those close to him
Affiliation: Pirate
Crew: Ghost Pirates
Rank & job: Former Captain, Doctor
Hobbies: Drinking and sleeping

Height: 5'9"
Weight: 184 lb
Body type: muscular

DF: Phase Phase fruit (its in Jstar's forum)
Other Skills: Judo expert
Weapons: none

Past: One of the pirates of the old age. He was known as the Ghost king due to the power of his devil fruit. Because he was not very notorious his bounty never exceeded 100,000,000 beri, however, he earned the right to be place in the same rank as Whitebeard, Shiki and other monstrous pirates. The reason being that no one could touch him in a fight, not even the hero Garp the Fist. He was also the first person to be shot with a kairoseki bullet. Now he lives on the island of Yukiryu acting as a Doctor and taking care of the people there. He also has a close relationship with Shanks as the 2 often drink together.

Name: Legacy D. Rayen
Age: 21
D.o.b: December 30th
Gender: Male
Personality: Outgoing, trusting and a bit idiotic at times
Dream: To become immortalized through the memories of others and history itself
Affiliation: Doctors assistant
Crew: None
Rank & job: None
Hobbies: Anything he can do at the moment

Height: 5'11"
Weight: 193 lb
Body type: Thin but still kinda muscular

DF: None
Other Skills: None
Weapons: none

Past: Hasn't done anything note-worthy

[Fragmented Motivation]

“Times up, Long-Shot.”

Cade froze in mid motion as he held his lit cigarette near the fuse of the cannon beside him, ready to fire the next merciless shot. His eyes were completely focused on the fleeing ship—with a properly aimed shot, he could sink it even from this distance. He’d done it many times before, several ships falling at his hands along with many towns and even whole islands. Crushing this single ship would have been as easy as breathing for him at this point.

And yet, once he was given this order, he sighed while sticking the cigarette in his mouth.

“Are you sure about this?” He asked with a slightly belligerent tone. “We don’t have anyone to follow them. If they really have the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi on their ship…”

“It’s fine. You saw it, didn’t you? The fruit on that island is a fake. You stalled them for the necessary amount of time. You’ve fulfilled your mission well.”

“Glad to hear it. I expect to be properly paid soon, or else I’ll fill in the holes with gold I find in any passing merchant ships.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’re already settling the debt in another way. If you want money on top of it, we’d just be leaving a paper trail.”

“…Cheapskate.”

Cade muttered dryly, though some humor touched his face once more as he took out the cigarette and tossed it toward the sea. He gripped the Baby Den Den Mushi in his hand, which currently had the familiar face of a wrinkled old lady, as he headed back toward the facility based on the island. The face’s expression was serene, but Cade had long since learned not to take this woman at face value.

“In any case, try to clean up your mess a little and cover your tracks. There’s no hiding the destruction that was done to the facility, but you can at least try to hide the fake fruit, I’m sure.”

Cade simply breathed deeply before spewed out a stream of smoke, pulling the cigarette away as he did and tossing it to the ground. He then threw back his coat to reach his hand into his pants pocket. When he withdrew it, he was holding a simple fruit. He wasn’t an expert on the subject, but he could tell from subtle signs that this wasn’t a devil fruit. Of course, this also meant that there was a chance he was wrong. But considering the way the Revolutionaries had smartly retreated and the fact that the government had told him themselves that it was a fake, he was inclined to believe it.

So he casually took a bite out of it.

“It’ll cease to exist in about five more decently sized bites.” Cade assured casually as he took a second bite out of the fruit. “More importantly, I need you to send a ship so I can head out.”

“We’re sending one to pick you three up now. We want to strengthen our positions of power as quickly as possible with a reliable source of strengthen, so we’re changing you guys from the offensive to the defensive.”

Cade snorted at that. Figures that the marines would have the Shichibukai running around at their beck and call. They were going to use them as much as they could until things got ugly, literally sucking them dry of all their worth.

The same could be said for the Shichibukai, like Cade, toward the marines as well.

“…Try to not to make a mess of things, Longshot.”

“Heh.” Cade tipped his hat up slightly as he glanced back toward the sea. His sharp eyes detected a small figure in the distance, possibly an approaching navy ship. “You should already know that a Shichibukai has no obligations to listen to a marine, especially a retired one. We all have our priorities, Granny Tsuru.”

“And just how many times have I told you not to call me that? I’ll wash you and hang you out to dry again.”

The baby Den Den Mushi fell asleep once more as Cade set it in his pocket and the pirate took a deep breath as he thought deeply, turning his gaze back toward the approaching ship in the distance.

What was the best way to apologize to Gin and Trafalgar?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waver righted himself in midair easily by kicking out forcefully, seeming to hit solid air. He flew through the air in a way the defied gravity, using the force that was making him hover to save energy as he circled around Simiao. While continuing to move in midair, he swiped one leg out and sent a horizontal air blade straight for Simiao, but Simiao narrowly evaded by ducking. Both ignored the yelps coming from the others who were left floating in the air and were nearly hit by the stray attack.

“Geppou?” Simiao sighed as he watched Waver cut off his momentum with another kick toward the air. “I guess you really are CP9. Hurray for me.”

“I’m starting to wonder if you’re overly candid or deftly sarcastic.” Waver murmured as his eyes focused on Simiao’s arms. He casually pulled part of his oddly made collar up to cover his mouth and nose behind black material, like a mask. “I suppose those from the Longarm Tribe have a different brand of humor than us.”

“Hmm? Oh, you mean these.” Simiao casually swung his arms around in wide O forms. “Yes, I suppose my upbringing was slightly different from yours, in more ways than one. Or were you making a more racist reference?”

“I don’t do ‘racist’.” Waver promised just as he shot forward without another powerful geppou, rushing straight for Simiao.

In close combat, it was obvious that Waver was at a disadvantage. He was currently unable to place his legs properly on the ground and couldn’t brace his body in midair. With geppou, he could easily keep moving even in midair, so against most opponents, this difference would mean nothing. But against more skilled opponents, Waver was aware that his movements were now a lot more linear and predictable.

This fact was displayed when Simiao side stepped Waver’s approach and swung one arm from behind in a very deliberate manner. Waver kicked out at the air once more and shot high into the air, moonsaulting with his face pointed down toward Simiao with purpose. The moment the self-proclaimed doctor looked up to ascertain where Waver was, Waver kicked out once more and shot toward the ground, his entire body turning to right himself as he brought a leg out, sending a fierce slash down before him.

The ground beneath was slashed open and dust flew through the air, cutting off visibility briefly. It soon cleared up to display the deep gash in the ground as well as the nearby Waver, who was now standing on the ground. But as the dust continued to be cleared by the wind, he only barely managed to catch sight of the silhouette moving directly beside him, nearly in his blind spot.

With a single fluid movement, Waver managed to bend his body, moving himself out of the way as a long arm swung through the air and nearly connected with him.

Waver’s eyes widened as he felt his own stance slip, his legs sliding on the ground as if it were ice to put him directly on his back, landing in a puddle of mud, as if the ground had been liquidated.

More of this man’s sweat?

Waver’s choices were limited, so he brought his arms up to defend himself. But even in doing so, it was difficult to blow the oddly angled attack coming from the arm with an extra joint. He was struck across the chest, albeit with relatively unimpressive force, before he could push himself up onto his feet and retreat with soru, gaining some distance.

“Since you put on that mask, I guess you assumed I was using some kind of poison, just like the rest of these guys.” Simiao sighed aloud as he casually wiped his sweaty forehead with one finger and gripped another vial in his hand. “Need I repeat that that’s not the case?”

Waver didn’t respond. Instead, he narrowed his eyes slightly as he deliberately ignored the burning sensation on his arms and his chest, observing the situation before him briefly.

“Weird.” Simiao scratched his head after a moment. “That should have definitely eaten through your skin by now. You’re using tekkai to prevent my sweat from eating away at you, right? I’d think iron wouldn’t be enough to withstand the acidic properties.”

“I told you, I’m an ‘Axe of War’. Don’t compare me or the rest of the CP9 members to the normal standards.”

“Oh? And why not?”

Waver crouched down, touching his hands to the ground as he continued to keep his gaze on Simiao.

“We’re the more ‘improved’ version compared to the last generation that couldn’t even protect the banner of justice.”

In an instant, a blur swung from behind Waver, moving similarly to a slingshot. A the same time, an object impaled itself right near Simiao’s foot, which he’d just unconsciously shifted by coincidence. This confused to man just long enough to give Waver the chance to fire a second shot, this one aimed directly at Simiao’s gut.

This is a 2 in one post as both these event happen simultaneously.
[Sidetracked Part 4/4]
Mockingbird awakens to the look of a familiar face.

???: "Well it's about time you woke up. If you'd stayed unconscious any longer I would have just told Yasopp that you died."

Mockingbird: "So... you were on this island after all - Soul."

Soul: "Oh I see, you were looking for me. It probably had something to do with the fight you had with Whitebeard years ago didn't it?"

Mockingbird: "So you know already huh."

Soul: "Didn't take that long. As soon as Yasopp dropped you off I knew something was wrong. That Reaver kid, he wouldn't have even had the time to hit you. I mean his power is amazing but you, your just too fast."

Mockingbird: "Cut the small talk Soul! Give to me straight - how long do I have?"

Soul: "Surprisingly enough you still have years left on you. Your just like Akainu in a sense; well except that he didn't come to me. Your inner organs where all shifted and your heart was taking on too much pressure. If you hadn't made it here you would have died in about a month. You did well to condition your body; a lesser man would have died in days."

Mockingbird: "So that old man messed me up really good huh?"

Soul: "Well, to put it bluntly... yes he did."

Mockingbird: "Well since I'm all done here I should be going now."

Mockingbird tries to sit up properly but is too weak to move. He looks at Soul's face, which seemed eager to know why he was in such a rush. Soul took out a cigar out of his coat's pocket. He lit it and drew in a deep breath. He exhaled and became at peace again.

Soul: "You can't leave, your body needs its rest. Feel free to stay the night, and try not to move - your body needs to recuperate and get used to how your organs are placed. You should be fine by morning, but until then get some sleep. Oh, and one more thing... how are you planning to invade the marine hq and live?"

Mockingbird: "So you know."

Soul: "I heard you talking in your sleep. I always respected you as a man Mockingbird, but I hated your ideals. Why do you need to destroy the marines so badly?"

Mockingbird: "Shut up! A man like you, who hasn't experienced the pain of loss, can never understand why I'm doing this."

Soul: "Your crew died because of your arrogance!"

Mockingbird: "No... it wasn't just my crew. Their deaths are not the only ones I am burdened to carry on my shoulder."

Soul: "I see... Well whatever you do, don't ask me for help."

Mockingbird: "I wasn't planning to."

Soul left the room and Mockingbird in it. The time seemed to drag on and Mockingbird began to grow restless, but still his body would not respond to him. Shortly after the door opened and in walked a young man with an unusually upbeat look.

Rayen: "Hello my name is Rayen. It's pronounced rain but spelled differently."

Mockingbird: (Becomes immediately annoyed by this boys appearance) "And you are?"

Rayen: "I just told you my name is Rayen. R-a-y-e-n."

Mockingbird: "Not that! I meant why are you here!"

Rayen: "Oh, my uncle thought you might be bored so he asked me to bring you some sake and a book. He said you were always reading whenever he saw you, so I guess he thinks that you like reading."

Mockingbird: "I do read often to pass the time. Tell me boy, what is your dream?"

Rayen: "My dream? Well I guess my true dream is to become immortal. You know, to live on forever in the memories of people and history."

Mockingbird: (His serious look is shattered and he begins to laugh) "Phtahahahahahahahahaha..."

Rayen: "Huh... whats wrong? Is my dream that silly?"

Mockingbird: (Calms down and takes the sake from the boys hand) "No its not that, it's just that... I once... had that very same dream. It is a naive and idiotic dream but... deep down I would still want to make it a reality. Tell me boy, would you like to become a pirate?"

Rayen: "What?! My uncle would never allow that. He's always told me that pirates are bad people."

Mockingbird: "The 'Ghost King' Legacy D. Soul told you that pirates are bad people. Now that is something that is too hard to believe."

Rayen: "What did you just call my uncle?"

Mockingbird: "The 'Ghost King', that was the alias he went by... when he was a pirate."

A shocking truth is revealed. What is Mockingbird's intention in saying all of this?

'To be Continued'

[The Meeting]

Reaver and his crew finally arrive at the marine hq. He is prompted by an ensign to meet the fleet admiral and the others in the meeting room. He then immediately heads off toward the meeting-place.

Reaver: (enters the room with the other elites) "Oh my this is quite a large gathering."

Smoker: "Quit bullshitting you piece of shit and get your ass in gear!"

Aokiji: "Now, now Smoker that's enough. Can't you guys just get along for a minute or two?"

Smoker: "You expect me to get along with this arrogant prick?"

Reaver: "The feeling is mutual."

The tension between the two flared.

Tashigi: "That's enough Smoker-san, we have a more pressing issue to worry about right now."

Aokiji: "Thank you Tashigi. Well as you all know, a powerful foe of mine has once again reappeared and has his eyes set on me, but what you all may not know is why I am allowing him to attack the marine headquarters. Like you all, I have my orders. The commander-in-chief has ordered me to not engage this man. As a result, I have to pull you all into this mess with me."

Smoker: "Quit beating around the bush and just tell me who this bastard is so I can kill him."

Aokiji: "On your own you have the best chance among the current marines in a fight against him, but you can't beat him on your own Smoker."

Smoker: "Why not?"

Reaver: "Because the man that's coming after him is none other that the former captain of the new moon pirates..."

Smoker: "You can't mean...?"

Aokiji: "Unfortunately it's true. The man who is on his way to marine hq is none other than Mockingbird. For some reason he survived our encounter all those years ago and now he wants revenge. Reaver you may now give your report."

Reaver: "Yes sir!"

Reaver then explained the horrors that befell him and his crew on that island. He gave a detailed description of the abilities that Mockingbird displayed as well as a description of the pain he felt. He also noted the fact that Mockingbird was apparently holding back.

Aokiji: "I see, so it's worse than I thought. All right men listen up! The reason you are all here is because your the only elites that could be counted on at such short notice. The rest of our forces have been spread out and were only able to enlist the help of one of our admirals. Even though it is just one man don't underestimate him. After-all, he once stood toe-to-toe with Whitebeard when he was still in his prime. In the coming days I don't expect any of you to come out unscathed, but I do have an order for all of you 'Don't die!'

Everyone: "Yes sir!!"

Aokiji: "Well if that is all lets devise a plan to defend this place. And Reaver, I need you to go to Enies Lobby."

Reaver: "Wait what for? Can't I stay here and help?"

Aokiji: "You've already seen that you can't beat him, and since it's only one man you run a greater risk of injuring your fellow marines. You would be a greater help to Namikiji, Lucia and the others at Enies Lobby. With your help they can resolve the matters quickly and hopefully you can all come back in time to aid in the defense of the headquarters."

Reaver: (Angered at the fact that even Aokiji saw that he was too weak) "Understood, I'll leave immediately."

Smoker: "So the arrogant little dog can't play with the big boys huh."

Reaver: "Shut it Smoker! I'll show you, I'm going to get stronger."

Smoker: "Hmph... until then, stop trying to act all tough; or i'll beat the shit out of you until you know where you stand!"

The stage has been set for the onslaught of chaos to appear and engulf the new world.

'To be Continued'

I will write something and have it up later on. Though, it will likely be a follow-on of where Rakki is and what he is doing... the rest will come later, as I advance towards the writing of the other parts of the fight. XD

@Exorcist. I will continue our fight as well, since I was having a brain wave of what to write for it... don't let your guard down, buddy... Long John is one of hell of a pirate when it comes down to it. Haha.

[A Beacon Of Justice]

'Let's do this, CP9... I'll show you what I can do when I get serious.'

Long John allowed his full dragon form to fade away and his normal form came back. For a moment he seemed to concentrate on something else entirely, though, what that was, Krieg couldn't say for sure... all he knew, was that the pirate commander must be plotting something. Moments later, Long John began to change again, though this time, he took a much smaller form, which looked to be the hybrid form of his dragon mythical fruit. The scales, for some reason, seemed to become smaller and their sheen changed slightly, as though they had changed more than their size. Krieg frowned.

'You do realise that your hybrid form is less powerful than your full-blown dragon form, don't you?' Krieg asked, thinking of the other mythical fruits he had witnessed before.

Long John smiled, a dangerous smile, one that would send a chill down the spine of any normal man. 'Do I realise that this form is less powerful...? Is that something you would bet your life on, CP9?'

'Normally, yes, however, it seems that you have some kind of trick up your sleeve, otherwise you wouldn't be so calm against a man of my calibre... so, will you show me your tricks, or shall I beat them out of you?'

'That's entirely up to you, CP9. I'm not saying anything... just be careful what you wish for, is all.'

Krieg sighed. This was getting them nowhere. 'Then I'll just have to beat some answers out of you! I'm not one for playing cat and mouse...'

Krieg used his soru, appearing behind Long John, who adjusted his body in time and spun around, to meet Krieg face to face. Their fists clashed together, the scales sending off an odd reverberation. Sparks even flew and Krieg frowned again. He thrusted forward and punched the pirate in the chest, as hard as he dared to and watched as the infuriating man was flung backwards with the force.

Long John raised his head and laughed. 'Have you figured it out yet?'

'I have no idea what you're talking about, pirate. All I know, is that punch should have done you some damage, instead, I find that there is not even a single mark on you... what's the reasoning behind this?'

'Simple. My full dragon form encompasses the fiery spirit of a dragon and shows this off with all of the different attacks I use in that form. This, however, is very different. If you thought about it, you might realise... as you should know, a dragon's scales are often as hard as diamond, as the scales are composed of a material that simulates the same kind of covalent bonding...' Long John paused a moment to survey the look on Krieg's face. 'I see you are shocked to think that a mere pirate would understand anything of science... if that's the case, then it's lucky you missed my Captain... he would crush you in an instant... however, I will just take the rest of this moment to point out that this form, the hybrid, encompasses the rock-solid spirit of a dragon... this is my true fighting form... so, the question is, who's going to prove to be tougher skinned?'

-Meanwhile-

Bug-eye used his own Soru, avoiding the attack of the commander and used his rankyaku, which hit the commander in the stomach and flung him backwards, and allowed him to come to rest at the foot of the rapidly-crumbling building behind him.

'Gonna give up, yet? I have the equivalent training to a CP9 agent... I know Rokushiki as well as my grandfather taught me and you will never beat me if you can only move like that.'

'Shut up, pirate scum!!!'

Bug-eye moved again and swung his fist into the man's face, knocking him out cold. This was his opportunity to follow after Rakki, but cause a bit more devastation before he did so, since Long John's attentions had been distracted by the man in the suit, who was obviously CP9.

So, he used a few more rankyaku attacks, and used his soru to beat down the marine soldiers, until there were only a few left, then he left things to the chef and the rest of the crew. He used geppou to get over the wall, then vanished to find Rakki.

-During the same moment-

Rakki continued to phase between forms, avoiding countless numbers of marine soldiers. There were far too many for him to get sidetracked, he would need to find Golan before it got too got too late... chances were, there would be far less Revolutionaries than marines and Rakki didn't want to miss his brother.

Bro... what a stupid place to come to... I hope you're okay... if you die needlessly, I'll never forgive you and my memory of you will be forever tarnished... be safe, bro...

Damn, he’s a Devil Fruit user too!?
 
Simiao ran through clouds of a thick, inky smoke thrown up by sublimating much of the stone beneath him. The smoke didn’t rise into the air as one would expect, instead hovering like a thick fog. He clutched at his stomach, breathing heavily. He’d pulled out the spike and the pain had been dulled – he was a master of pain-killers – and the bleeding had stopped, but his muscles wouldn’t move as normal. He felt sluggish. It was poison, but he’d already administered every one of his available antidotes. None had been effective. With the toxin in his system, he could synthesize such an antidote, but that would take minutes. He didn’t have minutes.
 
Grinding noises echoed around him. He could see scores in the rock and metal around him. Simiao had long since outrun the effects of his sulphur hexafluoride, though it was likely that there were still marines floating and shouting in it in voices several octaves deeper than normal. Imagining it elucidated a chuckle, which he immediately regretted – he couldn’t use his most powerful pain-killers since they would slow him down, so he could still very much feel some of his injuries if he exacerbated them.
 
Focus!
 
Alright, so what was he, this Waver? A spike man? Maybe. It didn’t seem fully believable, though. Those marks looked like they’d been left by claws, powerful ones. And those screeches that assaulted his ears didn’t sound human. In fact, they sounded like no animal he’d ever heard before, though he couldn’t depend on his zoological knowledge for anything definitive. So some type of Zoan then, like Long John? Maybe he should have taken those spars more seriously…
 
Something large crashed down in front of him. Simiao skidded to a stop, tossing sweat that came quite naturally at the moment to his right to create more smoke. Hopefully he’d follow that.
 
Was there anything about a Zoan user he could use to his advantage? It always depended on the type. He could only infer so much without having seen the transformation up close. So he’d just have to do what he always did.
 
Trial and error.
 
Simiao stopped in place, breathing deeply. As he did, the sweat pouring off his skin quickly returned beneath and then stopped completely. Besides a faint odor, not a hint of wetness remained. He needed to conserve ever bit of water and minerals he could at this point, and rely solely on his vials. That is, if he planned on surviving.
 
“So have you given up then, pirate?”
 
The voice had a hint of Waver’s voice, but there was a guttural, feral quality to it. A hulking figure stalked though the clouds of gas around him, and though he remained just out of range of Simiao’s vision, Waver could almost certainly see him perfectly. He was counting on that.
 
“Given up? No, just taking a breather. I never was known for my cardio.”
 
“Still playing the joker even as your life hangs on a tenuous thread? You truly are a fool.”
 
“We are all fools if we live long enough.”
 
Waver hesitated. “That sounds almost profound. Did you have an epiphany in your final moments?”
 
His movements started indicating that he would be moving in for the kill at any second. Simiao smiled, rotating his right arm in rapid circles at each of the elbows.
 
“We all see the light eventually, no matter how long we stare at shadows.”

Luciferin was an interesting chemical. Normally, it was cleaved by luciferase in a reaction that produces light. His inability to produce biological entities, and therefore enzymes, made this particular reaction impossible, though he had long since discovered more effective ways to cleave this particular compound. He slipped a large vial out of his sleeve.

Waver didn't let him get complacent. A salvo of spikes shot towards him. From that angle, Simiao could better judge their direction now that he knew what was coming, but with his slowed movements, several still sliced into his skin, one even shattering the vial in his left hand. He tisked as a claw shot out of the smoke, aimed with deadly accuracy at his throat. He let a spike slam into his left shoulder, grimacing as it pushed him backward and barely out of the way. Red fur obscured his vision as a large, snarling face overtook his vision. A manticore, was it?

He let himself sweat.

“Let there be light.”

Those glowing red eyes widened just as the luciferin beneath him beamed intense light outward. Simiao's eyes were shut, but he took the blast full on. Waver howled in frustration, crashing to the ground and lashing out with his barbed tail all around him. Simiao carefully remained just out of range, his arm rapidly decelerating as he tugged the spike from his shoulder, sweating coagulants to staunch the blood flow.

His vision blurred from pain and poison, but he steadied himself, pressing forward and knocking the tail aside with his right arm, the move earning him a deep wound in the bicep. Waver turned to great him, jaws widening in an attempt to bite, though they quickly snapped shut as Simiao's fist collided with his chest.

Waver shot backward through the smoke, though shockingly his rear claws quickly grabbed purchase on the stone beneath him, grinding through for several meters before coming to a stop. His form partially reverted to something more human as he wiped tears from his eyes, staring down at a sizeable bruise forming on his pectoral.

“Is that all you can manage?”

This was bad. Simiao wasn't exactly a man of strength, so he had gone to great pains to find ways to improve his physical acumen without having to compete with those much stronger and faster than himself. Most people saw speed as a necessity for increased damage, though it was not the sole way of accomplishing such a feat. In fact, he could increase his force solely by increasing his acceleration, which he accomplished by decreasing his speed and dramatically altering the directional flow of his arms. The result was to create a highly accelerated space around his arms, one belied by their slow movement. It was not meant to be tremendously effective in battle because of the difficulty involved in application...

...but to survive a hit like that practically unscathed? Was this Tekkai?

Fascinating.

“I'm afraid so. Would you mind terribly giving me another shot at it? Give me another chance to disappoint you?”

Waver gave him a flat look, though he didn't immediately approach. If anything, he seemed to be sizing him up more carefully now. A strange move for someone who believed themselves to be strong enough to take a hit like that from his opponent head on. Had he done more damage than was apparent? No, the CP9 agent didn't show any signs of apparent injury. He was a careful man, someone who would bide his time when he faced any amount of uncertainty.

It was a small opportunity, but he would take it, if only to recharge and think through his options.

The other man had stopped blinking, and tears no longer lined his eyes. That meant that his eyesight hadn't been nearly as enhanced as Simiao had assumed. The manticore form was less vulnerable than he'd supposed, though perhaps it did not come without any price. Looking closely, he could see Waver's vision slipping off of him. It seemed that the poison was still in effect, and likely made stronger by his transformation. He couldn't count on that alone, not against an opponent like this, but it might be the difference between life and death.

He started to sweat again, only a trickle this time as he gathered something new into a small vial. He was running out of time – his opponent would soon become frustrated or impatient. It would take a while yet to prepare what he believed to be his only route to victory, so he would need to make other opportunities.

The smoke around them had mostly dissipated to a fine haze. In the short term, he'd need something else to get through this. Waver kicked out, an air blade rocketing towards him. Simiao lept over it, only to see a number of others come at him. He tisked, rotating his arms before him in seemingly random patterns. Small air blades came out of each jut of the elbows, crashing into the oncoming blades. They weren't enough to deter, just to slow their assault. The larger Rankyaku smashed into each other, creating a small sonic boom. Simiao crossed his arms before him, but still rocketed backward through a wall. He coughed up some blood as he skidded to a stop in the darkened space.

“What? No more quips? Are you finished wasting my time?”

Simiao chuckled. He reveled in this uncertainty, this danger, as an opportunity to test his brilliance. Even though the odds still stood very much against him, he felt an immense elation that surged against the numbness in his body from the poison. The antidote wasn't quite there yet, but perhaps mental state alone could overcome for the time being.

“Not by a long shot.”

[Superhuman Conviction]

“I see. So your devil fruit reflects certain aspects of yourself. I’ll certainly congratulate you on surviving so many consecutive blows—a normal person would have been crushed from the first strike. You at least seem tough enough to handle my greeting.”

Krieg took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he gripped his black belt around his waist, tightening it with a single tug as his lungs deflated. Long John tensed his body as he watched Krieg’s posture change marginally, putting all of his weight on the balls of his feet. At the same time, the ground beneath his feet was shattered by the force behind the small movement, as if it couldn’t handle the force he was exerting.

“Brace yourself, pirate.”

The was the only warning Krieg gave before he rushed forward, closing the distance between them without bothering with soru. Though it was a short distance, it was still strange that he would be so stubborn about refusing to us Rokushiki. Did he really think he wouldn’t need to use it?

Long John would have to change that mind of his.

Without wasting a moment, Long John took a step forward and brought both of his arms forward to greet Krieg’s oncoming attack. A heavy thud echoed through the air and a shockwave flew around the two fighters, blowing away the nearby pirates, though it was somehow directed from knocking away any of the nearby government agents or marines, as if Krieg had intentionally absorbed part of the shockwave to protect him with his spare energy. Long John grimaced unconsciously as he focused on trying to force Krieg back.

But as soon as Long John tried to do so, he saw how impossible the task was. The ground beneath Krieg shattered once more as Long John began to exert all of his force, amplified by his zoan fruit, but Krieg didn’t falter for a moment as he stood his ground, gripping both of Long John’s scaly arms in his hands tightly.

“It seems you still don’t understand.” Krieg muttered as he looked directly into Long Shot’s serpentine eyes. With his great size, he easily looked down on Long Shot as they continued to push against each other, deepening the crater beneath them with every push they exerted. “When it comes to physical force, you can’t hope to compare. My doriki count isn’t only the highest among the CP9—no other man in recorded history compares to my strength. I could even beat the late Whitebeard in an arm wrestling during his match. Do you really think you can overpower me with sheer force?”

“I guess I can see why you’re so confident against devil fruits users, especially zoan fruits.” Long John grinned slightly as a single bead of sweat appeared over his scaly forehead. “But physical strength isn’t all there is to combat.”

“But it’s all I’ll need against amoral pirates such as yourselves.”

Long John merely snorted before opening his mouth wide, baring the sharp orifice he possessed as his neck extended slightly, like a serpents, biting right into Krieg’s meaty shoulder.

While his teeth didn’t sink in like they should, they didn’t shatter as they would have if the man had used his tekkai.

“You’re one stubborn man.” Long John noted with his muffled voice as he observed how Krieg didn’t even flinch. “That pride is a bit of a pain.”

Krieg didn’t respond. He simply grabbed Long John’s snout with his hands and pried open his jaws before swing upward with all of his force. Long John’s eyes widened as he found himself being lifted in the air, supported only by Krieg’s sheer physical strength. Krieg released Long John to let the man fall to the ground and braced his body with both hands gripped horizontally at his side.

“There is no need to protect myself from a mere pirate’s fangs with my rokushiki.” Krieg insisted stubbornly. “Because I stand for JUSTICE!”

With the final word, Long John felt as if a wrecking ball had been plunged into his gut.

The next moment, the same feeling entered his chest.

Krieg’s fists flew forward like a barrage of heavy weights, aiming to strike every part of Long John’s heavily scaled body in an attempt to break through the strong defense it provided. While none of the strikes broke through. Long John felt that each punch was aiming to pierce through his body without mercy.

Then Krieg took a step forward with one arm pulled back, ready to deal the finally blow.

“Hell no!” Long John cried as one of his feet barely touched the ground and he immediately sprung in the air to evade the fierce strike from Krieg’s fist. Another shockwave of force flew along the path of Krieg’s fist and several more pirates were blown away from the strike. Long John clicked his tongue irritably as he landed on the ground once more and retreated a few steps.

That last strike…that one wasn’t normal. Long John thought to himself as he felt the danger flag that had been raised in his gut slowly lower again. He watched as Krieg lowered his hands slowly, smoke rising from his knuckles that should have been in agony. He might have actually punched through my body, like that was an armor piercing strike. Those damn martial arts might deserve more credit than I thought at first…

Meanwhile Krieg regarded his smoking fists casually, frowning slightly. They weren’t particularly in pain at this point, but if he continued to striking Long John’s thick body without mercy, he’d start to receive damage himself.

A defense strong enough to damage the opponent? How interesting.

“I am the gatekeeper of justice who will protect this gate with his life!” Krieg announced as he took another offensive stance with his fists raised. “Not a single one of you pirates will be getting past me! I swear this on the emblem emblazoned on my sacred uniform’s back!”

“You just don’t do things half-heartedly, eh?” Long John sighed as he prepared for another assault. “Even though you know we’re just a diversion. I guess you should be praised!”

With a single leap, Long John leaped forward through the air, swinging his claws out fiercely as Krieg met his approach with another linear punch aiming for his gut.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waver gazed across at his opponent without expression, sizing him up carefully while taking his physical state into account. Simiao gazed back at him with the same nonchalant smile.

What was with this man?

“Can’t decide what to do next?” Simiao called over to Waver in a teasing tone. “You’ve been keeping the same distance for quite a while.”

Waver ignored this. He simply focused on reading the man’s small movements, taking the smallest idiosyncrasies into account. After a few more moments, of silence, Waver sighed.

“I don’t understand you. You don’t show much motivation toward the idea of defeating me, but you’re the one who invaded this island. Don’t you have a goal you’re aiming for? A reason for being here? Are you sure you should be wasting time fighting me?”

“I’ve been asking you to ignore a weakling like me from the beginning.” Simiao responded with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not interested in fighting. But if I try to rush this without thinking, I’ll probably end up backing myself into a corner. That would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”

“So you’re being careful? Don’t be so arrogant. As if a mere lackey like you could defeat me, cautious or not.”

Simiao merely shrugged, apparently not minding Waver’s incriminating tone. Waver clicked his tongue as he took a step to the side and began circling around Simiao without taking his eyes off of him.

“Leaving the road open for me to pass?” Simiao shook his head back and forth in disbelief. “I already told you that I’m being careful. I’m not turning my back to a government assassin.”

Simiao turned his body away from the open pathway to continue to face Waver as the young man continued to walk in a wide circle. Waver didn’t respond to Simiao’s very deliberate response to the bluff, as if he hadn’t registered the man’s words.

Instead, a strange phenomenon occurred that made Simiao blink in confusion.

Waver pace didn’t change, but for some reason, he became a blur. It wasn’t from moving too quick to follow; he was beginning to leave after images that faded away quickly, overlapping with the original. This made it difficult for Simiao to keep an eye on him until the afterimages began to last longer, lagging behind in a confusing line.

“Soru: Rhythm Step.”

Simiao immediately braced himself for a sudden movement that would probably put Waver in his blind spot, but the CP9 agent did none of the sort. He simply continued picked up his pace slightly as he continued to circle around Simiao with the afterimages lasting only five seconds at most before fading.

A bluff?

It was as Simiao considered this possibility when Waver suddenly shot forward, crossing the distance between them instantly with the afterimages barely keeping up. Simiao reactively instantly, stepping slightly to the side as he twisted his torso as much as he could, putting as much centrifugal force behind the upper half of his body as his arms lashed out furiously.

The counter was executed splendidly, but failed to actual do any damage. It wasn’t that Waver blocked it or he missed—the attack definitely connected with the exact place Waver was when he approached.

But the attack passed through nonetheless, touching nothing tangible, throwing Simiao completely off balance. Before he could even begin to make sense of what was going on, a fist slammed into his gut mercilessly, sinking in so deep, Simiao wondered if any of his organs were flattened.

“Have you ever seen a fought a martial arts master before?”

Waver’s voice whispered into Simiao’s ear as the man coughed sporadically, blood splattering over the ground as he struggled to take a breath in order to fill his empty lungs. With the shock of a fist deep in his gut, still not withdrawn, it was difficult for him to even move from his keeled over position.

Waver continued on, ignoring Simiao’s coughing.

“A proper CP9 member’s body is easily superhuman, surpassing many masters who’ve trained in their art for years. You seem to have a fairly unorthodox style of fighting that you may or may not be proud of. But next to a master rokushiki user, your attacks are futile.”

Simiao’s finally regained enough control over his eyes enough that he could try and focus on Waver’s close figure. But before he could even do so, the CP9 agent literally vanished from sight, his fist finally being withdrawn from Simiao’s gut. But before Simiao could even completely relax, the fist sank into his body again, this time with enough force to send the man flying back like a rocket.

Immediately after launching Simiao, Waver dropped onto his hands and his body began to transform this much, becoming much burlier while still managing to be contained in the jumpsuit he wore. The tail took on a familiar pose as it coiled like a snake preparing to strike.

Simiao was ready for this strike, stunned as he was. He brought his arms back with all of his force, using it to disrupt his momentum at the exact moment the spine was launched. He didn’t completely evade the spine, but he managed to escape with a single gash that opened up over one leg before he crashed to the ground. Once he was on solid ground again, he pushed himself up and barely evaded the second spine that embedded itself into the ground at his feet.

“So you’ve moved on to trying to break my spirit.” Simiao murmured wryly as he felt the stinging pain in his leg begin to numb from his own painkillers. But even with his own quick remedy, his leg continued to quiver horrible, as if shivering. Did the spine managed to did through a tendon? That would be bad. “You can bluff if you want; even the greatest of beasts that rips through human beings like butter can be brought to its knees with enough poisons.”

“You seem to be mistaken.”

The volume of Waver’s body decreased once more, his stretched out jumpsuit reverting to its normal size. He seemed to take on a completely human form, with the exception of the long tail extending from his tail bone and hanging in the air over him.

“My body has been trained since birth in all aspects of combat. I’ve been exposed to lethal currents of electricity and dropped from heights that would kill normal people. I could patiently fight you for three days straight without even yawning from exhaustion. Do you really think poison anything below Magellan-level could possibly faze me?”

“You mean you’ve developed an strong resistance to poison?” Simiao considered that for a moment before shaking his head. “I’ll admit, it’s possible. But you’d be bluffing again if you said you were immune to all affects. Poison isn’t a simple thing, after all. If you get too much of it, you’ll definitely suffer some consequences.”

“Then put your confidence to the test. Let’s see if that useless poison of yours can make me hesitate before I pierce your heart with my tail.”

Waver started forward at a casual pace, his long tail hovering above him, ready to lash out instantly. He wasn’t going on all fours again, which was good. Simiao had noticed that Waver only fired the spines when he properly braced himself, like he as a cannon firing a shell. If he was coming close, he probably intended to use that tail as a close ranged weapon.

“Soru: Rhythm Step.”

Once again, the afterimages appeared behind Waver as he shot forward instantly, closing the gap between them without delay. But before reaching Simiao, Waver shot to the side and began to circle around the man quickly, the afterimages making a ring of illusions around him that made Simiao completely lose track of the real one.

“I take it you’re the most accomplished CP9 agent when it comes to soru?”

“I’m afraid not. That title belongs to my colleague. I’m the most accomplished with geppou; but I doubt I’ll even need to use any of those techniques against a man who’d leave his body so open!”

A single line broke off from the ring surrounding Simiao, a stream of afterimages flying straight for Simiao’s back, long tail aimed directly for his heart.

[New Priorities]

Furry Tail Island: An island near the Red Line in the New World named for possessing a shape similar to a furry dog’s tail. It wasn’t an especially big island and it didn’t get much traffic due to this, as Log Poses very rarely pointed in the island’s direction. Plus, for those few who managed to make it to the island through sheer coincidence, there was little chance that they’d be hostile. After getting through Fishman Island, rising from the depths of the ocean on their coated ship, very few pirates had the energy to do anything but relax on the island before heading out again into the dangerous second half of the Grand Line.

As a result, Furry Tail Island was a very peaceful island with few problems or disturbances. It was arguably the most uncharacteristically normal island in this part of the New World.

At least, that’s what it seemed like on the surface.

“I really hate coming to this island.” Bradford, captain of the marine’s infamous G-5 frowned as he glanced around the island while striding ahead of the small group of unruly marines that followed behind him. “I always get the chills. It feels like I’m being watched.”

“It’s just your imagination, captain.”

“Yeah, I mean, does it look like anyone’s watching you?”

“The dogs sure seem to like you, at least. Who knew the captain was good with pets?”

“He looks like a softy, after all. Too bad that only goes skin deep.”

Captain Bradford clicked his tongue as he tried to ignore the teasing from the marines behind him. Ever since he’d taken his position as the captain of this infamous group, he’d received absolutely no respect from these people. Each day, it was a constant battle against the irresponsible nature of these unruly rejects of the esteemed marines. Truth be told, he didn’t really care about gaining any respect. Even if these guys were supposedly the rejects of the marines, they were still people who devoted themselves to using their infamous reputation to their advantage when dealing with pirates. He respected that about them; so long as they did their job and followed his orders, they could be as rude as they liked.

But still, they were too dense. It was probable that this strange feeling Bradford had was just his imagination, but he felt the same thing every single time he set foot on the island, as if several people were watching him. These marines were decently skilled soldiers, but they were still grunts. They were completely useless when it came to advanced skills, such as being able to notice subtle things like this, so he could never count on their opinions and judgment.

“Vice-Admiral,” Bradfard turned his attention to the one person whose judgment he could trust in the ground. “Don’t you sense anything? I seriously feel like we’re being watched.”

“Really? I don’t think there’s anything out of the ordinary.”

…was the short and somewhat distracted response he was given.

“See, captain? Even Captain-chan is telling you you’re crazy!”

Bradford’s brow furrowed. Was he really just imagining things? Why did this seemingly peaceful island give him such chills? The island didn’t have much—the main abnormal thing about it was the high ratio of pets to residents on the island. Nearly every home owned at least one dog or cat, which ended up filling the streets with strays as a natural occurrence. But even the strays had a fairly relaxed life, as the elderly often put out leftovers to feed any wandering animals each day. It was really a relaxed life with very little people around here who even had their guard up.

So what gave him this uneasy feeling?

“—more importantly, quit calling the Vice-Admiral ‘Captain-chan’! Show some respect and stop with that stupid nickname!”

“Ah, don’t be such a tight-ass, captain.” Several of the marine waved their hands with stupid smirks on his face that made a vein in Bradford’s temple throb. “We didn’t even call the last two by their titles. Vergo was a jerk who nearly got us all killed on that Punk Hazard—you know the story, right? Smo-yan, though, was a real man!”

“There’s just no getting through to these guys.” Bradford shook his head pitifully as he decidedly focused on where they were going, regarding Vice-Admiral Tashigi’s back. She, like many others, was the perfect example of rising through the ranks on hard work and skill alone, with no God-given talent that set her apart from normal people. She made a good replacement for Admiral Smoker, who had been promoted.

“It’s even more amazing how you still refer to him with the ‘san’ honorific…”

Bradford muttered the last part with a sigh, grinning wryly. Ever since joining G-5, he’d lost his ability to make excuses about everyone better than him simply possessing talent he didn’t. He’d have to work harder.

“Ah, we’re here.”

Tashigi spoke in an upbeat tone as she came to a short stop, looking in a particular direction. Bradford followed her eyes and spotted a figure standing underneath tree near a café for shade, looking as if they were waiting for someone or something.

“Alright, everyone.” Tashigi called to the other marines as she turned to face them all. “Captain Bradford and I will be talking out here, so you can all go take a break in the café and order what you want. Be ready to come out the moment I call you and don’t cause trouble for the civilians.”

“Yes! Finally! I haven’t caffeinated my body in a while! You’re the best, Captain-chan!”

“Come on, everyone! It’s time for a well-deserved break!”

The G-5 marines roared with joy as they charged straight for the entrance to the café at once, making quite a bit of noise and pushing each other out of the way. Bradford frowned at the obvious lack of discipline. It was actually embarrassing.

“Shouldn’t we have them patrol or stand guard?” He advised skeptically. “You shouldn’t pamper them.”

“They’d just slack off anyways if I did that.” Tashigi shrugged her shoulders in response. “If anything comes up, they’ll change gears quickly. It’s better to have them where I can see them in the meantime so I can intervene if they do anything stupid.”

She was pretty good at handling those idiots. Impressive.

The two continued heading toward the figure they’d spotted earlier, Bradford walking ahead of Tashigi now with purpose in his gait. He’d noticed even from afar that this person wasn’t a random pet-loving resident of the island.

She was a slender woman who wasn’t very tall, sporting a one piece outfit made completely of bear fur that hide the physique of her body pretty well. She did a good job of hiding it, but her rosy colored hair was wild and spiky as it extended down to her hip, indicating a less than refined life-style to go along with the hard and impassive expression on her face. Bradford had instantly read her posture with her folded arms and head lowered, keeping an eye on everything around her without even turning her head, coming to the conclusion that she was a very experienced person.

So he naturally took the antagonistic approach.

“You,” He spoke without a warm greeting, folding his arms over his chest as he glared straight at the woman. “You’re that Kuja called Dandelion, aren’t you?”

The woman glanced toward him briefly with those indifferent eyes of hers before looking away, as if he was no more important than a lamppost or tree.

“Hey!” Bradford felt his anger rise rapidly as his body became tense. There was no forgiving that kind of attitude from a stranger. “Don’t you even recognize this coat?! I’m Captain Bradford of G-5! You had better answer my questions, you damn pirate, or you’ll be arrested, processed, and jailed so fast, your head will be pounding from the rushing blood!”

Still, she ignored him, not at all fazed by his angry tone.

That was the extent of Bradford’s temper. He prepared himself to use force, his entire body tightening in preparation, but he was stopped as he felt Tashigi’s restraining hand on his shoulder. He gave her a disbelieving look, but she regarded him sternly, this time with a warning. Understanding her meaning, Bradford clicked his tongue and stepped back, relaxing his body.

Tashigi stepped forward, speaking with authority, though with far less hostility than Bradford.

“You are Dandelion of the Kuja tribe, right?”

“I am.” The woman replied shortly, looking straight at Tashigi with the same impassive eyes. “But I’m not a pirate. We still have a deal with the government, after all. But just because I’m not a shutin on that island doesn’t make me one of the pirates, either. So tell you idiotic subordinate to shut up before I break his jaw.”

“You want to say that again, damn it?” Bradford demanded furiously while stepping forward. “I’d like to see you try and even put a scratch on me!”

“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” Dandelion continued to refuse to look at Bradford even as she spoke directly to him. “Get in a fight with me, and you’ll be the one in trouble for obstructing my duties.”

“Wha—”

“It’s true.” Tashigi interrupted Bradford’s next threat while giving him another warning look. ‘Restrain yourself’, was the message in her eyes. “Boa Hancock is no longer a Shichibukai, but the Kuja tribe is still protected due to an agreement that puts them under the protection of another Shichibukai.”

“And it’s my job to make sure that Shichibukai keeps his end of the bargain on the Kuja’s side. I have the same authority as a government agent in that respect. Got it, idiot? If you attack me, I’ll definitely kill you and I wouldn’t be at fault, since you were the one who got in my way.”

Bradford’s teeth ground together as he struggled to keep himself in one spot. He despised the idea of being mouthed off to, especially by a person like this. He could tell; she had talent. He didn’t know how much, or in what, but she was definitely one of the people who was responsible for his inferiority complex. Talented people were also the reason he got into so many fights during his military service, which ended up having him sent to the infamous G-5, where he got to see the real world without the talented.

And was a dreary, oppressive world it was.

It had motivated him enough to want to fight to protect the pride of any and all people without talent, paying little mind to the reason.

It was only because Tashigi was around to restrain him that he was able to control himself in these situations lately.

“Don’t get so cocky, Kuja.” A sly grin appeared on Bradford’s face. It reflected the spite that he felt toward this unlikeable woman and he was relieved none of the other marines were around to see it. There was no telling how it might influence those idiots to see him like this. “We didn’t come here just to say hello. Apparently, Fortify Island, that place known for making a lot of the weapons sold to other islands across the Grand Line has recently run into some serious trouble. All of its ships carrying exports were seized and destroyed. It happens to be pretty close to the calm belt, and we’ve got a few suspicions about who might be responsible.”

“Fort Island…? Oh, I vaguely remember hearing about that place. Several nations have gone to war using weapons bought from that island. I’m guessing you’re accusing the Kuja Pirates of being behind the raids.”

“Are you going to deny it?”

“Well, either way, I wouldn’t be affiliated. I already told you that I’m not a pirate, didn’t I? Besides, the Kuja Pirates don’t have a reason to do anything like that. They keep to themselves, mostly.”

Dandelion paused for a moment, a small frown tugging at her mouth.

“…it was probably that guy.”

“‘That guy?’” Tashigi cocked her head, speaking before Bradford could. “Who exactly do you mean?”

“Who else would I mean but Longshot? I’m just guessing, but I’ll bet it all ended with the ironworks being burned down and the island’s storage being either pillaged or destroyed.”

Both Tashigi and Bradford were silent at this. Guessing? She was completely right! Those reports had only come in recently, which had prompted G-5 to be on the lookout. Supposedly, the destruction had been pretty thorough and people speculated that it was the doing of someone who had a long standing grudge against Fort Island. But this woman had ignored any logic that brought people to that conclusion and had immediately guessed that it was the doing of a Shichibukai?

Bradford thought that the idea was ridiculous, but…

“That’s very likely.” Tashigi murmured as she touched a finger to her chin in thought. “The response at Marine Headquarters was slow and we were only told to be on the lookout, rather than on the hunt for a perpetrator. Plus, this sort of thing is his style of attack.”

“But why would a Shichibukai attack Fort Island?” Bradford demanded in disbelief. Dandelion simply shrugged indifferently.

“Who knows? That guy is a whimsical fellow. They were probably selling illegal arms or something. You should just ask him yourself.”

“…how?”

Tashigi sighed as she lowered her hand from her chin, apparently accepting Dandelion’s reasoning.

“Dandelion already told us; she’s here to do her duty. That duty is looking after the Shichibukai who has claimed responsibility over protecting the Kuja tribe under heavy circumstances. Technically, she’s one of his ‘underlings’.”

The Shichibukai who was protecting the Kuja tribe was the famous bounty-hunter, Cade Locksley? Or rather, he was coming to this island?! Bradford had heard that all seven of the Shichibukai had all been called to Mariejois for some reason, possibly a special mission, though no news had been heard since. Was all of that over with already?

It seemed the best way would be to ask the man directly.

Waver's tail pierced through Simiao's back, but he felt nothing. His eyes went wide. He looked to the sides and two more of his opponent stood on either side of him. All of them turned as one, including the one still pierced by his tail, and grinned at him, rotating their arms in a rapid fashion. Dozens of small air blades shot outward around him. Waver tisked pushing himself backward and away. He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself as the images reformed into just one Simiao.

“Lucky, lucky! I was starting to lose hope that it would take! With all the transformations and the strength of that fantastic body, I thought I had misjudged. I tested this on a number of animals and human beings, but a manticore isn't exactly an easily available test subject.”

Waver shook his head as his vision tried to split Simiao in three again. A ringing sound started in his ears, though it quickly vanished. He began to move slowly around Simiao, again creating a ring of illusions.

“I am still quite impressed with that technique, but much as it seems to me that your pace remains slow, whatever you're doing accelerates your heart rate substantially, yes? Well, it seems that you, just like that officer before, have given my “poison” legs. I still can't say how you will be affected, though. Would you mind terribly giving me updates as to your status?”

“You think this will afford you a chance at victory, fool?”

“You and I have very different criteria for victory. You said it yourself: 'your attacks are futile.' I don't doubt that you far outdistance me in terms of fighting experience and skill, and no amount of physical damage or exhaustion that I can dole out can make you yield or keel over. That would be a problem for some, but for me... well, it presents an interesting challenge.”

“I have been trained to fight under much more difficult conditions before. This will not-”

“-affect me?. Oh, sorry, how rude of me to interrupt, but I do feel as though I've heard this one before. I suppose you attacked the air next to me out of some desire to give me a fighting chance? That is very sporting of you.”

Waver didn't seem too happy with Simiao's comments, but he kept his distance, blinking his eyes and steadying himself. That might work for now – the fact that he had resisted the effects for so long threw every expectation that he had of how it would affect him out the window. For all he knew, the symptoms were completely different, and they might well fade in and out for him. Even if they didn't, it was entirely possible that he could adapt to the effects, and Simiao had no way of knowing if they would get more severe. Increasing the dosage wouldn't improve anything, and Waver had already moved more than enough to spread it throughout his body, so more time wouldn't necessarily improve it either. Delay could actually make things worse.

But it was all he had. With his rehydrating solution drained, he was now racing the clock himself. And Waver seemed to realize it all too quickly. The tail seemed to shrink back just slightly, though his appearance only became more wild. Waver's hands turned to sharp claws, and a horn sprouted from his forehead. He opened his mouth, serrated teeth filling his gums as he spoke in a chilling voice that sounded more like a brass instrument than a human being.

“I won't fault you for pressing forward with whatever you have on hand, no matter how fruitless it may be. But none of what you do can stop me from ending you life.”

He was on top of Simiao before he could blink. Even having seen his speed so often before, this was frighteningly fast. Arms, tail and head stabbed forward in a blur of motion. All that saved him was the fact that Waver's attacks were aimed to take out two flanking figures to his left and right. If he had been either of those, he would have been impaled. As it was, twisting his body still earned him a blood-gushing cut to the cheek and two bleeding cuts to his right side and left hip as those serrated claws reached for him.

Waver quickly changed tactics, closing his eyes and continuing his assault with more certainty of Simiao's position. That gave Simiao opportunities to try and distract him, withdrawing all manner of vials as and tossing them in a number of directions. They each produced varied sounds, meant to confuse him. Waver barely hesitated, his attacks remaining focused on Simiao even as he ducked and dodged. A slew of cuts quickly covered much of his visible body as his clothing became ragged with rips and tears. And each slice drew more blood. Even with the antidote now working its way through his body and a continuous release of clotting factors, he quickly started to feel woozy and off balance. No, this would not work, no against an opponent with this much skill.

Time to do something stupid.

A thick, greyish sweat quickly intermingled with the blood, pouring off of his body in waves until all traces of red were lost in a swirl of viscous, inky fluid. Each strike left much of this substance on the offending claw, horn or tail. The solution wasn't intended to be similar to blood, though to someone who could not see the color change, they would certainly believe it to be the same. This is what caused Waver to open his eyes, which immediately narrowed as he released that his opponent wasn't covered in blood as he'd expected. He quickly retreated, only then noticing that his arms were covered in the peculiar substance.

“What is this?”

The fluid stopped dribbling along his skin. Each droplet, as it touched the ground, immediately vaporized. Simiao blinked.

“This? It's one of my first concoctions, from way back when the thought of piracy was all too distant. I had hoped to open a shop, commercialize my various excretions. What better way to start than with a potent hallucinogen?”

Waver frowned. “I told you, no amount of poisons will work on me.”

“Conflating poisons and drugs is a mistake. One can become resistant to both, admittedly, but you'll find that it's much more difficult to become resistant to drugs as a whole, which have markedly different effects, than it is poisons. And with the amount you have on you at the moment, even if you had some resistance, I would suspect that you're going to start feeling the effects any moment now.”

The last few words seemed to slow down dramatically from Waver's perspective. He wouldn't give it time to sink in. He lunged forward, intent on bringing an end to this in a swift instant, claws and tail extending to their full lengths. Everything crashed into his opponent, and even the feel of him was beneath his attacks. Strange, then, that his body seemed to bend out of the way, moving at impossible angles, almost as though it was partially fluid under his grasp. None of his attacks landed, and he skidded a stop, watching with annoyance as the figure resolved back into Simiao.

“Foolishness like this will not grant you victory.”

“Victory? You keep making it out to be so essential to me. I told you, I'm not here to win. Right now, I'm just joining you on a little... 'trip.' I've been through these before, so I can probably handle them better, though with all these cuts I will get a much higher dosage into my bloodstream. That should make it about even.”

His words seemed to speed up and slow down as he spoke, making him much more difficult to follow. Waver wiped sweat from his forehead as the world seemed to morph around him. The objects seemed like living, breathing things around him, reaching for him with newly formed limbs and tentacles. He calmed himself, ignoring their imaginary assault as he kept his focus on the man before him, who appeared to be far more interested in looking at his arms and hands and mumbling to himself.

Simiao was really more interested ignoring some of the other hallucinogenic effects. Last time this had happened, he had watched a nearby chair turn into a thousand snakes. He hated snakes. Better to watch his arms liquify and resolidify every few seconds. It helped keep him grounded.

That was actually true. The rate of dissolution and reformation of a given limb would tell him how deep into his trip he actually was, and therefore he would know just how mentally stable he was. He was obviously more unstable than he'd presupposed – only his highest dosages had produced such rapid effects. What's more, it guaranteed that he would be subject to this for much too long; he had yet to discover a sufficient chemical response that would counteract it completely. Even all his sobering agents combined would take as much as a half an hour to cleanse him, not to mention leave him so worn and dehydrated that he wouldn't stand for another few minutes.

So he didn't use it. This drug made him forget the pain of his injuries, the weakness in his muscles, and the thirst on his tongue. Given his experience with this drug, his capacity to fight would be diminished to nearly nothing, but not his capacity to move. He would be incapable of following any tactical pattern that required even a few basic steps of thought, and even the simplest stratagems would slip away from him if he wasn't careful. But all he needed was one. If it failed him, he was doomed anyway.

Making mixes of minerals wasn't more difficult or time consuming, but it drained him of more minerals. Hence, he normally kept the compositions of his sweat simple, sweating out each individual chemical and mixing the resulting solution. It took more time, but it made the end result all the purer. He withdrew a large vial of solution so concentrated with aluminum that it should have precipitated out with such ease. A smaller vial of sulfur accompanied it, in much the same form. A newer vial, one that he had made over the course of the battle, was composed of droplets bearing large amounts of potassium perchlorate. These were mixed deftly with one hand as the other held two tiny vials meant to hold only a milliliter each. Small rivulets of sweat crept towards them, each composed of a chemical that could not be synthesized by any other method. One to shimmer with its own internal light, while the other was so deep black that it didn't even reflect the light coming from above them.

All of this happened in the span of a few moments, though it seemed to drag on for hours, each droplet moving across his arm like a raindrop working its way down the length of a gigantic redwood, the whole time watching as his opponent, who continually morphed into all manner of animals and plants, slowly regained some semblance of stability after slashing at numerous nonexistent figures around him. Despite the chemicals, none of his speed or attack power seemed the slightest bit diminished. He may not have been immune to its effects, but that body was better trained than anything Simiao could have been prepared to face.

Thankfully, he didn't need it to be fully effective, just to give him enough time and the right opening.

The attack came out of fury and annoyance. Waver charged with a snarl, unable to fully control his transformations. Though he closed the distance quickly, his attacks were haphazard and badly aimed. Still, with Simiao's reactions delayed and his attentions appropriated elsewhere, a number of them landed, most as concussive forces that nearly caused him to drop the vials. His sense of pain wasn't dulled so much as it was pulled off-kilter by the drug, making it difficult to localize the source of the sensation and, often, producing a very different one. In this case, some of the blows made him laugh, while others caused him to wheeze. The sensation was frightening as air left his lungs uncontrollably. It took time to steady his hands, but even then, getting a grip on Waver's location was impossible. The man had started moving so erratically that Simiao, in his intoxicated state, couldn't hope to take even the milliseconds required to launch the fluids from the vials in the correct order and land them on his target.

“None of what you do is capable of stopping me. Whatever plans yourself and your crew have come here to implement, you will all be stopped. Your failure is inevitable.”

It was amazing that he was able to speak so clearly. Simiao could hardly understand a word of it, but he knew what Waver must be saying. He'd known this assault was a long shot from the start. So why bother? All because of a captain who wanted to save his brother? Simiao wasn't about to throw his life away, even for someone he respected. A life was meaningless if it was only lived for someone else.

No, there was a thrill about it. Impossibility loomed like an unbreakable wall before him, as it did his fellows. He could sense Long John's determination, but also his concern. The wall stood before them all. And yet they would bang their heads against it ceaselessly. Why?

Because true failure was in giving up before you even started.

“My life is a monument to failure already. What's one more to add to the pile?”

He brought his hands together, releasing the vials in midair, and then throwing himself backwards. Claws swiped forward, smashing into them and scattering their contents.

Flash powder was relatively innocuous on the whole. It produced a lot of light, loud noise, and some small measure of radiation. Nice for a quick getaway, though only when faced with someone like this, getting away would only suffice as a short term solution. Waver had to fall. And so he'd added something special, solutions intended to dramatically increase the incendiary power and place its explosive potential on a hair trigger. It still would have been more destructive to create a simple bomb, but he highly doubted that any bomb he could make would bring someone like this down.

He depended on an interaction he had never studied. What would happen to someone's ability to perceive after taking an intense dose of hallucinogen and then having three of those senses – touch, sight and sound – assaulted dramatically by a potent solution meant to throw them into chaos? He wouldn't need Waver to tell him. He was about to find out for himself. He kept his eyes open as the world around him was bathed in intense white light.

[Partnership]

“Aaaa…chooo!”

“Bless you, Dandelion. Want a tissue?”

“Don’t touch me.” Dandelion’s tone was harsh even as her face remained cold and detached. “Don’t come near me. Just stay where you are.”

Cade “Longshot” Locksley chuckled as he withdrew his hand, setting the napkin down on the table. Dandelion sat at the same table, but made sure to keep a healthy distance from the Shichibukai.

They could easily be overlooked at first, but the moment someone tried, they’d be able to pick the duo out as the ones who didn’t belong. All around them, tables were occupied by families and their pets, smiles on their face as they ate together with a warm atmosphere. With Dandelion coldly keeping a safe distance from Cade, along with their exotic clothing, it was impressive that they didn’t stand out more than they did.

There were all kinds of stories being told about the Seven Warlords who had supposedly sold their souls to the marines, mostly due to the infamy of the individual members. It was a general consensus that they were all monsters of any variation, which wasn’t really far from the truth.

But if one were to meet Cade Locksley under normal circumstances without knowing who he was, you wouldn’t get that impression of him. He would just come across as an overly friendly man with a lot of adventure stories to tell.

Normally, Dandelion would never voluntarily associate herself with a man, let alone one like him. Egotistical, teasing, and a pervert just like any other, he wasn’t special or unique, unlike the overly dense man the Empress had fallen in love with so many years ago.

But Dandelion had no choice but to speak with him due to their professional relationship. After all, the Kuja tribe did owe him a debt. That, and none of them trusted him enough to just leave the circumstances of the agreement protecting the tribe entirely to this guy.

So, to serve as a compromise of sorts, Dandelion had become his underling.

“I’m going to just go out on the limb and assume you didn’t find what you were looking for at Fort Island.”

“Huh? What gave it away? Do I look mad or something?”

“No, just a feeling.”

“Ah.” Cade grinned as he sat back in his chair, tipping the brim of his large hat up to move the shadow out of his eyes. “Well, that ‘feeling’ of yours is rarely wrong. Yeah, it was a bust. It was great and all that I managed to stop them from provoking a war between two peaceful countries. I mean, seriously? They send one side a bunch of inexpensive weapons and tell the other side that their pals are getting ready for an attack in order to get them to buy weapons themselves for full price before getting a cold war to get rolling. That’s such an old tactic!”

“That gave you an excuse to attack the ships carrying their exports?”

“You bet. I raided every single ship and searched for that fruit. I figured they’d try to sneak it through under the floorboards of something, but nada. After a while, I got fed up with everything and just searched the island itself and found out they didn’t even have the fruit. Granted—”

“Keep your voice down.” Dandelion ordered abruptly as her eyes flickered without turning her head even slightly. Nothing but Cade’s sharp eyes could notice such a guarded move. “There are marines on the island. I managed to pretend I didn’t know anything and let them come to their own wrong conclusions, but you’ll ruin that if you go yelling aloud that you’re looking for the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi.”

“Marines?” Cade raised an eyebrow curiously. “So what if they know? It’s the pirates who might go treasure hunting that worry me. I’m already worried about Gin and Trafalgar; I managed to hijack the marine ship that came for us and strand them on the island, but another will probably pick them up soon enough. I just hope they don’t care enough to start looking around, too.”

Dandelion frowned, but offered no argument. There was really no point in arguing with his reasoning. Honestly, she was no better. Just as Cade relied on his whims and instinct, she relied on her intuition and ‘gut feeling’. The two were more compatible than she liked to admit.

Cade leaned forward to put his elbows on the table, grinning toothily at Dandelion. She pushed her chair back as she looked at him with disgust.

“Move any closer and I’ll break your neck—achoo!”

“Looks like you’re allergic to either the dogs or cats.” This time Cade tossed his napkin onto Dandelion’s head without giving her the chance to refuse. “You’ve got a cute sneeze.”

“It’s probably the men.” Dandelion sniffed unreasonably in defiance as she blew her nose. “You and G-5 have the same ugly stench.”

“BO is the scent of real men! But seriously, I need your opinion on this. I’m a bounty hunter, not a treasure hunter. I can find a man who’s practically erased his existence from the world and has closed himself up in mountain peaks, but finding an object that doesn’t live and breathe, however, rare and valuable, is a different beast.”

“Don’t you have friends who are treasure hunters?”

“Of course. I’m positive three of them would be able to find it if I talked to them about it and motivated them. But they’re all greedy and it’s hard to share a devil fruit. Plus, I don’t want to spread this information out any more than necessary. I’d rather keep quiet and trust your instincts instead.”

Dandelion frowned once more at Cade’s grin. He was honestly asking for her help, even though he could easily threaten her into doing it. Did he really intend to enjoy this ‘hunt’ that much?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Those idiots!” Bradford had a difficult time keeping his voice tone as he violently kicked out a nearby rock lying on the ground, surprising a few stray cats as it fell among them as they fought over a can of tuna. “How could they just disappear on the job?! Those slackers are definitely going to be on probation when I find them!”

“They might not have just run off on their own.” Vice-Admiral Tashigi remained as the voice of reason even as she frowned slightly, eyes clouded with both thought and concern. She seemed to be comforting Bradford out of reflex, rather than with any real basis. “They aren’t amateurs, at least, and this island is small. There aren’t many places to hide and they have no reason to run off anyways.”

“It’s true that those guys wouldn’t be able to hide here even if they wanted to.” Bradford reluctantly agreed through gritted teeth. “But it’s only been an hour since they went off on patrol! Where did they go?!”

Tashigi had no answer for that. She was just as concerned as Bradford was, possibly more so. Just an hour ago, she’d given orders to the G-5 marines who’d been relaxing in the café to patrol the island as part of their duty. And they’d done just that. Bradford and Tashigi, on the other hand, had gone around speaking with the locals and visiting the mayor. This was normal; their visits to Furry Tail Island were infrequent and brief. This was the first time they’d spent so much time here, and that was because they’d decided to wait on the Government Warlord who was supposed to be coming to the island at any time that day.

But at the exact time that they were supposed to rendezvous with the soldiers, none of the G-5 marines had showed up at the agreed spot nearly half an hour after the appointed time.

A few getting lost was unlikely, but not entirely unthinkable. But each and every one being nowhere to be found on the island? That was definitely strange.

Plus, the residents of the island were all acting normal, indicating that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Just what was going on here?

“This island isn’t connected to any strange underworld business, is it?”

“I doubt it. Not many people even know this island exists. None of the big name pirates have even set foot on the soil here, I’m sure.”

Tashigi touched a hand to chin as her frown deepened. What Bradford said was probably a fact, but that didn’t rule out underlings. After her experiences when traveling with Admiral Smoker when he was hunting down the Strawhats, she’d learned that not all things were as they seemed on the surface, as with the case with Punk Hazard and Alabasta. It had been a pretty big shock to learn that Crocodile and Trafalgar Law, Shichibukai allied with the World Government, would be involved in such crimes. Although, it was also fact that Smoker’s dispassion and suspicion toward Shichibukai had proven accurate both in Alabasta and Punk Hazard, to different extents.

Could that have been the case here?

“Let’s go check back with Dandelion.” Tashigi suggested at last. “Shichibukai Cade Locksley may have shown up while we’re busy fretting about our missing comrades.”

Bradford understood almost instantly. He pounded one fist into his open palm with a sideways smile that oozed with his hostility.

“With pleasure.”

[The New Moon Pirates Reborn]

Rayen: This... this doesn't make any sense. My uncle thought me that pirates were bad.

Mockingbird: Well then has it never crossed your mind why your uncle would stay on an island ruled by a pirate otherwise? But that aside didn't you say you wanted to be immortalized? What better way than to become a pirate?

Rayen: Well there are always the marines... yes that's it i can join them!

Mockingbird: Really the nephew of one of the most feared pirates of the golden age would like to become a marine. Look kid history only remembers two kinds of people; the person who changes the world for the best, or the person who changes it for the worst. It doesn't really matter what side your on, the marines or pirates, you can still change the world. Plus in a sense isn't infamy the same as fame?

Rayen: Well I suppose... but I'll have to talk to my uncle first.

Mockingbird: Oh I'm sure he'll come around to it. Either way you have until tomorrow morning to decide.

Rayen leaves the room with a unusually confused look on his face. What did Mockingbird see in this boy? Did he really have what it takes to bring back one of the legendary crews of the golden age? Mockingbird lay back down to get some much needed rest, he would need it for what was to follow. Suddenly Mockingbird felt a increasingly painful tightness in his chest.

Soul: You told my nephew about my past and purposely asked him to be the captain of your godforsaken crew! Give me a good reason to not rip out all of your organs right now!

Mockingbird: (gasping) Well... don't tell me you can't see the potential in that kid.

Soul: And that's your reason for telling my nephew to become a pirate?!

Mockingbird: He can be even greater than you and me, perhaps even greater than all the pirates that came before him. Plus he has you to mentor him doesn't he?

Soul: Well its no use killing you now, your gonna get yourself killed soon anyways. If my nephew has even slightly considered it though nothing I say would be able to change his mind.

Mockingbird: In about a weeks time i want you to go to Ohara...

Soul: But Ohara doesn't even exist anymore.

Mockingbird: It's not the island it use to be but it's till there. Anyways go to the island, there you will see a single tree and buried beneath it is a devil fruit I found a while back.

Soul: Which one is it?

Mockingbird: I'm not sure but by the looks of it it's a logia. I want you to give it to your nephew and teach him to use it.

Soul: How am I suppose to teach him to use a logia? My devil fruit is a paramecia.

Mockingbird: But its a devil fruit nonetheless. Oh and by tomorrow morning I'll be gone, be sure to give your nephew that flag.

Soul: By the way how do you get around so fast. I don't see a boat anywhere that you could have come on.

Mockingbird: My jet dial is very useful in getting around.

_________________________________________­___­___­___­___­___­___­___­___­___­___­___­___­___­_

Reaver: Damn this is taking too long, I wanna get there before the fighting is all over.

Marine: Sir we're going as fast as we can but it will take atleast another twenty minutes before we're in view of Enies Lobby.

Reaver: Damn it. Well hurry up either way. I'll make short work of those pirates when I get there.

Marine: But sir don't you know which pirate crew is attacking Enies Lobby?

Reaver: Yeah I've heard of them and I know how infamous they are but pirates are pirates and in all the years I've been a Marine I've never been defeated by a pirate.

Marine: Sir I don't mean to be disrespectful but wasn't Mockingbird a pirate.

Reaver: (he bend his head in disappointment) Why did you have to bring that up?

Time left until his arrival to Enies Lobby 20 minutes. Reaver holds a strong will to redeem himself for his earlier loss against Mockingbird.

Ok guys I don't wanna be have a big impact on the situation at Enies Lobby so when Reaver gets there you can use him in whichever way you want. You've already seen him fight and know how he acts so go ahead and have fun.

Are we still continuing this? I didn't really have much time to post, but I do plan to post the next part of Long John's fight. Plus, I will get Rakki started into a battle.

Cryogenic, are you still keen to continue with this? Same goes to Whiteflame and Exorcist.

[Fearful Rage! Rakki's Unexpected Decision]

Explosions issued around him, as he ran through the open area, over grass and stone, towards the second gate. Behind him, he could still hear the sounds of the fierce battle going on with his subordinates and the marines. He looked back, noting that he couldn't see Long John's massive dragon form any more. If he wasn't in full-dragon form any more, then that was a problem - it meant that he was being pressured if he had to use his hybrid form. Long John used the hybrid form to resist powerful hand-to-hand fighters, that could defeat his dragon form and give him trouble against his hybrid form. Other opponents were often weak against both forms, or neither, in which case he would already be dead or captured. Rakki turned back and surveyed the next massive wall and gate. So easy to pass through, he decided to make the entrance a little more interesting. So he stopped and waited for the marines to surround him.

'Look... the pirate stopped... what is he doing?' one of the marines spoke softly to another, while the rest watched him warily.

The commander of the marines moved forward. 'Give it up, pirate. You've gotten yourself in much too deep to turn back now. You won't win if you fight and you will die if you don't give yourself up now... what's it to be, then?'

Rakki snorted derisively. As if he would give up, in spite of some eloquent words. 'You must be a fool if you think I'm going to give up now. I entered Enies Lobby for a reason... I wouldn't expend so much energy on invading the World Government for no reason, now, would I...?'

'That's your choice. We'll defeat you here, pirate. That you can be certain of. Even if we don't personally, CP9 will undoubtedly destroy you.'

'Whatever. Stop yapping at me and try and capture me then, if you think you can.'

The marines did exactly that, all rushing at Rakki. He allowed them to get close, then became liquid, and all of their attacks, as well as bullets, went right through him. Rakki stayed intangible, but utilised his Devil's fruit by changing the substance. He became chlorine gas and allowed the wind to disperse the gas around the marines. Not expecting such an attack, they let their guard down and all sank to the ground, except for the Commander, who had thought something was up and covered his mouth just in time. It proved that veterans were much more useful than rookies, anyway, and that battle experience tended to rub off on those experienced with such a thing. The commander used his Soru and came at Rakki, his fist outstretched. Before it made contact, he hardened his fist, using Busoshoku Haki and surprising Rakki, who changed his body to diamond and countered the attack. In the marine's other hand was a blade, which attempted to cut through the diamond, but was dampened by the strength of the material.

'You must be a Logia-type. That's really inconvenient for me. I don't have much of anything useful for subduing you...'

'That's unfortunate, then. I don't have time to play around with you, marine. If you won't press attack against me, then prepare to be defeated. Butsuri No Kaze!' the wind began to pick up and blew against the marine, who turned to look in the direction it came from. When his eyes adjusted to the sun behind the clouds in the sky, he noticed that more cloud was speeding towards their location. The clouds finally reached them, which was annoying, because it began to rain and the wind picked quite suddenly, turning into gale-force, before going even further and beginning to form a tornado-like whirlwind, which wasn't usual, but must have had something to do with the particular climate of Enies Lobby. The Commander sighed as he was blown away, landing headfirst into the wall and blacking out.

Rakki didn't stay, as more marines were attracted to his presence. He turned himself to gas again and phased through the wall. On the other side were buildings, which looked a bit worse for wear. Beyond was a building, which Rakki knew to be the courthouse, then, even further beyond, was another, larger, building that Rakki assumed to be the headquarters for the CP9 director. He made his way towards the Courthouse, hoping that the Revolutionaries were winning against the marines.

'DEATH WINK!'

Rakki was close to the Courthouse now and heard the thunderous voice cry a peculiar attack name. Ivankov, Commander of the Revolutionary Army. The attack was instantly recognisible - it had become something spoken about often, in reference to the Marineford war, 12 years ago. There were several characters that were mentioned often, along with Straw Hat Luffy and Whitebeard... one of those names was Ivankov.

Rakki finally hit the Courthouse and stopped in anticipation of this point. The Revolutionary Army were stretched out before the massive Courthouse doors, while the marines were littered throughout their forces and even more were surrounding them. He phased through the marines, using his speed to avoid them. Travelling at the speed of sound had its uses... it operated under the same principle of Soru, but was faster and easier to use for longer distances. Plus, Rakki thought, he could move constantly at that speed, instead of changing from location, to another, in a split second. Though, he couldn't move at the speed of light, so he found himself humbled with this particular fact. He could see Ivankov now, an odd-looking blue-haired man, that had a massive face, his body being about the same size as his head. Very odd, indeed. Next to him, was a black-haired man, who really could only be Straw Hat Luffy's father, the notorious Dragon. With them was another man, who he didn't recognise and plenty of Revolutionaries standing with the three men. Rakki approached them, being cautious in case the Revolutionaries tried to attack him. He needn't have bothered, because they barely even paid attention to him, though Dragon glanced his way, not looking fussed. The fact that he wasn't wearing a marine's uniform, and wearing his long, black trenchcoat, probably helped with this particular development.

'Who are you?' Dragon finally looked at him, without turning away to survey the activity of the marines.

Rakki halted in front of the imposing figure. Looking at him, it wasn't hard to visualize the notoriety that surrounded the very fiber of his being and characterised in so many ways, that Rakki decided not to pursue that avenue of thought. 'I'm Rakki. Rakki Tenshoku, the captain of the Dragonlance pirates. My brother, Golan, is one of your men. I came here to keep him from harm's way, if you know what I mean.'

'He won't go with you.'

Rakki turned to observe the figure that spoke. 'Why's that?'

The man continued. 'Because he won't give up in the middle of a battle. He'll see it through to the very end.'

'How do you know this?' Rakki asked, already knowing that it was true. Golan could be very hot-headed and stubborn... if he didn't want to abandon the fight, then he definitely wouldn't. And there would be no way of changing his mind, either.

'Because... I know him. I know what he is like. You may be his brother, but you forget that he has been one of us for years. I have no idea where he currently is, but if you want to find him anyway, then be my guest.'

Dragon nodded. 'You heard Sergei... if you want to see Golan, then just go and find him. All you have to do is keep yourself alive until then.'

'Jihahahahaha! Keep myself alive!!! Don't be foolish, I'm the captain of a pirate crew - I can keep myself alive, just you watch, Monkey D. Dragon.'

Ivankov turned and glared at him. 'Vyou should watch vyou say. Vhe is Dragon, the leader of our Army, and a veteran of fighting. Don't vyou dare mock him!'

Rakki apologised, then turned away, surveying the area for Golan. He ran through the marines and Revos, kicking marines out of the way, while searching for his brother. Finally, he found Golan, fighting with someone. They were right at the door to the courthouse and Rakki stopped in shock, as he realised that his brother was losing the fight and that the opponent was CP9.

Shoot! I didn't expect this... CP9 is here already. And, furthermore, it looked like there was a woman back there, who was fighting against those three, and she was CP9, too, now that I think of it. Damn it, I'd better help him, before he gets himself killed...

'Golan! Look out, bro!'

They both turned and looked at him. The CP9's face was a mixture of annoyance and mild surprise, while Golan's face was of pure shock and a small hint of anger. He wasn't really surprised, though - they hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms, though Rakki was hoping that time had calmed his brother down.

'Rakki... what are you doing here?'

'Golan. I came to help you out. Pretty bad move, trying to take on the World Government in this place, yeah?'

'Don't be a fool. I'm not leaving until we are done here. Did you think you would just rescue me and it would be so simple as to just walk out?'

'No. I was warned... and reminded. I know you, Golan. I know there's no point in trying to get you to leave, so, instead, I'm gonna stay. I'm gonna fight with you, so you can at least spend a day or two with me to catch up. I'll introduce you to my crew and I'll show you my boat. How does that sound?'

Golan half-heartedly nodded. 'Yeah, I suppose so. It has been a while, brother. I was angry with you for years after I left, but I'm not going to hold a grudge. You're my brother and that's a special thing.'

'I'm glad. Well, nothing for it. Let's show CP9- HEY!'

He was interrupted, as the CP9 member slashed into Golan's chest with his blade and then kicked Golan away, using Rankyaku to push him into the wall of the Courthouse.

'Honestly. What a fool. Who would stand there and ignore their opponent, while talking with a long-lost relative? Pirates are getter lower and lower-class since Roger's day...'

Rakki disappeared with his Sonic Boom, appearing between the CP9 swordsman and Golan, who was now looking much the worse for wear.

'Leave him. I'll fight you.'

'Interesting. It seems you can move faster than Soru with that technique... however, whether you can move faster than me is a whole different thing entirely. Soru!'

Rakki used Sonic Boom, as well, meeting the swordsman in the air and becoming diamond. The swords bounced off his skin and flicked back towards his opponent, who immediately arrested the fall of his swords and grinned.

'I should probably slash a bit harder, then. Looks like you have a Devil's fruit... but, what kind is it? You changed yourself to diamond and move at the speed of sound. Doesn't really sound like a Logia, but doesn't really sound like a Paramecia, either. I guess I can spend this fight trying to figure that one out, while I cut through your defense like a knife through butter... hmmm?'

'I'd say you'd be lucky to do that much, CP9. I'm not about to let anything happen to him... I'll kill you, if necessary, but defeat you in order to keep him safe.'

-Meanwhile, Long John Vs. Krieg-

Krieg came in for another attack, but Long John dodged this one and pushed himself backwards. He was acting defensively now, knowing that the CP9 agent had managed to gain the upper hand. However, the battle wasn't over yet and neither was he. Somehow, he would figure out how to defeat the guy.

'Stop dodging, so I can end this pitiful battle. I'm not in the habit of indulging the weak in battling me, especially not weakling pirate scum!'

'Shut up! Weak, my ass. I'll figure out a way to defeat you, I really will and, when I do, I'll make sure to remind you of how annoyingly confident you were that you would win against me.'

Krieg ignored this and came at him again, this time using his Soru to move faster than Long John and struck him in the shoulder, where he crashed into the wall and came to a grinding halt.

What the hell am I gonna do about this guy? I can't even cut him and I can't do any physical damage to him... I can't even hurt him with my dragon flames, either. So, what do I do now...?

-To Be Continued-

Flame. I'll message you in regards to Sergei and the Revolutionaries... I was thinking there could be a massive battle in the Courthouse Plaza and the Dragonlance pirates, excluding Long John, would also migrate there, in order to smash through the marines. Let me know what you think, dude.

@blackpanther I'm still planning to continue its just that I've had writers block for the passed couple weeks. It's a pain but hopefully it'll be over soon.

Yeah, I'm still game. The fight seems to be heating up now, so it's worth continuing for sure.

Alrighty. Sounds good to me. I'll continue the Rakki fight with my next post and another piece of the Long John fight. I will message Exorcist and ask him about if he's still continuing with the fighting process. I can leave the Revos to you, then, Flame?

Also, guys, since Wolfmaster left ages ago, we haven't really reconfigured the characters list, so I was thinking we all go over that some point in the near future? Since he is gone, that means that Kiya is now gone, so we need another Admiral, plus we also really need another Yonkou...

[Battle At The Courtyard Plaza! Rakki Shows his Full Strength]

The swordsman stopped and eyed him up. 'So, you know that man there? What is the relationship between you, I wonder. I guess it makes little difference, though. I'll just defeat you and then capture that man there. We'll get our answers from him.'

Rakki snarled. 'You'll do no such thing... as if I would lose to a government dog, like yourself. You haven't even seen my powers yet and still you jest... you are at a disadvantage, Kaku of the CP9... yes, I know who you are... you are the only CP9 agent left from the originals, back when a man named Rob Lucci was the strongest member... surprised?'

Kaku's eyes widened somewhat. 'Well, I see we have a smart one here. You deserve some credit for such assertions... however, it won't change anything in the long run. I have a Devil's fruit, too, you know.'

'I am perfectly aware of that. You see, my first mate is quite a fan of a certain swordsman, one who is renowned for being the world's strongest. You fought the Pirate Hunter, did you not?'

'Yes. That is correct. Apparently I can't hide anything from you, pirate. However, we do know who you are, Rakki Tenshoku, Captain of the Dragonlance pirates and, soon, we will know the full extent of your powers.'

'Well... if you can survive them, that is.'

'We'll see, then, won't we?'

Rakki didn't bother to answer the rhetorical question and went straight in for a direct attack. Kaku used Soru again, drawing both his blades once more and struck at Rakki. They went straight through him, as he turned his body into hydrogen gas, then allowed them disperse, by using Butsuri No Kaze to whip it around the area of fighting. Kaku was obscured by the gas and used Geppou to jump up, higher and higher. Rakki allowed his body to revert back to normal state, then used Sonic Boom, catching up to Kaku. He changed to into water, then used his powers to change water into solid, becoming ice. Kaku was thrown backwards into the wall of the court building, leaving a massive hole in the wall and cracks inching their way towards the court door.

'So, you can change into anything you like, whether it be solid, liquid or gas. Interesting. It must be a Logia then. Rankyaku!'

At such a close range, Rakki was unable to dodge the full extent of the attack, taking damage to his right shoulder, as he was still in normal full. He used Sonic Boom to disappear and stayed hidden for a moment.

That's right... this guy is a CP9 agent. He won't go down easy, so I can't make any mistakes... plus, he still has his Devil's fruit, a Zoan type... I will have to be careful as to how I go about this... I can't underestimate him!

Rakki appeared again and drew his pistols, then fired at Kaku. Kaku dodged every bullet with ease, even refusing to use Soru, then disappeared, his blades facing Rakki. Rakki changed to diamond again and the blades struck him. This time, however, they were swung with much more force than before and Rakki began to slide backwards, realising that Kaku was physically stronger than he looked. Using Sonic Boom once more, Rakki forced himself to flip forwards and came at Kaku from behind. Kaku was too fast for him and had already anticipated the move - even his Soru was fast enough to get him just out of Rakki's way before he struck.

'Damn you! Stay still, so I can hit you!'

Kaku suddenly stopped. 'This is getting a bit tedious... you're strong, with an interesting power, but I can take you down, once I transform... so, here we go!'

Kaku began to grow and his body started changing colour, from the pinkish hue of skin colour, into a tan, with brown spots. He had also grown hideously tall, standing at least fifteen feet high. At almost eight foot, even Rakki was feeling dwarfed. Kaku then straightened himself up and gained even more in height.

'Well, damn... this was expected... but I forgot how tall giraffes are. This changes a bit, I suppose.'

Kaku didn't respond to Rakki and began to swing his whole body around, in an arc. Finally, he used Rankyaku and let one massive version of the technique loose, right at Rakki.

-Meanwhile-

Long John stood up. 'I'm not giving up, CP9. Even if you are more powerful than me, it would be shameful just to give up in a fight against the government. So, I will continue, until I lose, or defeat you.'

Krieg sighed. 'This is just tasteless... I'm getting so tired of you, dragon-man... wy don't we just skip the games and take you in?'

'Not gonna happen. As we speak, my Captain is likely beating your comrades... even if I lose, I won't be going anywhere with you. Kokyuu Dokueki!

The venomous breath surrounded Krieg as a cloud and he disappeared from sight in amongst the dense clouds of venom. Long John sighed in relief, knowing that he would at least get a moment's respite from the fight, in order to collect his wits - he knew such an attack wouldn't defeat the relentless CP9 agent. He landed and breathed heavily. Suddenly, his gut exploded in pain and he felt himself weaken completely and slide to the ground, a complete mess.

'You let your guard down. Even though you knew this attack wouldn't defeat me, you still underestimated my power. You see, I believe in justice... it is my very essence. I can never lose to pirate, like you, because I stand for justice and rights of the World Government, as well as everyone that is aligned with them. You're done now, pirate. If you stand after that, well, it will simply ensure your death.'

Long john couldn't move. 'D-damn you... bastard... I won't l-lose to... y-you...'

'You already have. If you had given up, like I said you should have, then you wouldn't be so pathetic, unfortunat- ooooooffff!'

Krieg stopped in mid-sentence, looking surprised. Behind him stood Bug-eye, the strongest man of the Dragonlance crew. His fist was planted into the small of Krieg's back and Krieg was definitely feeling.

Shit... I never realised he was THAT strong... damn, Bug-eye... remind me never to get on your bad-side...

Finally, Long John blacked out. Krieg turned, the pain already gone. 'So, you are another one of these cursed pirates? And, you actually punched hard enough to hurt me... who are you?'

'I am Bug-eye. That's all you need to know, CP9.'

Revos? Not sure if I'm missing him, and maybe I am, but who is that?

I'm still into this, I've just been distracted by things that have kept me from writing as much. I'll work on the my next post as soon as I can.

Skit. Skit. Skit. Who's gonna write a skit?

Bp: Actually, I will, since nobody else listened to my plea!

Whiteflame: Oh no... not this again. Are we going to be forced to tranquilise Exorcist again?

Bp: I hope not. I have no happy memories from those occasions.

Exorcist: I'm right here. Don't talk about me behind my back... or...

Whiteflame: Or?

Exorcist: Just wait. That's the best part- dammit, you guys made me forget what I was gonna say.

Bp: Big surprise...

Exorcist: Little ones should not make unwarranted noise. It is unbecoming of them.

Bp: Hey! Don't make me...

Whiteflame: Make you what?

Bp: I don't know. That was just for effect. Cool, huh?

Whiteflame: What would happen if I was to disagree with you?

Bp: Well... I know a good place to bury murdered bodies... we could go there some time, if you like.

Whiteflame: Nope. You know what, I'm perfectly fine not knowing anything about that... at all.

Cryogenic pops up.

Cryogenic: Er... what's all this about?

Exorcist: Well, this seems to have been a tradition on the RPs that we've been on together. Though, we haven't actually done any in a while...

Bp: What Exorcist is trying to say, is that we love doing stupidly funny skits, in hopes that people will read them and laugh.

Exorcist: That's not what I was trying to say at all.

Bp: Oh, really? Damn.

Cryogenic: You guys are...

Whiteflame: We are, what?

Cryogenic: Well, kinda nuts might be the best way to say it... just not the kindest.

Bp: Oh, never mind us... we don't care.

Whiteflame, Exorcist: WE DO!

Bp: Oh, fine, am I the only one to remain nonchalant through such times?

Exorcist: I don't think nonchalant is the right word. Denial might describe it better.

Bp: Hey! I'm not denial!!! Me, nuts??? I mean, me?

Exorcist: Shall Flame, and I, remind you of the times we've had to send you back to the Asylum?

Bp: I hate you...

Name: Yamazaki Ania
Age: 18
D.o.b: August 29th
Gender: Female
Personality: Isolated and pessimistic, rarely laughs
Dream: none
Affiliation: none
Bounty: 190,000,000
Hobbies: skipping stones, training

Height: 5'8"
Weight: 129 lbs
Description: She is slightly petite with long, dark brown hair which hangs over her right eye.
Devils Fruit: Kyofu-Kyofu no mi (fear-fear fruit)

Past: She obtained her devils fruit power at a very early age but due to her inability to control it, she accidentally caused a great distress in the small village that she grew up in. This lead the villagers to believe she was a demon and they then threw her out of the village. She managed to find refuge in a cave and only survived because of a kind old widow that lived a short distance outside the village. The widow fed and clothed her and even gave her a place to stay. The widow became like a mother to her and the two grew almost inseparable, however because the villagers feared the girl the widow would usually leave her at home when she went into the village to trade. One day Ania followed the widow into the village. This in-turn caused another uproar. The villagers began to throw stones at her and she tried to flee but was backed into an alleyway where she could not escape. The villagers readied their stones and began throwing them at her. She sat down and placed her head between her knees to ready herself for the impact. Some time passed and she could hear the sound of the stones hitting the wall beside her, but none of them actually hit her. She looked up and saw a familiar figure standing in front of her, drenched in blood. The old widow had used her body as a shield to protect her. The villagers yelled and pleaded to the woman to move out of the way but she refused. One of the villagers took out a pistol and pushed the woman to the side. He aimed it down toward the little girls head, making sure to keep his distance. His finger slowly pulled the trigger, and Ania closed her eyes for what she thought would be the last time. She heard the sound of the shot echo within the small are she was in. Her face felt wet and a bit cold. She opened her eyes and to her disdain, the widow was there kneeling down facing her. The old woman's chest was bleeding heavily. With her final bit of strength she hugged Ania and ushered the words "I love you" in her ear. Time stood still around and Ania was left in shock. And in a sudden burst of rage, her power flowed out of control. The fears of the people around began to come to life and slaughtered everything in their path. The pain of that loss allowed her to awaken the full potential of her devils fruit. After that she wondered the world and eventually settled down on an island somewhere in the grand line.

Um... the stats for the D.F is in Jstar's forum:
link

A slight adjustment with the power is that, once the fear is strong enough the user can dismiss the strength gain and instead can bring the object of fear into reality, making it a physical manifestation. This however only lasts for 5 minutes as opposed to the strength gain which could last for up to 20 minutes. In either case though the user would fall sleep after the time expires for up to 10 minutes.

if you guys wanted me to post you COULD MESSAGED ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm on here enough , Hey wolf we wanna make Kiya Fleet Admiral, I would of said yeah sure -_- then wrote a Post about it. Also WTF happend to Karasu did you guys kill him ? I thought this RP was dead it's why I haven't been around WTF guys O_O

[It's raining today]
(Sabaody Archipelago - area 28)

The clouds over Sabaody were dark and ready to burst. This however did not even slightly stop the chaos that was present in area 28. The several supernovas had gathered and in an attempt to see who was better, began attacking each other. But in the midst of all the chaos there was one person who was neither panicking or filled with excitement. Ania simply shrugged off the spectacle as if it were a mere insect that was so insignificant that it need not have been given attention. She made her way through the crowd unnoticed, except by one person.

???: Hey you, girl! Where do you think your going?

A tall man in slightly rugged clothing stood behind her, he had several noticeable scars which would imply that he had seen a lot of battle. Ania however, gave him no response and simply continued walking as if nothing was there.

???: Why you little... pay attention to me when I'm talking dammit!!!

The man drew his sword and swung it with all his might, but within a split second Ania dodged it. This however, angered Ania and provoked a response from her.

Ania: Who are you, and what do you want?

???: So, it speaks. Well if you must know my name is Benson and I'm one of the most renowned bounty hunters of the new age! As for what I want well, you must have figured it out by now.

Ania: No, actually I haven't. What exactly is it that you want?

Benson: Urgh... DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME YOU LITTLE TWERP!! What I want is to turn that pretty little face of yours in and get my hands on the bounty that's on it.

Ania: Hmph...

It started to rain and Ania once again started to walk away. This further angered Benson and he went on to furiously slash his sword at Ania. She however, dodged all the attacks with ease even though her back was turned to him.

Benson: Kenbunshoku... Impossible, how can you have so much mastery over it? Well it doesn't matter, I'll get that bounty one way or another.

He then began to relentlessly attack her and though all of his attacks were being dodged he kept at it. Persistence, that was his strong spot. He analysed her movements and even though he did not have haki; he found an opening to strike. In a short instance her feet were left wide open, he noticed this and without hesitation grabbed her and flung her on the ground.

Benson: Ain't so tough now are we?

Ania: Tsk... and to think I actually considered letting you live. Well, none of that matters now.

Benson: (pointing his sword to her neck) What are you mumbling about now? I've taken down guys with much greater bounties than yours. Guys who were stronger, faster and smarter than you; heck some of them were even devil fruit users. So don't think you can get away from me. Once I've made you my target, I won't stop until your captured or dead. So which will it be Missy? Will you come quietly or do I need to kill you first?

Ania: The people you've killed in your past mean nothing to me. You could have well killed the pirate king for all I care. But unfortunately for you, you got on my bad side. And now... you die.

In that moment, Ania vanished. How could she be that fast? Was it teleportation? Was she a devil fruit user too? These questions plagued Benton's mind, and before he new it she was behind him. She jumped at him and grabbed the back of his head. The grip was more than enough to make him shriek. Ania did not show any remorse as she pressed his face into the ground. She then proceeded to lifting him up by the collar of his shirt.

Benson: P-please... let me live. I promise I won't go after you anymore. J-just please... let me live.

The tears that were coming out of his eyes; the pain and sorrow he felt; all this brought contentment to Ania.

Ania: Love, joy, happiness; what is it about those emotions that anger me so? Maybe it's because they're easily faked. But fear and sorrow. Those can never be faked. Now I wonder; how many people will mourn your death and feel sorrow for your sake?

Benson: No please don't!

Ania slammed him on the ground once more and then to finish him off; punched him in his chest with all her might. She left him in there, in a small crater created by the force at which he was punched. Those who witnessed this were left in shock. Those who new of the things that Benson had accomplished were left in awe at his defeat. Ania went back to her boat. Her power was of great use but to side effect was a pain, which is why she hated using it in public. Her fatigue was drained dramatically and she needed rest.

Just a heads up, a post is in the works, though it's taking some time to get back into the right frame of mind. Still, should be posted by the end of the weekend, delaying another post to finish this one.

[Gathering Clouds]

Sergei's fought the urge to let his lip curl as the pirate Rakki left their presence. He detested being here in the heart of a Marine stronghold, especially since he was quite certain that none of the targets were here. Who knew where the Marines that were targeting them were? They could be killing another target right now. And yet, he had no choice. Dragon has specifically requested his presence, though he had a difficult time understanding why. Ivankov seemed to be here to sew chaos, but Dragon had not requested that Sergei join the fight.

“How do you perceive this fight, Sergei?”

The question was not unexpected. “It seems to be a losing one for the pirates, though with our assistance it should-”

“I'm not asking you to evaluate its outcome. What do you see, Sergei?”

Sergei suppressed a frown. Before responding, he cast a quick look around, evaluating each fight in turn with improved vision from his tin bracer.

“Desperate people fighting for a desperate cause. Defenders holding fast and standing tall in the face of unknown danger. A new element introduced to wreak havoc.”

“So simple. You don't see the coming storm?”

Sergei resisted the urge to examine the sky. Dragon did not mention real storms. They were a part of him, and he a part of them. A bright, sunny day could be a brewing storm to him, while a tornado could be utter calm to him, though he usually cared little to make mention of it. A “storm” to Dragon was one that didn't currently exist, and had little to nothing to do with the weather.

“I cannot see what is outside my vision.”

“What is that ability of yours for if it won't let you see what is right in front of you?”

A frown creased his face. Sometimes, showing displeasure sent a better message than emotional concealment. Dragon had seen his son change the world, and from what he said, he was on the verge of a major alteration himself. It had changed something in him, made him more of a surreal person. Sergei wasn't certain what to think of it.

“Should I be concerned?”

“Concerned? One does not show 'concern' at the approach of a hurricane. Fear is more appropriate.”

“I have met more than enough 'storms.' I am not afraid.”

Dragon sighed. “Another sense you are sadly lacking. You will learn, Sergei.”

His frown deepened, but he said no more. He simply stood next to Dragon, holding position. He noticed that Dragon was smiling, and staring off into the empty ocean. He enhanced his vision to its maximum, looking in that direction himself. At first, he could see nothing. Then he saw the Gates open.

-----------------------------------------­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­

Lucia's gasped in awe as she took in Enies Lobby. The never-night island was a fantastic display, surrounded by that incredibly large waterfall continuously draining into the black abyss beneath. The island itself floated above that bottomless hole, somehow remaining precariously perched above that physically impossible area. It was a gorgeous site.

Yet it had been marred. Even at that distance, she could tell that they were under attack, black smoke rising from several locations. Multiple non-Marine ships surrounded it, none of which Lucia could recognize. She traveled light, her little craft only containing the essentials, and lacked for a Den Den Mushi. Nonetheless, she could make inferences.

Two separate groups had landed. A single ship of unknown origin flying what appeared to be a pirate flag sat near the harbor, just out of range of the main cannons. They were positioned nearer to the front gates, and were likely the source of the majority of the smoke. Another set of ships with no discernible Jolly Rodger sat grouped closer in, apparently less concerned by cannon fire, though for what reason Lucia was not aware.

The fact that less damage was present there indicated that there was less resistance, though it may be that the opposition there was just too powerful to face head-on. Perhaps that was a necessary risk, given the circumstances.

It all seemed quiet as she approached. Nothing stirred. Unconscious bodies of low level Marines littered the area, though their number was far fewer than she had expected – the majority were likely elsewhere. She docked alongside the other ships, and only then did a mass of men and women in cloaks peak over the side of the nearest vessel, guns aimed directly at her.

Her mouth moved, and shots rang out.

Every bullet bounced off of an elongated all of green that stretched up from the boat, protecting her completely against gunfire. Several people shouted up above as Lucia slowly withdrew Nido To Shinai, slamming the butt of the hilt into the side of the nearest ship. A hole opened up in the side as it was launched several meters into the ship next to it. The shouting increased as people stumbled over themselves trying to stop water from entering the ship.

They didn't have to work long. A large shape shot out towards the ship, which proved to be a long sheet of stone and concrete followed by a middle-aged woman with hair split between orange and white. The sheet sealed the hole easily as the Revolutionary pasted it against the side with hands made of large scissors. She hopped atop the ship, posing with one hand grasping a half-full glass of wine and the other straight out with fingers extended and palm pointed down. She stared down through blue and orange shades with a stoic frown at Lucia.

“Inazuma. So that would make these ships those of the Revolutionary Army. It seems I did select a difficult target.”

Inazuma let her left leg slip to the left, the rest of her body staying straight. Lucia's eyes narrowed, calling her blade back to normal even as the Revolutionary launched herself into an attack, hands outstretched to her sides as she left the ship behind.

-----------------------------------------­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­-

“The storm nears.”

Dragon could see it as he closed his left eye. It was strange to see such a massive storm approach in the blackness behind one eye, and yet a perfectly pristine and sunny day out of the right. Sergei should be able to feel the tension by now. They all should.

“I heard that grinding noise from earlier as well, though Inazuma should be there. Should we be there to help hi-... her?”

Gender. Far too often, the people of this world were too concerned with it. Ivankov had managed to dissuade many of that concern, but Sergei remained steadfast in his binary view of them. Admittedly, he had other things to think on, another mission to follow. Dragon wanted him to see it through, that was why he had accepted him as their navigator, among other reasons. He may not have understood it yet, but he was here to navigate treacherous waters.

“Inazuma won't stand against this storm. Few could.”

“Do you mean for me to face it, then?”

Dragon sighed. “It is not for the navigator to fight the storm, but to traverse it.”

Sergei opened his mouth, but Dragon silenced him as he pointed towards the Tower of Justice.

“We need a heading. And that is where you will find it.”

Sergei seemed unconvinced, but he had long since understood that Dragon was a source of knowledge that was beyond his comprehension. He nodded, and set out at a swift pace, not even bothering to slow down as the marines guarding the courthouse took aim with their weapons and fired. They couldn't stop him, though perhaps there were some beyond that would be up to the task.

It was all part of deciding their path.

Thunder crackled in his ears and he closed both eyes, drinking in the tempest that now covered his entire field of vision behind his lids.

“Monkey D. Dragon. It appears that I am very unlucky.”

Dragon opened his eyes. The young woman with the short, flowing hair before him didn't appear to be much of a threat, at least not based solely on her appearance. With an athletic build and the tight black clothing covering her from chin to toe, she would have been more enticing than off-putting. But then, one would have to ignore the unconscious, bloody body held by the scruff of the neck in her right hand. And the two swords held at the ready before her. Strangely, only one of those blades looked capable of doing significant damage, yet blood only marred the blunted blade with the green hilt.

Dragon smiled. “Leaving Inazuma alive? That seems overly kind, Ms. Lawson. Would any other Shichibukai engage in such tactics?”

Lucia frowned. “She won't be interrupting. I was sent here to protect this place, not to end lives.”

“You may find that one requires the other.”

“I will be the judge of that.”

Dragon tisked. “Ms. Lawson, we are human beings, full of flawed judgment. You and your precious Marines more so than others should be aware of just where that could lead you.”

Lightning, real lightning, struck from an empty sky to the ground between them. Silence followed it, then a steady stream of rain fell from that cloudless sky, twisted around the two combatants by a swift, visibly green wind. Lucia sheathed Kamakiri and Nido to Shinai, though she kept a hand on the latter. The other hand reached for Kage Hokou, strapping it on in preparation as she braced herself.

Dragon's smile broadened. “Let us find out what happens when two storms meet, and see where that judgment takes you, Ms. Lawson.”

hey guys sorry I haven't been around I only have acess to internet on weekends really, I should be able to write up some stuff Friday& Saturday !! Thanks for the welcome back =) like I said in the comments if you guys want me to know something important just inbox me !! =) I also have two new characters I'm going to be posting with Revised fruits. Thanks again for the welcomes !!! love you guys =D & great to be back !!

Okay, guys, particularly you, Cryogenic. I'm gonna make a forum for our characters. It's painful to have to flick through 14 pages to find characters each time, so if everyone could post their characters to it, I would be grateful. Actually, Exorcist, you have all the CP9's, as well, so they could go on there, too, along with the Devils fruits. I'll ask you guys to post relevant DFs on the forum, too, because I need to be able to look back at them, as well.

Oh yeah, I want no more characters created, too. I think we've almost got too many as it is and I just can't keep track. Like I said earlier, to which no-one replied, I want to work out the major characters, particularly our Shichibukai, Yonkou and Admirals. I think we all need to agree on where they all stand. And, lastly, I want more skits on here, if you guys wouldn't mind. It's nice to add a bit of humor to the RP... remember the times we had on the Clan War? Well, we may as well attempt the same on here... Thanks, guys.

Just a short post for now. In my next couple posts I'll be starting the attack on Marine Hq, so Exorcist are you done with Tashigi? Just asking because I want to have her there. One more, thing what happend to Coby? If you guys don't have any plans for him I'd like to make him a vice admiral and give him a df power, probably Akainu's or Kizaru's or an all new one. So what do you guys think?
[Setting Sail]

On a hill overlooking the town there was a small pile of rocks with a worn wooden cross planted firmly into the ground. On it was engraved the name, Legacy D. Solomon. From time to time Rayen would walk to the top of the hill to speak to his father. To him at least, his father's grave was a symbol of his father's presence.

Rayen: Hey dad, I don't really think you'd like what I'm about to say but here goes nothing. (he swallows the spit that lingered due to his nervousness) I've... well the thing is dad, I've decided to become a pirate like uncle Soul. I know you wouldn't accept this but just hear me out for a second. I really want to go out and explore the world for a change, and if becoming a pirate can offer me that opportunity then I'll take it. Plus you know me, when I set my mind to it there's no stopping me. I wish you were still here; I would have wanted to hear you scold me one more time before I set off. I guess this is goodbye for a while dad, but don't worry too much; I'll come visit every time I can. Wish me luck dad, later.

His eyes filled with tears as he began to walk away, but he quickly wiped it off on the sleeve of his jacket. Shortly after another figure could be seen near the grave. Apparently someone else had business with Solomon's spirit.

Soul: That kid of yours is gonna get himself killed some day, you know that right. I may not always be there to protect him either so... as much as you can, watch over him too Solomon. Sigh... How is it that every time I look at him I can't help but see his resemblance to you even more. Not just his look but everything about him is just like you, and that's what scares me the most. If it comes down to it though, it'll be different this time. This time I'm gonna be the one protecting you. I can promise you one thing, he'll be the greatest damn pirate anyone has ever seen; even if it kills me I'll make sure he has the strongest crew ever. Hehehehe, look at me... I'm beginning to sound just like you did when we were kids. I guess time really can change me.

Some time later...

Soul: Hey kid, have you made up your mind yet?

Rayen: U-uncle you scared me for a sec there! Wait, how do you know...?!

Soul: Please, like you could ever keep a secret from me. So what is it? Are you gonna follow in my footsteps.

Rayen: Well I already told dad so I guess I'm all set.

Soul: Hmmm... you know it's always crossed my mind, but this time I'm certain; you really are an idiot. But your my nephew, and I'm gonna be there for you. If that's all, you can go ahead and get the flag from the dresser next to Mockingbird; don't wake him though.

Rayen: Wait so does that mean your coming with me too?!

Soul: Just hurry up and get the flag, I'll go get my old boat out. Since its only the two of us it'll be no problem to sail it.

And so begins the journey of the new captain of the New Moon Pirates.

Meanwhile on Sabaody Archipelago...

Merchant: Are you sure about this girl? Not many people would go to Fishman Island alone, especially not in times like these.

Ania: Here's the gold, just coat the boat and don't ask anymore questions got it!

Merchant: S-sure as you say, right away Miss.

I'll have my last character up tomorrow as well as A post

As PROMSIED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My post =D =D =D sorry for the wait !!!!!!!






-Military Struggle ! part one-







-Kiya had been contacted by Head Quarters by fleet admiral Akioji. She stared long and hard into the den-den-mushi that the so resembled the fleet admiral , Kiya was sweating as she let out another gulped. she spoke but her words were almost a jumble-

-Kiya spoke so Nervously- "S-S-ay that Again Kuzan ? You want me to Lead the Marines !? WHY!!! I have to go to Enis Lobby to stop the Pirate swine you've assinged us all to." -She then cut off by Kuzan who sighed and seemed somewhat annoyed with repeating himself-

-Kuzan spoke with a sigh- "I'm to retire This month the hire ups wish for me to go off and enjoy the rest of my life, Kiya-chan. You have all the power and Military might we need. You're kind caring and most of all have a good sense of judgement. besides -it sounded as though he leaned back in a chair- "It would seem A new age is upon us yet again A age of pirates I can't see us through." -Kiya slammed her free hand on the desk in front of her and seemingly rose her voice- "What About SMOKER !!!!! OR ONE OF THE OTHER ADMIRALS I AM HARDLY QUALIFIED!!!!!!!" -Kiya now sounded distressed and Kuzan laughed- "Ahh Smoker-chan Was my first thought but the hire ups on the ladder don't feel he is open minded enough but is more of a pig-headed justice. As for the CP9 Admiral-chan I can't trust her fully." -Kiya gripped the table and finally responed- "Fine I accept you're Offer as I can't exactly refuse.where do you want me to go Enis Lobby or Marine ford ?"

-the den-den-Mushi smirked a sly grin- "Come to marine Ford I'll meet you outside." -The Den-Den-Mushi hung up , Kiya hung up on her side as she stormed onto the deck- "PREPARE TO SET SAIL WERE GOING TO MARINE FORD CHANGE COURSE NOW !!!!" -The crew members scrambled around to have the ship set sail-



-Marine ford Kuzan stood up from his chair and looked sad almost- "Kiya-chan I wonder if you'll have what it takes to become fleet Admiral. I wonder if you know what's in store" -Kuzan approached the dock the sun beaming on his face as he looked at the beautiful wide sea. Another Den-Den-Mushi went off Kuzan pulled it out of his pocket- "You know what you Must do Akioji, Why pick some one so young to fulfill this role ?" -Kuzan spoke into the Den-Den-Mush- "Because I have faith in her Celestail-Kun's I can't fulfill the role of lap dog anymore. But I know Kiya will be more then Obdient to you." -The Den-Den-Mushi smiled and chuckled- "Very well Kuzan we leave it to you then." -The Mushi closed it's eyes As Kuzan closed his embracing the sun and smell of the sea-



-end-


Sorry for the short post , will have more soon !!!!!!

Anyone still here ?? I'm going to be posting up my second post tonight

I'm still here, just working on posts for other forums when I have a spare moment. This is #2 in line.

[Blind and Prime]

Waver had screwed up.

He was by no means weak. His years of training as a member of the CP9 was not for naught. His skill was above many of the previous generations and he was loyal to a fault. When it came to assassinations, head on combat, and pulling through with a strategy, he was well rounded and experienced.

That had been his mistake. By accept that fact about himself, he’d come with the intention of picking off his opponents one by one, until none were left. He intended to finish off each and every one with minimal damage so he could move on to the next in top form.

He’d underestimated the capabilities of this particular person. There was no way he’d get through this without any lasting damage.

So, with his senses scrambled and under the influence of foreign drugs, Waver finally steeled his mind enough to prepare to counter attack, putting his own body at risk in the process.

It was at this point that his very being was assaulted by light, heat, and external force all at once.

Mental and physical fortitude wasn’t enough to defend against this. In an instant, Waver’s body went through intense pain that was indescribable—he could only freeze up as his thought process shut off completely, unable to brace itself, only able to wait until the excruciating pain passed over, hoping he survived. It could literally be described as a state suited best for accepting a direct blow, unable to do anything about the strike. Waver couldn’t even perceive the amount of time that passed as he waited for the hell to be over, only hoping that he wasn’t so vulnerable that his opponent would attack him.

Actually, wasn’t his opponent in the same situation as him?

The pain soon passed and Waver’s thoughts moved into high gear once more as his body loosened up. The first thing that he acknowledged was that he hadn’t been frozen for more than moment.

The second thing he acknowledged was that he was surrounded by white and couldn’t hear a thing.

Simply put, Waver was surrounded by nothingness—just white landscape that stretched on in both direction. Though he couldn’t really call it a landscape; whenever he tried to focus on finding the divide between what should have been the land and sky, a splitting headache dominated his head, forcing him to wince and lose focus.

He also couldn’t feel. When he cupped his head in his hands, he couldn’t even feel himself. Or even see his own hands, for that matter.

Was this another hallucination? The result of the last attack? Was he even still conscious?

All of his training was currently useless. Without his senses working properly, his superhuman constitution was useless. Even all of his mental strength was no help if he couldn’t translate it into physical prowess. His echolocation he’d kept handy as a trump card was now useless, as was his plan to wait for an attack and counter it with fatal force.

He had no choice. He’d have to be reckless.

Waver’s sense of touch was definitely being affected, but there was no way he’d mistake the feeling of cutting flesh. With nothing to lose, he acted instinctively, allowing his entire body to morph using the power of his devil fruit, turning completely into a large manticore that didn’t even look like a real animal. His tail sprouted at full length as he moved his body in what he felt should have been a crouching position, feet planted firmly in the ground, and he fired.

He fired a spin and every direction that he could, tightening his range as much as he could as he aimed in each and every direction. Waver constricted the space between each spine fired so that it measured at equal angles based on Simiao’s height and body width. No matter where Simiao stood, the spines would be practically guaranteed to hit, so long as he was within a certain distance.

The moment the sensation of a spine piercing enemy flesh was transmitted to Waver, he’d pounce on his paralyzed prey once more on complete instinct.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bug-Eye, eh?” Krieg repeated the name calmly as he faced his new opponent. “Jyabura’s brat. It seems he didn’t discipline you enough under the dogma of proper justice.”

“You know that I’m related to Jyabura?” Bug-Eye paused for a moment, caught off guard. “I thought he kept his family a secret.”

“Of course he did. But Cipher Pol is in charge of the government’s intelligence. He had no way of evading the eyes of CP0, even as a retired member of CP9. But that is of no matter. I don’t intend to go easy on you just because you’re related to a friend.”

Krieg took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His entire body rose and fell as his lungs inflated and deflated slowly.

“Rather, I’ll discipline you in his place.”

“Discipline?” Bug-Eye repeated the word with disbelief, raising an eyebrow at the large man. “You clearly intend to kill me. I’ve heard a thing or two about you, the man who surpasses Rob Lucci. Among the CP9, you are renowned as the greatest assassin, not because of your strength, but because of your extraordinarily efficient use of martial arts. You’ve even been considered for becoming a member of that other secretive Cipher Pol group, right?”

“I’m sure you’ve been told already; martial arts is simply the practice of the most efficient methods of destroying your opponent. All philosophy beyond that depends on the specific style, but this one fact always holds true.”

“Well, I don’t plan to lecture you or anything, since I’m the same. But how about this? We’ll make this a boxing match. Better yet, a THAI boxing match.”

“Oh? So you want to restrict grappling techniques?” Krieg folded his arms over his chest in thought. “I suppose that is acceptable. You simply intend to stall for more time by fighting me under restrictions, I’m sure?”

“So you could tell?” Bug-Eye grinned. “But if my grandfather was right about you, you’ll agree anyways.”

“Of course.” Krieg rolled his neck casually. “I said I will discipline you; that includes showing you real strength, even under your rules. Now come!”

Bug-Eye had already shot forward by time Krieg positioned himself to attack, intended to get in a surprise attack. Using soru, he crossed the distance between them in an instant, fists clenched as he got ready to attack.

In an instant, everything was put into perspective. Krieg’s strength was clearly on its own level, but his size was something to note. He was huge; he’d practically wrestled with a dragon just a few moments ago. So when it came to wrestling or any other grappling techniques, anyone smaller would be at a disadvantage. That was why Bug-Eye had smartly limited his opponent’s options for combat.

But striking martial arts was different. While it may seem that Krieg’s size still gave him an advantage, it was different when you considered agility. Krieg’s massive size made him a huge target for any attack sent his way. Plus, it was easy to keep him within your line of sight and predict his movements.

Bug-Eye managed to get in close and practically stand right beneath Krieg, clenching his right fist for an uppercut.

He placed his elbow on his knee and kicked upward at the same time as his swing, dramatically increasing the piercing strength of his single punch as he struck Krieg’s chest, right over the heart.

“…Damn.”

“Your form was good and your aim is commendable. But you’ll have to do better than that to pierce my body.”

Bug-Eye retreated quickly, shaking his hand painfully as his knuckles ached. He barely managed to backflip out of the way as Krieg’s knee came up like a rocket, capable of smashing Bug-Eye’s body to pieces.

Bug-Eye had done damage; this was clear. For all of Krieg’s strength, his muscles hadn’t been enough to completely nullify that strike. He’d left a sizable bruise beneath Krieg’s coat, no doubt.

But Bug-Eye’s hand was already aching. Piercing through was unlikely. And if this man had used tekkai, he’d have been the one getting hurt.

A defense so powerful, the attack got hurt instead.

“You should change your name to “Iron Body” Lector instead!”

“Try suggesting that again AFTER you’ve withstood my signature punch. As you are now, you are far too young to even dream of it!”

Bug-Eye shot forward once more, this time ignoring soru as he approached in a straight line. Just as Krieg braced his body to counter, he used geppou to shoot to the side and redirect his own path to Krieg’s side, swinging both legs out ferociously. Krieg brought both his arm and leg up into the air to create a shield of sorts to solidly block the attack, as Bug-Eye expected. He used the momentum from his midair movement to swing around Krieg’s entire body and get behind the big man, swinging his arm around to bring his elbow right into Krieg’s neck.

Krieg raised his hand just in time to place it over his shoulder and catch Bug-Eye’s elbow, completely stopping the attack.

“Naïve!”

Krieg stepped back with one foot, crushing the ground beneath his heel, and brought his own elbow back, aiming straight for Bug-Eye. Bug-Eye barely evaded with geppou, increasing his altitude slightly to avoid the attack. Krieg immediately followed up by pivoting on his planted heel, turning to face Bug-Eye as he hopped into the air, bringing one leg up fiercely in an upward kick, which Bug-Eye evaded by using geppou to push himself back down to the ground. Bug-Eye had to hop back quickly as Krieg landed again, smashing his fist into the spot where Bug-Eye had been a moment before. Seeing his chance, Bug-Eye prepared to go in for another strike, which proved to be a mistake; Krieg’s combo wasn’t done. Krieg pushed himself up with one foot, bringing the other one out in a wide quick through the air, completely level with Bug-Eye’s head.

“TEKKAI!!!!”

Bug-Eye roared this aloud as he brought both of his arms up to shield himself, making it just in time to take the blow. The blow sent him reeling to the side, flying several feet as he skidded against the ground, quickly grabbing at it to slow down his fall. He’d flown about five more yards before he managed to stop, and he felt the sun overhead vanish as he did, knowing immediately that someone was already standing over him.

Bug-Eye threw himself to the side as Krieg’s fist slammed down like a meteor, crashing into the earth to create another crater, sending rocky shrapnel through the air like bullets. Bug-Eye raised his hands to block the shrapnel from his eyes so he could keep his gaze on the moving Krieg.

The man was like a boulder rolling down a mountain. Once it started, stopping it was practically impossible. Every move was linked and forced you onto the defensive. It was completely different from how he fought Long John, and it wasn’t that he was simply adapting his style to the opponent.

Choosing a specific fighting style didn’t restrict Krieg ‘Iron Fist’ Lector. It simply changed how he would fight.

Even with this revelation, Bug-Eye laughed.

“Look at that, ‘Iron Fist’! I got you to use rokushiki! You moved with soru, didn’t you? Looks like you’re enjoying yourself so much, you forgot to avoid using it!”

“Consider yourself lucky that that strike didn’t kill you on the spot!” Krieg roared as he shot forward, fists raised for another assault.

[Revelation! The Strongest Shigan]

Bug-Eye heard Krieg, but didn't bother to respond, knowing that the man's fists would be following.

'Soru!'

Bug-Eye vanished, approximately as fast as Krieg came forward. Krieg used his, too, following Bug-Eye and intending to flatten him. Bug-Eye disappeared again. Despite Krieg's mastery over Tekkai and resisting damage from piercing and physical attacks, they were about as fast as one another, given that Bug-Eye prided himself on having a mastery over Soru himself. However, that was not his true mastery, he just liked to be able to keep up with and exceed other opponent's, in terms of speed. He was exceptional at using Shigan. And, he even had a specialised version of Shigan, which he would present to Krieg soon.

'Can you keep up, Iron Fist? I can move faster, if I need to... the question is, can you?' Bug-Eye called out, teasingly.

'Are you stupid? I'm a CP9 agent... of course I can exceed the speed you are moving at... I just haven't bothered to, yet, because it won't change anything. You assume I should speed up, because you think you have some kind of advantage... except... you don't. You are going to lose to me, pirate. Even if you have learned Rokushiki techniques, you still don't have a chance.'

Bug-Eye grew serious. Krieg was clearly not a man to joke around with during a battle... probably not even outside of battle, but, since didn't know the man, that was simply an assumption he felt like making.

'Cat got your tongue, pirate? Have you reconsidered yet?'

'No. I was just thinking... what will your commander say when the strongest CP9 agent loses to a pirate?' Bug-Eye said, serious this time.

'Are you still joking around? I just told you that you can't, and won't, beat me. How shall I prove that to you?'

The man just kept talking. Didn't he get tired of saying the same things over and over?

'I'm not joking, you fool. You haven't even seen a glimpse of my powers yet, and here you are assuming that you'll be the victor... is that based on your legend of strength, or are you just arrogant?!' Bug-Eye snapped, Krieg's arrogance beginning to grate at him. 'On second thoughts, don't bother to answer that... just fight me already, instead of proclaiming your greatness!'

Krieg snarled at him and leapt forward again, throwing both of his fists at the other man. Bug-Eye dodged the first one and then threw his left hand forward, meeting the other fist and causing a shockwave between the two of them. Slowly, he got pushed backwards from the great strength of Krieg and the man's much larger size. He flung himself backwards, as he felt the presence of the wall behind him, then, using his feet to stop, he pushed himself outwards from the wall, using the force of his legs to propel towards Krieg. He punched Krieg solidly with his left hand, which felt he had hit a brick wall, but he heard Krieg curse and gathered that the man must have felt the punch.

Krieg stood there, staring at him. How could this young man have so much power, enough for him to feel the hit? And, what's more, was this man left-handed, or was he simply conserving energy and usage for his right hand. In fact, he hadn't used it at all and it was completely covered with the man's coat. Oh well. Krieg 'Iron Fist' Lector would not lose to anyone. His justice was the strongest.

'Shigan!'

Krieg heard it, but was too late and the Shigan hit him hard, much harder than it should have. Was this the pirate's specialty in Rokushiki technique? Even so, it left a slight mark on his skin, which, considering he hadn't even used his Tekkai, wasn't exactly worrying, but it left him wondering about how this man could inflict any sort of damage to him, when he was just a whelp.

'Did that hurt?' Bug-Eye asked, a glint in his eye.

'No. I'm surprised that I felt that one, though. Your friend couldn't even tickle me, yet, just with a Shigan, you managed to do what he could not with his most powerful technique. You're making me consider using my Rokushiki techniques a bit less sparingly.'

'Good. I'm glad you're taking this seriously, because I have finally finished warming up and I'm ready to cause a bit more than a scratch on you, 'Iron Fist' Lector!'

Bug-Eye used Soru again and appeared in the air, then waited for Krieg to engage him, which didn't take long. He side-stepped using Geppou and avoided the main attacks from Krieg, then used another of his techniques.

'Auto Shigan!'

This technique fired Shigan at an impressive rate and Krieg suddenly found himself beleaguered by such a sudden barrage. He finally got hit by two Shigan at the same time and found himself sliding backwards and a small drop of blood dripping from a hole in his clothing, which came from his chest. Bug-Eye didn't let up and continued firing the Shigan. Krieg used Soru to fall back to the ground level and then used his still-impressive speed to avoid each of the individual attacks.

'Amugan!'

Bug-Eye followed through with this attack, after using Soru to move right in front of Krieg. His arm, the left, hit Krieg with such force, that he found himself propelled backwards and meeting a brick wall. The brick wall lost and piled itself on top of Krieg, who, wasting no time, flung the whole lot off of him and sped at Bug-Eye, a grinding anger replacing the calm disposition he had felt before.

'Too obvious...'

Bug-Eye disappeared, leaving several after-images, which found themselves squashed by Krieg, as he calmed down enough to destroy every one within the same second, then halted as he looked for Bug-Eye. This man was beginning to annoy him and he'd best forget about anger and just concentrate. If he got angry, he would make mistakes. If he kept calm, he would win.

'Amugan!'

Foolish. He just used this. Krieg wouldn't allow this one to hurt him.

'Tekkai!'

Bug-Eye's fist bounced off Krieg's gut and he was flung backwards. Such a strong Tekkai. This was ridiculous. No wonder he hardly used it. There couldn't be many a man that would be able to force him to use this technique. However, he had. And that was something. It meant he had pressured Krieg enough to force him to use the full extent of his Rokushiki powers. It also meant that he was a threat. And, if he was a threat to Krieg, then he could win.

'I have you now, Krieg. I know your full capabilities... and, now, I'm going to show you my own! Amugan: Metaru Strike!'

He suddenly ripped the material off his right arm and produced a metal arm, wit5h curving fingers and a hole where the palm should be. Next thing he knew, the arm was coming straight for him. Without even thinking about it, he used his Tekkai again. Damn. He said he wouldn't use it and now he had... twice. It hit and he felt the intense power behind the pirate's strike. It wasn't enough to hurt him. But, it had made move backwards slightly. With his Tekkai. What was with this man?

'Damn you! I'll show you a true punch! Rokuogan!'

With both of his hands, he hit the pirate's chest and a swirling energy of hit the man and flung him so far backwards, he flipped over himself and smashed into the nearest building. Bug-Eye coughed up a large amount of blood and looked at Krieg, realising that he had underestimated him. Bad idea.

'That hurt. I shouldn't even be standing right now. I'm not going down, though. If that's how it's going to be, then I'll show you something to make you quake in your expensive boots. Hou Hou No Mi: Shotto!'

Something was flung from the hole in his arm and Krieg didn't have any time to defend against it. Whatever it was, it moved faster than it's user did and faster than Krieg did. He watched as it struck his chest and then popped through the other side, leaving a hole and some blood dribbling out. What the hell?!

'What was that just now?'

'The power of my Devils fruit. Compressed air. Apuro-chishotto!'

He moved with Soru and came straight up to Krieg, then swung his arm in an arc, releasing more air. Krieg had anticipated another long-range attack and hadn't moved fast enough. It hit. And, by God, did this one hurt. He ended up beneath a building, feeling a pain in his chest and another precariously close to his heart. He was even puffing slightly, something he wasn't used to.

What the hell is going on here? What kind of Devil's fruit can cause such damage from such an attack? And, how can this man even do damage to me? I'm Iron Fist Lector, the strongest of CP9? And this guy just took the strongest Rokushiki technique and still stood. How can any man stand after taking a Rokuogan from a highly trained government agent and not be dead? This is insane!

Alright, so I had a significantly longer post in the works that will tie up the Simiao/Waver fight, but I'm running into some mental blocks as I make it, and I want that to be really solid. In the meantime, these two posts just seemed to organically flow, so I thought I'd put a title to them and just run with it.

[Multiple Fronts]

Dragon's smirk told Lucia everything she needed to know about his confidence. A sudden well of fury edged up towards the surface as she saw that. It reminded her too much of Doflamingo.

“Busoshoku: Jikkō.”

She reacted quickly, aiming to fight this at a distance. Kage Hokou was a fantastic blade for assassins, but Lucia was no assassin. For her, the blade in its normal form was rarely useful. But then, she could modify it. The metal of the silver blade flattened out and extended, going out to an incredible length along with its sheath. This left only the tip visible, casting most of the rest in shadow. She whipped out rapidly with the blade, the buildings and ground doing little to impede the blade as it sliced forward with incredible force.

None of her blows hit their mark. Dragon could easily have blocked the blows, but those hands of his had deflected each blow instead, leaving the buildings around him dotted with holes and crumbling.

“Busoshoku: Shinkū hōsō.”

Slamming Nido to Shinai's blade into the ground before her, the blade created a pocket vacuum underneath her. She kicked off the ground, the space beneath her blade acting as a frictionless pivot on which the blade and her body could rotate. They spun with incredible speed, barely grounded as she rotated around it with incredible speed.

All anyone could see was a glimmer as light hit the tip, the blade twisting around so fast that it was nearly impossible to track. Deep gouges marked many of the buildings around them at multiple locations, some crumbling to pieces before the blows. She could hardly control the direction of the blade as it slashed through anything and everything around her before coming to a jarring stop.

Dragon's eyes widened along with his smile. Lucia tisked. The silvered tip was grasped in the two talon-like grips of his hands, as well as an elbow placed directly against the blade. The entire length of his arms was black with Haki. Buildings to her left and right slid off their foundations, cut entirely through by her strike. But he'd managed to stop it bare-handed, without the use of a Devil Fruit.

Great. Another monster.

“Incredible! I wonder what you were like as a pirate with all that skill!”

“...Do you have to treat me like a child?”

“Who said I was? You're quite the dangerous storm, Ms. Lawson. It gives me goosebumps.”

It had gotten darker in the short time they'd been fighting, though Lucia refused to look up. Even a second's hesitation could very well lead to her doom here, given his incredible speed.

“We're all chaotic elements, wouldn't you agree, Ms. Lawson? Our own individual storms. Some are larger than others, some more capable of causing a ruckus, but we all embody those elements that compose the troposphere and make us quake with fear. But even the most powerful tempest pales in comparison to what occurs at the meeting of two or more such elements.”

“Are you going to spend the entire afternoon teaching me about the weather?”

Dragon chuckled. “You'll get a lesson first-hand shortly, I assure you. Wherever I go, the most incredible disturbances occur. It seems that it runs in the family.”

“All the more reason to trim the family tree.”

“And you intend to do that with such dull implements? Those blades are fearsome in their own right, but they will never reach me.”

Much as she hated to admit it, he had a point. This fight would go nowhere if she couldn't find a way to connect, and he'd already managed to survive one of her most dangerous attacks. Drawing either of the blades on her shoulders would manage scant little against a man like this, and the longer he held her back, the more powerful he would become.

Could she risk it? Lucia hated the idea of drawing that demonic blade again. Each time she used it, the blade threatened to overtake her consciousness, causing her great pain and draining her reserves. It was not a blade that could be used in conjunction with any of the others, and so she would get few chances.

But perhaps it was necessary to change the game, however slightly. She was unsure what to expect at close range, but this would be the best way to test it.

Recalling her ability, she slipped the two blades into the sheaths at her legs, removing the other from her back with a quick sweep while ensuring that it remained within its own sheath. Silver glittered as she held the hilt horizontally before her, taking care to ensure that the blade was still tightly clasped. Strange, it hadn't said anything up til now.

Am I going to destroy evil?

“Only if you can reach it.”

I never have a problem reaching evil, that's up to you. But we're fighting him?

Lucia frowned. The blade didn't refer to Dragon as “evil.” It had had no trouble distinguishing Doflamingo as such, and yet it had trouble recognizing this Revolutionary leader?

“Yes, will that be a problem?”

...Problem?

The blade didn't understand the concept. It was simple steel, designed to do slice and nothing more. How could it understand a failure to perform?

“Are you ready?”

Dragon taunted her. Thunder echoed above them, and once again, Lucia resisted the urge to raise her eyes. The wind around them seemed to pick up, gaining a slight green tint as she watched. This fight would become dangerous shortly. She shifted the weight of the blade, and then shifted forward in a blink, slamming both blade and sheath sideways. They contacted the Haki-imbued elbow and hand of Dragon, but the man grunted under their force as the strength of the blade pressured him, slamming him high into the air. Winds buffeted him, slowing him down as he flew, but he still crashed headlong into the top of a nearby tower. It crashed down on top of him, though she highly doubted that had done any harm.

It did, however, give her a view of the black roiling clouds in the sky, occasionally lit with white light from flashes of lightning. She didn't have time to ponder how close those were to arcing down towards her position. She jumped, charging after Dragon and sweeping the blade before her. The rocks of the tower scattered like leaves, dropping to the ground all around and forcing many Marines and Revolutionaries to take cover. Dragon slipped underneath the blow, a smile evident on his face.

No, this fight would not be simple. But she had no time to question her motivations, or those of Yoruchi. Distractions would get her killed.

-----------------------------------------­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­-

Lotus stepped off the ship, regretting drinking herself into a near stupor with her follow Marines during the previous night. It would work for her if she was putting on a certain appearance, but she couldn't realistically take on that persona today. Looking formal would be important. After all, they were taking on a guest.

Their mission had been put on hold. It was strange to think that they would even pull her back in this instance – it must be a dire threat to require all hands on deck. But then, perhaps it wasn't her that was considered important in this instance.

“Right on time, my dear.”

“It is my pleasure, Admiral.”

She stood on the gangplank as Admiral Fujitora approached, cane clacking on the gangplank. It appeared that the repairs to Impel Down had taken more than just their current staff, and this man's abilities to alter gravitational forces had proven a big help, despite some apparent... complications. Magellan was with him, but appeared significantly injured. His head was bruised, he had a black eye, was bleeding from one lip and his metal horn was bent.

“I presume... all went well?”

“Ah, you mock me, child! Even after all these years, I still feel like such a child with these abilities of mine. I nearly brought the entire third floor crashing down upon our heads as I endeavored to contain the streams of ocean water from the walls! The poor Warden must be sick of me.”

Magellan hesitated before contradicting him. “No, no! You stopped the flooding, Admiral. That was more than enough.”

“You're too kind, but I would do better to disappear from here, and leave you to repairs. Would that I could send more help to you in these difficult times.”

Magellan let it be, holding a rag to his forehead to mop up some sweat. He respected the authority of Fujitora, but appeared to have good reason to want to get rid of him. Despite all of the trials he'd faced recently, it would appear that this unearthed new anxieties in him. Lotus let a sympathetic smile show for a moment before casting it aside as she swiveled around to walk beside the passing Fujitora.

“Admiral, we were given notice that we should suspend our mission for the time being for your sake, but not any hint of our destination following your procurement. Could you-”

“Oh? Have you not heard, then? We appear to be under attack. The Fleet Admiral himself has ordered your crew and myself to attend to a concerning situation at Enies Lobby, some pirate crew of little note making a name for itself. Sounds awfully familiar...”

Lotus started. CP9, under attack? That seemed beyond the realms of comprehension, given their current strength. The idea that any random pirate crew could saunter in there and cause a ruckus was already pushing it, but that they would have to call in an Admiral was another story entirely. Who were these pirates “of little note?”

She was about to ask when he silenced her with a raised hand.

“No need to ask anymore my dear, I know no more than I have provided. Besides, I loathe the smell of alcohol, and would prefer to minimize it if at all possible.”

A flash of indignation shone in her eyes before she managed to shove it down. She had used multiple breath fresheners before disembarking, and yet he could still smell the whiskey on her breath? It was a great shame to her. She hated the idea that anything about her appearance would be off-putting, much less her smell. However, he seemed to find little interest in it, marching aboard the ship and made towards Shu, who stood at attention waiting politely for orders.

This didn't seem right. Was Fujitora lying to them? Was he simply not revealing everything he knew? Or was he telling the truth when he said the rest was beyond him? It didn't matter which it was. This wasn't just some pirate crew. One of the Yonko perhaps? A conglomeration of pirates? Or was it another group entirely?

Lotus snapped out orders more harshly than she intended, telling her crew to set sail immediately for the Gates of Justice and moving down below decks to stay out of sight, lying down on a random soldier's bunk in a huff. She needed to clear her head, and calm this building headache. With no idea what was facing them and an apparently erratic Admiral aboard, her annoyance about being forced off of their mission was just the beginning.

[Frustration! Pressure Building Up]

He moved quickly - the massive Rankyaku wasted no time in cutting right through everything in its path, cutting a building, or ten, in half. Kaku grinned.

'Like my powers, pirate? This is the true power of Rokushiki. A normal human like you can't compare to us. You may be a Logia-user, but your senses are not superhuman. All you have is that technique that replicates Soru. It seems that we are at a bit of a stalemate here, however, as you can form that intangible body, if you so preferred.'

'Stalemate? Don't be stupid. 'We' are not at a stalemate. I'll exceed you, CP9, particularly when it is for the sake of my brother. I won't just stand by and let you take him away from me.'

'That's irrelevant. CP9 is here to eliminate threat to World Government, particularly pirates and the infamous Revolutionary Army. Unless you defeat me, your brother will end up in Impel Down, then will be executed for crimes against the World Government.'

No. No, that wouldn't do at all.

'Over my dead body.'

Rakki assumed an intangible form, becoming chlorine gas, and attacked Kaku. He surged forwards, allowing the gas to cover Kaku. Kaku used Soru and disappeared with amazing speed, considering the size of his giraffe form. Rakki changed again, assuming his regular form, but changed his arms into diamond.

'Diamond Fist!'

'Tekkai!' Kaku countered. Rakki's arm smashed into his stomach and he skidded backwards, then came to a halt. Rakki withdrew his arm and leapt backwards, avoiding a sudden Rankyaku. However, Kaku was huffing slightly, which showed that Rakki had at least caused him to expend a decent amount of energy, in order to counter the Diamond Fist. Then Kaku was on him again, swinging his swords around at great speeds and slicing towards Rakki. He changed into hydrogen and let each of the strikes go through his body. Kaku eased up and stopped.

'That ability is annoying. I don't like Logias.'

'Shows all you know, then, doesn't it? My fruit doesn't work the way regular Logia-types do... I can change into any form that is liquid, solid, or gas. That means that abstract, or undefinable, Logia-types are off limits for me. However, it doesn't bode well for you, does it?'

Kaku frowned at him. 'Actually, it means I can damage to you when you utilise a solid form, or go back into your regular form, which I managed to damage before... so you are by no means invulnerable, pirate. Now I understand your powers, I can find a way to defeat you.'

He rolled his eyes. This guy would never stop preaching the justice of World Government, nor would be realise when he was beat. Plus, he seemed to be a bit odd and a bit eccentric. Rakki switched to a different form this time, one that would be able to do some damage.

'Intangible Form: Suigin Bodi!'

Kaku came again, slashing at an incredible rate, however, again all of the attacks went through his body, without harming him. Kaku's swords began to dissolve, as the mercury corroded through them. Kaku withdrew both of the blades in dismay, noting that they were basically unusable like that. He dropped them and moved back.

'Suigin Dangan!'

Kaku didn't anticipate a round of mercury bullets and was hit by several of them, before he dodged the rest. His face reflected the pain he was suddenly feeling - a look of grinding teeth and a furrow on his forehead, along with a noticeable vein.

'I'd get those out as soon as possible... the longer you leave them, the greater the mercury poisoning you'll get - the effects will simply build up. Can't you feel it already? Your eyes will be blurry and you'll suddenly get a headache and feel a lack of concentration.'

Already the other man had paled somewhat, evidence that the mercury had already begun to take its toll. Kaku stared at him blankly. This mercury poisoning was dangerous - it had affected him, just from a few bullets made from the substance... he'd hate to imagine what it would do if he took in a large dose.

'Normally, it would take some for you to feel the effects, but those bullets are special - they accelerate the process, so that you feel the effects straight away.'

'It is a strange feeling. Mercury? What an interesting substance to form... you definitely are no normal pirate. You remind of that Straw Hat in some ways, except he wasn't very intelligent; you, however, are. That's what scares me in pirates these days - the ones that are intelligent and bear the conviction to take down World Government. What would have happened if Straw Hat Luffy had been an intelligent man? Well, we would have been in a much worse position now.'

'You keep saying odd things, CP9. I don't care about any of that. The only way I'm similar to the Pirate-King, is that I also value my nakama to the same extent he did. I protect my nakama, so they aren't harmed, or taken away, by the Marines. I bear the same conviction he did... the conviction to stop the World Government and Marines from taking his friends away. He didn't care about anything else, except for that ridiculous Straw Hat and the dream to become the Pirate-King. You'll never stop me. Not the way you are now.'

'Don't be stupid. Of course I'll stop you. I'm CP9, remember? It's our job to protect this place, which I intend to do.'

'Then stop me. You still haven't, eve though you keep saying you will. What's wrong? Is your justice weaker than my will to protect my brother?'

Kaku closed his eyes. 'You'll see...'

[To Be Continued]

i'll post up something in the next few days

I'll begin the attack on the hq as soon as I can, I've been too busy lately to think about what to write.

OKAY FINALLY have some spare minutes sorry for the typo's and stuff so bare with me =P




-Military Struggle part 2-

-The overwhelming power of The bird of the sea-



-Within the Mighty tower that is enis lobby there was a odd enough man sitting in a corridor by himself his room looked like that of a japense garden with bonsai tree's and a little rock garden. Within the center was a pound surrounding a small area with a wooden table and a well crafted chair both the table & chair did not look like just a cheap piece of fruinture. on the table were three Den-Den-Mushi's , A bottle of wine and a cup only half full. Sitting on the chair at the table was a man in a white swash buckler shirt almost making him seem noble. A pony tail his face was that of a young man in his 20's. he was wareing silk woven pants with a orange sash to resemble a belt. with two swords by his chair. a Long black Sleeveless coat hanging off of it. to the side placed neatly was a black feathery cloak. Once more placed on his lap was a black hat with a single feather on it looking like a tradtional pirate captain hat. he was was paying no mind to the distractions outside but was more focused on his book in his hand he must of been about halfy way through. laying in front of him were at least thirty or fourty pirates that belonged to the dragon lance crew. The man looked board as a Den-Den-mushi rung


"purda purda purda purda" -the man picked it up it bore a strung resemblance to the Shchibukai Doflamingo- "HELLO Is this Joker Jr ?"

"Yes this is him, And what can I do for you ? you don't sound like Joker at all ." -The man had a calm voice

-the Den-Den-Mushi Exhaled- "you're right it's not Dsyaun , It's Buffalo... Something has happend to our young Master Dsyaun, It would seem he was killed by a pirate Dsyaun, We can't figure out who did it Dsyaun. Our military spies can't get a straight answer Dsyaun. But we assume it was the new Girl by the name of Lucia Dsyaun."

-The man's face seemingly rippled with rage- "What do you mean he died !!!!!, One cannot just dispose of Joker so Easily ! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT WHAT KIND OF MERCHINDISE WE'VE BEEN DEALING WITH !!!! YOU BIG HEAD BAFFOON!!!" -the man retained himself then laughed and smiled almost resembling a cat. "As of right now Joker is dead as such. I shall be adressed as Joker as far as our clients go Joker never died. I'll be taking over from now on do you understand ?"

-The Den-Den Mushi frowned and tears almost flowed from it- "Yes Dsyaun , I'll inform every one right away Dsyaun."

-The Den-Den-mushi clicked right then two men came barging in through the wooden door they were tired and out of breat hand huffing sweat dripping down there faces-

-"I told you he didn't go this way you IDOIT !!!" -the one man playfully struck the other as the other one looked slightly sad, but kept his spirts up with a good warm hearted laugh-

"yeah, The Captain sure is a tricky one I don't even rember when we left sight of him."

-The man in the room looked up at the two seemingly idoits until proven other wise- "may I help you ?"
-the two looked up and shot the man a glance. The larger man was carrying a sword upon meeting his gaze with a young mans what looked like a witty retort quickly became a cold sweat and nervousness-

-The man laughed and was about to reply but was interrupted by a semi-seriouis smack to the head. the man chrunched down and shouted- "OW JOHNNY WHAT THE HELL, THAT'S GONNA COST YOU THREE MEALS YOU GOT THAT !!!'

-Jhonny turned with a serious look- "You Idiot don't you Know anything !? , read the news or history books once in a while, besides cooking books Jimmy !?"

-Jimmy looked up and froze as well they both knew who this man was now. He wasn't and Ordinary man- "That's, Impossible , Why is he here !"

-Jhonny laughed- "Look Man I've fought Schibukai so tell me Karasu why is some one like you here at Enis lobby, if you don't answer I may have to beat it out of you."

-Karasu smiled and laughed as he stood up from his chair both jhonny and Jimmy tensed up- "So You're Jhonny of the Dragon lance pirates, and Jimmy Bacon Savoury quite the nickname for a bafoon like you're self I have no need to answer you nor will I. By all means try to fight me." -Karasu meirly blinked as a large wave of seemingly invisable energy rippled from his body crushing the table and wine along with the glass. Jhonny and jimmy both were taken down to one knee-


-Jimmy looked up panting as though he had been struck- "I've heard rumors about this but, damn it's stronger then I thought. What was that !?"

-Jhonny remained seriouis- "It's called Hashou Haki only few people pose it of course we find one of two people who do. And it's seemed he's not stranger to his power ethier were in for one hell of a fight."

-Jimmy laughed- "don't worry if we win you'll get those three meals."

-Karasu grined and lifted up his arm waving toward himself- "come if you dare little pirates, Come feel the Wrath of the Bird of the Sea"


-End-


Hope you enjoy it BP !!

[Breach! Attack on the Great Marine Headquarters]

Mockingbird woke up in the dull, empty room. Apparently he had not been out for that long and now he had near complete control of his body. The pain was gone and his mobility was once again restored. He sat up and scanned the room. He noticed that the flag was missing, also a note was pinned to the desk with a dagger. He read it over and a peculiar smile came upon his face.

Mockingbird: Hehehehehehe, I knew you'd come around to the idea Soul. You go and make your nephew a great pirate. As for me... its time I settled things at the marine HQ.

And with that he exited the room and made his way outside. His destination wasn't that far away, but it was unwise for him to go all out on his jet dial. He'd have to be at his best for what is ahead, and so he would not push the capabilities of his jet dial too much. Though it would mean that he would take slightly longer to arrive at the marine HQ, it was an obligation he was willing to comply with. Without much more of a moment to relax, he was off.

Meanwhile at the Marine HQ...

Smoker: This is taking too long; why won't that guy just show up so we can kick his ass and be over with.

Coby: You sure seem eager about this admiral Smoker, aren't you the least bit worried?

Smoker: Why should I?

Coby: Well it just seems that all this preparation for just one guy is going a bit overboard don't you think? I mean the last person to even considered attacking the Marine HQ was Whitebeard and he didn't come alone either. So why do all this for just one guy?

Smoker: You don't know much about him do you? Well here's the full truth about Mockingbird. You know he fought Whitebeard and you know he fought against those three, but here's what you don't know. Aokiji alone wasn't enough to beat him at that time. Though he was still weakend by his fight with Whitebeard, he still fought against all three of them at the same time. That was a long time ago though.

Coby: That's what I'm saying. All this happened a long time ago so surely fleet admiral Aokiji must have gotten stronger.

Smoker: Sigh... Yea he's gotten stronger all right but the thing is, those fools in the Gorosei don't want Aokiji to leave this place. The last time they let Akainu do as he pleased and look what happened. No, now they're just scared. To make it worse, Mockingbird is one of the most feared pirates of the Golden Age. Just the thought of him coming and attacking here must have those bastards shitting their pants as we speak.

Marine: Admiral Smoker sir! Sorry for interrupting but something is coming toward the HQ. It's closing in fast and we don't know what to do.

Smoker: So he's here, about damn time.

Coby/Marine: What?!!

Smoker: Ready the cannons and start firing. I'll be there in a minute.

Marine: Yes sir!!

And with that the defense of Marine HQ had begun. Boom!! The sound of cannon fire destroyed the little quiet that was left at the HQ. All the cannon balls heading to one target. Mockingbird smiled and in response to this 'unwelcoming' committee he sped forward, using his axe dial to cut through most of the cannon balls while he dodged the others. The marines however did not flinch. They continued firing at the single figure speeding towards them. Then a single voice pierced through the sound.

Smoker: Listen up, I don't care what you did in the past or how strong you are; but the moment you planned to attack this headquarters you made a death wish. You hear that asshole. Your marching toward justice, now come and face its wrath!

Mockingbird became incredibly anxious. His body shifted as he caught several cannon balls and threw them back at the HQ with incredible speed and accuracy.

Mockingbird: 'Justice' you say. Well lets see whose justice is stronger, mine or yours.

As the cannon balls closed in on the marine HQ, Mockingbird witnessed as they were stopped by the presence of a single woman.

Mockingbird: (thinking to himself) Who is this? They're calling her the 'new' fleet admiral for some reason. Aokiji you bastard did you get scared and run off? No. They probably have something up they're sleeve. They're trying to trick me, but I'll show them; I'll have my revenge no matter what. I'll cut down whoever is standing in my way, starting with her.

okay I have a little post here, Leave Kuzan alone I have plans for him in A most interesting manner of things i think anyway.




-Struggle in the Military part 3-


-Farewell to the Ice pheasant / The power of Dragon Lance-


-It had been effortless almost as for jimmy and Jhonny the two were panting with exhaustion and looked slightly adjitated. On the other hand Karasu hadn't budged from his spot nor did he look interested in the two pirates anymore he was holding a den-den-mush in one hand as, the two pirates rushed him from both sides. Karasu harden his exposed arm with Busohoku Haki and close lined jimmy causing him to smack in the ground and let out a large heap of air. Karasu then turned and lifted up his right leg hardening his foot with Busohoku Haki. as he seemingly jolted it into Johnny's stomach causing him to cough up blood and go to his knees. Karasu elegantly flipped a good three-four feet away from the two pirates as they tried to recuperate themselves.


-Jimmy rolling over and kipping up to his feet, Panthing like a dog out of breath blood streaming down his the left side of his face forcing his eye closed- "OI WHAT THE HELL IS THIS GUY MADE OF !!! His Tekkai is like nothing i've never seen. It's like he know's when were going to attack."

-Jhonny stood up and took a strong sturdy stance to try to convince himself & Jimmy that he wasn't on the verge of vommiting from that kick from the stomach- "I know he has pin Point Accueracy as well, I also dont think he's using Tekkai. But another form of Haki also known as Busoshoku Haki. Meaning Armaments will. But still at his age you can't help but praise him. I'm left with one option and that's my Devil fruit power. It should be enough to at least get a scratch on his. "


-Karasu was standing there with the Den-Den-Mushi in hand his free arm still covered in what looked to be Iron due to his haki the Den-Den-Mushi looked old it had a beard and the mark of the Noble over it's left eye- "it would seem Kuzan has left Kiya in charge to lead the Navy. We have faith in her but as such Kuzan has retired and departed from marine ford to a remote Island. Unlike Sengoku and those before him I feel that Kuzan needs to be silenced. His faith in the Marines and us has well Vanished I'd like for you Karasu to do a off the book assignment if you will. I hope you'll hear us out."

-Karasu smirked- "oh I see, I'll be glad to take on what ever it is the great Nobles ask of a Lowly Schibukai like myself." -He was cackling on the inside he was planning on tracking down Kuzan himself anyway to figure out who murdered Joker after all with Kuzan being retired it now the Military wouldn't be able to action against him. Karasu spoke- "Before I depart though there is some riff raff i'm dealing with as such I was wondering why do you need Kuzan slienced ?"

-The Den-Den-Mushi chuckled- "We think he's planning on giving away some military secerts to a pirate from the North Blue and to the revolution. We as a whole can't allow some one who was in a postion of leadership to the military go to the revolution or speak to some no good pirate. It would sully our reputation not only that but the people would begin to doubt our power if some one like Kuzan joined the revolution. As such this task is not to be documented so unfortunately you'll have to take the soclding from the new fleet admiral."

-Karasu chuckled- "Very well I can deal with Kiya. But Grandfather you're not trying to double cross me are you ? if so Noble or Not you know what would happen to you. "

-The Den-Den-Mush went silent then laughed- "Now now I would never due such a thing to one of my family members. Make sure you do this with the utmost haste. it won't be easy for you to take down Kuzan especially once he finds out you're there to kill him so please don't be to rash about it. I have to go now take care" -The Den-Den-mushi had it's clanking sound as the eyes closed as though it went to sleep Karasu chuckled once just as he hung up Jimmy and what looked to be a Dragon human hybrid rushed toward him-

-Karasu avoided the attack, stomping his two feet onto the Dragon thing as it crashed into the ground Jimmy came from behind with a flying kick Karasu merely moved his head to the side as jimmy flew by but landed on his feet to leap back with a flying fist. Karasu used his Haki to harden both his hands as he blocked the blow. He leapt back with great ease and chuckled- "sorry but I need to keep things short I must take my leave." -Karasu swung on his jacket cloak and hat in one fell swoop in seemed his swords now attached to his side-


-Jimmy's eyes went wide- "WAIT A MINUTE THE PUNK KICKING OUR ASS IS THE SCHIBUKAI KARASU KONJU !!!!!!!!!!!!"

-Jhonny looked at him with eyes of stupidity still in his dragon form- "YOU IDIOT I SAID THAT BEFORE WE EVEN PICKED A FIGHT WITH HIM!!!!!"

-Jimmy looked away with a idotic look his face- "Calling me an idoit costed you two meals."


-Jhonny sighed- "Why the rush do we not entertain you ?"

-Karaus chuckled- "Oh no far from it just as a schibukai I have other things to attend to other then babying sitting to common pirates like you're selves qutie the Devil fruit you have there Jhonny. This is you're Claw-Claw fruit I presume ?"

-Jhonny paid no mind to the insult but laughed back- "Yes the spirit of Dragon Lance is in this fruit as such I must win this fight or it will be a disgrace to our captain."

-Karasu laughed- "very well let's make a deal, I'll give you five minutes to hit me with everything you got if you win well the result will be obviouis I'll knocked out on the ground and disgraced. If I win I'll take my leave. "


-Jhonny became seriouis- "What do you think this is some |TV show or Role play ? given you're strength we can't beat you in that time limit. it's seemingly impossable but like a fool I accept."

-Jimmy stood up and dusted himself off- "Five minutes eh ? sounds like a fun time."





-Moments before the attack on Marine Ford-


-Kiya had been in the office with the former fleet Admiral she no longer wore the coat of the Admiral but a large coat with Large golden shoulder pads and the symbol for fleet admiral on it she couldn't help but grin her dream had come true- "Why do you feel like I can lead the marines Kuzan ?"

-Kuzan smiled and then laughed- "I have faith in you, you also were trained by two of the strongest marines to live. Monkey Garp and my former commanding officer Sengoku the Buddha. Not to mention you have a strong sense of right and wrong not only that but I feel as though in this new age you're the only person who'll be able to uphold the marines strong sense of Justice."

-Kiya frowned- "But there's not only corruption in the this world but within our very ranks as well. Look at the Schibukai and people like Doflamingo."

-Kuzan also looked slightly sad- "Ma, Don't worry this generation of Schibukai aren't as tricky as people like Doflamingo the one's you really need to watch out for are. Kuro, Karasu and Law. the rest seem to be loyal enough to the marines."

-Kiya then thought about it and laughed at her self- "Very well if you feel I can do it then I'll make due with this burden. Where are you off to now Kuzan ? do you need a vessel for transportation ?"

-Kuzan shook his head- "No I'm fine , I'm thinking i'm just going to float around and see where my journey takes me. I'll be checking in every so often viva Den-Den-Mushi. With Enis lobby currently on the ropes I've dispatched the proper amount of marines also beware of soul, I've gotten some death threats over the last few days but again I've gotten some troops here to take care of that. So I oyou farewell Fleet Admiral Kiya and good luck on you're career of leader ship." -Kuzan left the room and the base of marine ford-


-Kiya sat back in her chair for moment on end filling in paper work and revcing calls both good and bad about pirates and other things. but just when thing felt calm the sound of cannon fire could be heard. Kiya stood up and swung her coat on and walked forward as she approached the marines on the lower floors looked up in awe and cheered- "ITS THE NEW FLEET ADMIRAL KIYA-CHAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

-She stood there as cannon balls flew towards a wave of energy echoed from her body as the cannon balls shattered- "Who dares to attack my Marine ford."



-Soul looked up- "That's not Kuzan "


-END-


Hope YOu all liked it

[Help Wanted and Given]

“Oh, so you’re that girl who’s been so focused on collecting rare swords. I think I heard Smoker talking about you at some point.”

Cade Locksley looked Tashigi up and down without any change in expression after having heard the introductions from the two marines. He nodded firmly, as if confirming something.

“Mm. Nice body.”

“You bastard! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Bradford grabbed the front of Cade’s jacket and drew him close as fury colored his expression. Cade didn’t resist, simply looking back at Bradford blankly.

“What do you mean? Isn’t it obvious? It’s only natural for a guy to compliment a woman when they meet.”

“Those are some pretty screwed up priorities. Didn’t you even hear what we said? Our men are missing! You’re under suspicion! Quit goggling at the Vice-Admiral’s body and give us an explanation, you government dog!”

Cade was thoroughly unabashed by Bradford’s tone, not reacting even with their faces so close together. An audible sigh came from Dandelion, though she made no move to stop Bradford. It seemed she wasn’t particularly fond of Cade’s personality either.

Cade completely ignored Bradford and looked in Tashigi’s direction.

“Just how much do you want those swords, anyways? There’s someone in the Shichibukai who’s got a ton of expensive looking ones. If you’re willing to pay, I might be able to do something for you.”

“W-What?” Tashigi was completely thrown off by Cade’s casual suggestion. “Just what do you mean by ‘do something’?”

“Steal them for you, of course. I may primarily be a bounty hunter, but I don’t mind stealing from baddies either, depending on the circumstances.”

“You’d steal from your fellow Shichibukai just for money?”

“Yep. But it would have to be high pay. I don’t really care about how valuable the swords are, but she has this paranoid air around her that makes it look like it would be hard to steal from her. In need some belli to motivate me.”

“You bastard…”

“Stop, Bradford!”

Tashigi called out sharply as Bradford raised one fist up, ready to punch Cade across the face. Though he heard Tashigi’s order on time, he completely ignored it as he slugged Cade with all of his might.

A normal person would have had their neck broken from the sheer strength behind the punch, but Cade just smirked at Bradford with amusement, not the least bit concerned by the tender bruise that appeared on his cheek.

“Oh, I’m going to like this one.”

“You pirates are all the same.” Bradford hissed angrily as he raised his fist again, ready to deliver another punch. “You steal, pillage, and kill and don’t worry about the lives you mess up in the process. That’s why you’re so hated by normal people!”

“But by that same token, what’s wrong with pirates stealing from each other? If nothing else, wouldn’t that be your so-called ‘justice’?”

Bradford aimed to respond with another punch, but this time he was stopped by both a blade at his neck and a snake that wrapped around his wrist tightly, preventing him from completing his swing.

“I can’t ignore a second punch.” Dandelion spoke evenly but there was murder in her eyes as she held the tail end of the long live snake that was ready to lunge for Bradford’s neck without even being given a command. She’d produced it from under her clothes as if it were an actual weapon and had used it as such. “Even if it’s this guy we’re talking about.”

“Calm down, captain.” Tashigi’s tone somehow struck a perfect balance between a plight and a warning. Bradford was very aware of the sharp edge of her blade by his neck. “You know your restrictions. He’s an ally of the World Government.”

Bradford clicked his tongue while he continued to glare at Cade, who returned the passionate look with a nonchalant grin. Bradford knew that even if he punched the warlord again, there would have been no retaliation.

Cade was enjoying Bradford’s rise in emotion.

“Even if you kidnapped all of G-5, you wouldn’t have to deal with any penalty, would you?”

“Doubt it. I could have killed them all, and the entire incident would be covered up. But I’d at least tell you to your face that I did it.”

He was telling the truth. Bradford could tell from the look in Cade’s eyes that the bounty hunter didn’t kid around with lives, though that was probably the extent of his kindness.

The snake unraveled from Bradford’s wrist as his muscles relaxed and the sound of a katana sliding into its sheathe was audible as he lowered his arm. But neither of the women moved away, keeping a close eye on his movement in case he lashed out again.

It really was lucky he got moved to G-5. There were people who could actually stop him from making stupid moves.

“Then our next question,” As nothing else needed to be said on the topic, Tashigi moved the conversation along. “Will you help us? We’re willing to not ask any questions about your actions before coming to this island or why you’re here, but as an ally of the marines, it would be appreciated if you helped us find our men.”

“I refuse.” Cade responded immediately as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and stuck it in his mouth. He began searching for a match to light it by patting himself down with both hands. “I’m not allied with the marines. I quit working with them a long time ago, after all. But if you hire me, I have no problem being your gun.”

“We don’t have the money.”

“Then that’s quite the hurdle you’ll have to jump, huh?”

Cade was kind enough to blow the smoke away from Tashigi as he spoke with her, but this resulted in it all hanging in Bradford’s face. He began to cough and clicked his tongue irritably as he tried to wave away the smoke. Cade simply blew more in his direction, to the captain’s irritation.

“But I might be willing to lend a hand if you help me out a bit without asking any questions. I’m looking for something too, but I’m a bit shorthanded.”

“You’re looking for something on this island?”

“Yeah. Something important.”

Tashigi gazed at Cade quietly for a second, hoping for more elaboration. But it never came. Rather, Cade seemed to be waiting for her response, and she knew better than to ask more questions, as he’d already warned against that.

Dealing fairly with a Shichibukai could be difficult, especially this one.

“I’ll consider it. But the safety of my men comes first. If you know something, I’d like to hear it. Immediately.”

“Oh, I heard a feisty tone there. It’s good that you treasure your subordinates, vice-admiral.”

“Just tell her about what we found out.” Dandelion seemed unwilling to let Cade beat around the bush, prompting him while looking around the area curiously. Tashigi had to wonder if she was looking for something. “It’s something the marines should know and there’s no reason to keep it to ourselves.”

There was no way Tashigi would let it go after hearing such a leading comment.

“What does she mean? What did you find out?”

“Just some interesting backstory for this island.” Cade shrugged indifferently. “It’s not really interesting, though it might give you a hint. But even information costs money, you know—”

Dandelion stomped on Cade’s foot with all of her strength, crushing his toes with her furry boot with enough force that the earth cracked below. Cade hissed through his teeth as he struggled to maintain his composure.

“Fine, fine.” He muttered. “I’ll talk. But it’s really not an interesting story. Apparently, the animals here aren’t normal. Back in the day, the residents of the island revered four legged domestic animals as gods. They used to be socially split between cat lovers and dog lovers so drastically, the politics and societal caste system was based on the two different groups. They eventually merged together as one worshipping group after a big revolution, solved their differences, and made a single, unified home to protect all of their values and so on, and everyone lived happily ever after. But none of that’s really important.”

He shrugged aside an event that probably brought about everlasting peace and prosperity to a country like it was nothing. No wonder he quit the marines.

“Well, the religious aspects are pretty much gone today, but apparently since the days when they were worshipped as gods, the animals here are different from animals anywhere else. There’s a rumor that says that the cats and dogs here have human-like intellect and only act stupid around strangers so that they will be doted on and fed by humans. Basically, the animals rule this country by pretending to be impotent and dumb.”

“…That kind of legend is completely useless.” Bradford hissed with irritation. “Way to waste our time.”

“Told ya it’s not interesting.” Cade shrugged once more as he waved his cigarette at Bradford, throwing the butt in the marine’s face. It took a lot of willpower for Bradford to not spring on Cade in that moment. “But I’ll admit, it’s some basic information they should advertise a bit more. These animals have been creeping me out since I got here. Knowing doesn’t make it better, but it’s worse for people who don’t know.”

“…The animals? What exactly do you mean?”

“Huh? Didn’t you know?” Tashigi blinked at Bradford with wide eyes. “The animals here keep a watch on strangers, though nobody knows why. They watch us every time we come on the island.”

…WHAT?

Bradford had been freaking out every time he set foot on the island! Why was he just hearing this now?! He KNEW he was being watched! But by the animals? Why? How? Cade said that they possessed human-like intellect…was that it? Did that make it feel like their eyes were like an actual human’s?

But why had Tashigi not said anything before when he asked? It seemed like a pretty big deal.

I don’t think there is anything out of the ordinary.

…Had she thought that Bradford already knew?

But the story was still useless from a practical perspective. They were no closer to finding their soldiers than before.

Tashigi thought the same thing too, speaking to Cade after mulling it over for a moment.

“Can’t you give us another hint? Something that’s perhaps a bit more relevant?”

“Nope. I don’t really know much about the situation, so I can’t just drop hints to lead you to your desired goal. You’re better of either searching on your own or paying up.”

“We said we’d help you, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, but that’s if we find what I want, which is kind of unlikely.”

This guy’s a pain in the ass, Bradford thought bitterly.